June 23: vs Toronto 4-2 W. WP-Rock (2-0, 6 4 2 2 1 4). S-Robertson (5). HR-C.Williams (7). Rock was rocking, Carson had a 2-run homer and Campusano was 4-4 with an RBI double as the Rays got by the Jays.
June 24: vs Toronto 7-2 W. WP-McClanahan (5-7, 7 5 1 1 2 6). Mead and Rutschman led the offense as each went 2-4 with Mead driving in 4 and Adley the other 3 on a pair of doubles. Mac was solid once again and finally got a win to show for it.
Transaction: Parker Meadows strained a hamstring and will be out a couple of weeks so we purchased the contract of another 2022 2nd-round pick
Ryan Cermak, who has played his way into being the #81 overall prospect in baseball thanks to 40 homers last season and 24 more this year, including 10 at Durham where he's torn the cover off the ball at 310/369/669 in 142 AB. He profiles very similarly to the other 2022 2nd-rounder we brought up,
Brock Jones, except Cermak is a RH batter.
June 25: vs Toronto 3-5 L. LP-Springs (4-6, 5.1 5 5 5 3 6). Springs followed up his no-hitter with a bit of a stinker, although the last couple of runs off him came after he left.
June 26: Off-Day.
June 27: at Minnesota 5-3 W. WP-J.Lopez (4-0). S-Bautista (20). Starter-Bradley (6 5 3 3 0 6). HR-C.Williams 2 (9). Biggest game of Carson's 1.5-year MLB career as he homered twice, including a 2-run shot to break a 3-3 tie in the 8th and give Tampa Bay the win. Cermak made his MLB debut and was 0-2.
June 28: at Minnesota 1-3 L. LP-Pepiot (6-5, 4.1 3 3 3 3 4). HR-Caminero (14). Pepiot wasn't great but the bullpen was, keeping them in the game to no avail as the offense was non-existent outside of Junior's solo homer in the 7th.
June 29: at Minnesota 1-2 L. LP-Rock (2-1, 6 2 2 2 0 7). The offense took a holiday once again, wasting a great effort from Rock in which he made one bad pitch, a 2-run homer to Emmanuel Rodriguez.
Team record: 47-31. The 3-3 week cost us a game in the standings to Baltimore and we now trail them by 4, although we're still securely in the 1st wild card with the 2nd-best record in MLB.
Players of the Week:
AL: Tyler O'Neill (BOS), 9-20, 3 HR, 12 RBI
NL: Jordan Walker (STL), 10-24, 4 HR, 8 RBI
MLB News: OOTP has killed off White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf and the oft-injured Padre Robbie Ray is done for the year and much of 2027 with a torn flexor tendon.
Since we're roughly at the halfway mark of the season, it's time for a stats/standings review.
Shaping up like a repeat of last year, with the Rays chasing the Orioles and in position to play the Red Sox in the Wild Card round. Hopefully they don't at least blow home field like they did last season.
After a clunky start to the season the Rays have played great baseball over the last two months and just need the Orioles to slow down. Statistically they're good in just about everything except drawing walks, so the numbers back up the record.
Rutschman has been everything we could have hoped for and more, and Yandy has rebounded to his 2023 form. We could be getting better production from corner outfielders Teoscar (who has really cooled off after a hot start) and JLowe, as well as the DH-types in Isaac (hurt) and Mead. Outside of Campusano the bench hasn't been much help either.
The flipside of the Rutschman trade is the loss of depth in the rotation with Rasmussen and Baz sent to Baltimore (and both having great years as well), leaving us with some lousy pitching out of the 5th starter who was Headrick at the outset (god awful) and Rock afterwards (who after some um, rocky starts, has pitched well the last few times out). Otherwise the big 4 in the rotation have been good especially after Springs got over his homeritis that plagued him for the first 6 weeks. And the other guy we got in the Baltimore deal, Bautista, has been the lockdown closer Fairbanks wasn't last year. Also Adam's renaissance has been something to behold and
Manny Rodriguez has also been a pleasant surprise.
Winter amateur signee Moreno has emerged as one of the game's elite prospects and the 17-year-old has been raking in the DSL so far. Smith still has a shot to be our 5th starter but he's been uneven and kind of homer-prone at Durham so he needs a little more seasoning while Cermak was just called up. Taylor is finally showing the pedigree of being a 2023 first-rounder and could be in next year's picture.