The 2021 (and only 2021) Tampa Bay Rays - Page 13

Art Deco · 09-13-2021, 03:30 PM

The Dodgers blew a 4-0 lead in the 9th but it didn't matter as Michael Chavis went yard in the bottom of the inning to give them the win anyway. They did deprive Walker Buehler of a deserved win as the NL Cy Young-elect and pitching triple crown winner was brilliant as usual. And Nolan Arenado is paying dividends for the big contract Washington gave him last year as his 2 homers led the way for the Nats to take Game 1.

Art Deco · 09-13-2021, 04:10 PM

Not a good start...

The Rays got to White Sox ace Lucas Giolito but Chicago really got to Tyler Glasnow and later, Luis Patino, and Tampa Bay finds itself in an early ALDS hole. Tarik Skubal will try to keep the Rays from falling in a very deep one.

Elsewhere all the favored teams won today, which means all the home teams have won so far in the playoffs, with the Angels getting a leg up while the Dodgers and Nationals appear on a collision course in the NLCS as they were both 100-win teams.

Art Deco · 09-13-2021, 05:28 PM

We have a series...

It wasn't easy but the Rays evened up their ALDS with the White Sox at a game apiece thanks to Brandon Lowe's 3-run homer in the 13th off Aaron Bummer, which was followed by a 2-run Carter Kieboom single to break it open. The Rays received a much better start today from Tarik Skubal and after Austin Meadows hit the second of his two homers on the day Tampa Bay had a 4-2 lead. But Pete Fairbanks coughed up solo homers to Andrew Vaughn and Yoan Moncada (I should have brought in Nick Anderson after the Vaughn homer) so on to extras we went. The Rays loaded the bases in the 10th with nobody out but two strikeouts and a fly ball meant they didn't score, but thankfully Nick Anderson and Devin Williams combined for 4 shutout innings of relief with the latter picking up the win. We now head back to the Trop in two days for Game 3 with Mike Clevinger on the mound.

In the other ALDS, the Twins weren't as fortunate as the Rays, blowing a 4-3 lead in the 9th with a walk-off walk issued to Brandon Marsh to bring home the winning run for the Angels as they go up 2-0:

Art Deco · 09-13-2021, 06:06 PM

The Dodgers sweep their way into the NLCS thanks to Will Smith's game-winning homer in the 9th while Michel Baez pitched the game of his life to keep the Padres alive.

Art Deco · 09-13-2021, 07:16 PM

Advantage Rays...

The Rays came up with a big 5-2 win over Chicago to move to within one game of the ALCS but suffered a costly injury in the process. Nick Anderson got a 4-out save but after retiring the final man he grabbed his elbow walking off the field while getting the congratulations of his teammates and it turns out he has bone chips in his elbow and is done for the playoffs. With Peter Fairbanks shaky again in the 8th (he loaded the bases before Anderson rescued him), it looks like Devin Williams will become the closer. As for the game Mike Clevinger pitched well, and would have been in line for the win but he left with a man on 3rd and 2 out in the 6th and Shane McClanahan gave up an infield single to allow the tying run to score. The Rays quickly struck back in the bottom of the frame when Adley Rustchman led off with a triple, scored on Randy Arozarena's single, and after the Rays loaded up the bases Vidal Brujan pinch-hit for Jarren Duran and came through with a 2-run single. Chris Sale will try to close out the series tomorrow against his old team.

Elsewhere the Angels and Nationals had chances to advance but neither did as the Twins got a Royce Lewis homer off Ken Giles in the 8th to take a 3-2 win and stay alive down 2-1, and the Padres took an epic 17-inning win over Washington on a Starling Marte RBI single to force a 5th and deciding game back in the nation's capital.

Art Deco · 09-13-2021, 07:47 PM

Transaction: Nick Anderson was placed on the Playoff IL, and Matt Peacock, who was left off the postseason roster initially, was activated.

The Rays have returned to the ALCS after a dramatic walk-off 3-2 win over the White Sox in 10 innings at Tropicana Field, taking the series in 4 games. Randy Arozarena's bloop single with the bases loaded scored the series-winner. Before we got there we had some drama, with Chris Sale having to leave in the 3rd after giving up an RBI double for Chicago's 2nd run of the inning. It turned out to be a mild oblique strain so he'll be good to go for the ALCS. Enter Matt Peacock, the forgotten man who was just activated with Nick Anderson going on the shelf, and he turned in 3 2/3 scoreless innings while the Rays tied it on a 2-run Wander Franco moonshot to dead center. After Aaron Fletcher got Peacock out of the 7th, he put the first two on in the 8th but Devin Williams got a double play and a whiff to escape the jam. The Sox rather desperately brought in Game 1 starter Lucas Giolito to pitch the 10th and it backfired as he walked Hunter Bishop, gave up a Vidal Brujan single, intentionally walked Franco and then gave up the winning hit to Arozarena, all without retiring a batter.

And the Rays will once again play the Angels in the ALCS as LA won it in the 10th inning as well, scoring 3 runs on a Jared Walsh RBI single and a 2-run Jo Adell homer to take the game 4-1 and the series 3-1.

Art Deco · 09-13-2021, 08:07 PM

What a game, what a series as the Padres scored 3 times in the 9th off former Ray Diego Castillo to take a come-from-behind 8-7 win as they came from 0-2 down in the best-of-5. Victor Robles' 8th-inning homer looked like it would give the Nats some cushion, but Castillo in his 2nd inning of relief gave up a homer to Ha-seong Kim, put 2 more on and then gave up a 2-run double to another former Ray, pinch-hitter Jake Cronenworth to cap a wild, back-and-forth game. San Diego's reward for their heroics? A date in the NLCS with the mighty Dodgers, but they've already knocked off the league's top seed.

Art Deco · 09-14-2021, 05:53 PM

Good start for the Padres:

Art Deco · 09-14-2021, 06:14 PM

Off to a great start...

The Rays came into the Big A and thumped the Angels 10-1 in the ALCS opener, hoping to avenge last year's loss at this stage. The good Tyler Glasnow showed up and threw 6 dominant innings and a balanced attack put 10 runs on the board despite only two extra-base hits. The key play of the game came in the 3rd when Shohei Ohtani, who had good stuff tonight but was wild, walked Heston Kjerstad and Jarren Duran and the pair pulled off a double steal ahead of a Wander Franco single which scored them both and made it 2-0. From there they continued to tack on runs with Hunter Bishop notching his first postseason homer. Tarik Skubal will look to continue the good times tomorrow.

Meanwhile the Padres also seem hell-bent on preventing a repeat of last year's Freeway Series by beating the Dodgers in LA once again by a score of 6-4 to take a 2-0 lead going back to San Diego:

Art Deco · 09-14-2021, 06:38 PM

Looking good going back to the Trop...

The Rays have done what nobody expected and gone into the house of MLB's best team to take both games to start the ALCS after edging the Angels 4-3. Tarik Skubal pitched one of the best games of his career in holding LA largely off the board, and unlike yesterday when they won with small ball the Rays got solo homers from Wander Franco, Randy Arozarena and Hunter Bishop to take a 3-1 lead into the bottom of the 8th. But just as he did in the ALDS, Pete Fairbanks gave up a pair of solo homers to allow the opposition to tie it up. Fortunately the Rays got to former teammate and Angel closer Ken Giles in the 9th when Adley Rustchman led off with a double, Brandon Lowe and Austin Meadows walked, and Carter Kieboom delivered a sac fly. With no more Nick Anderson to count on, Devin Williams got the call in the 9th and after putting two on with one out he got another former Ray, Corey Dickerson, to hit one right back at him which he turned into a 1-4-3 game-ending double play. Mike Clevinger will try to put LA into the deepest of holes in Game 3 at Tropicana Field in 48 hours.

Art Deco · 09-14-2021, 07:06 PM

The Dodgers are just about done and cooked:

Art Deco · 09-14-2021, 08:02 PM

We have a series...

It was all looking good for the Rays going into the 6th inning of Game 3, having come back from 2-0 down to take a 3-2 lead on Adley Rutschman's RBI single. But Mike Clevinger put two men on to start the 6th, and the bullpen melted down from there with Justin Dunn letting the game get away and Luis Patino letting the Angels blow it open in a 10-4 loss which trims the Rays' series lead to 2-1. Dunn and Patino had been very good this year but weren't today, and now Chris Sale will be tasked with trying to keep the Angels from getting even.

We may have a series in the AL but we no longer have a series in NL as the Padres pulled off a shock sweep of the defending champion Dodgers as their pitching really came through in the series, holding LA to 9 runs total. Michel Baez went 5 scoreless innings for the win and Trent Grisham broke open a close game with a 3-run homer in the 7th. San Diego will be well rested when they face the Rays or Angels in the World Series.

Art Deco · 09-14-2021, 08:27 PM

One win away...

The Rays took a commanding 3-1 series lead with an 11-5 win over the Angels which saw Austin Meadows have a career game, 4-5 with 2 HR and 5 RBI, making him the clubhouse leader for ALCS MVP. Despite the lopsided score, there were a couple of moments when the game hung in the balance, and the biggest came in the top of the 5th when Chris Sale put 2 men on with 2 out for the dangerous Jo Adell with the Rays nursing a 4-2 lead, and Matt Peacock came in and got him on a lazy fly to center. A 1-2-3 inning for Peacock later, and the Rays broke it open with a 6-run 6th, which saw them bang out 4 run-scoring hits with 2 out around a walk. Peacock got into trouble in the 8th after a Brandon Lowe error opened the door for the Angels to load the bases with the score 10-5, but Pete Fairbanks bounced back from his bad outing the other day to get another inning-ending fly ball. Tyler Glasnow will try to replicate his Game 1 performance and close things out tomorrow.

Art Deco · 09-14-2021, 08:58 PM

Bring on the Padres!

We knew we were getting on a plane after this game to head to the west coast, but that flight is now bound for KSAN instead of LAX after the Rays took the ALCS with a 10-2 rout of the Angels which in many ways was a carbon copy of their Game 4 win. Just like yesterday they broke it open with a 6-run 6th after having a modest lead after scoring 4 runs. Tyler Glasnow was excellent once again and unusually efficient; had the lead not been so big he would have pitched into the 8th. Nick Sandlin got to be at the bottom of the dogpile by pitching the final two innings. Austin Meadows had two doubles and was unsurprisingly named series MVP, and Jarren Duran, who had struggled in September and was fairly nondescript in the playoffs, had the big hit of the night, a 2-run triple which broke a 1-1 tie in the 4th. Tarik Skubal is the likely Game 1 pitcher in a few days.

Side note: In my longer-running Rays save the first time they made the World Series was 2023 as well, and the opponent? None other than the Padres. And who did they beat in the ALCS to get there? The Angels, of course. Those Rays went on to sweep San Diego and we can only hope history continues to repeat.

Art Deco · 09-15-2021, 04:53 PM

A rough start for the Rays in the World Series as they couldn't get anything going against MacKenzie Gore and fell 4-0. In addition to being blanked they suffered the loss of Tarik Skubal, who had to leave in the 6th with a strained hamstring and is done for the playoffs. Skubal was done in by Fernando Tatis Jr., who homered off him in the first and singled in a run in the 3rd. Tyler Glasnow will try to right the ship tomorrow and even the series before we return to St. Pete.

Art Deco · 09-15-2021, 05:20 PM

Transaction: Tarik Skubal placed on the Playoff IL, and Colin Poche was activated. Matt Peacock will start Game 5.

The Rays got off to a rough start tonight and for a few innings it looked like they'd be staring at a 2-0 deficit before the bats answered back big time after being shut out in Game 1 in an 11-5 win. Tyler Glasnow struggled early, giving up the first of two homers to Trent Grisham to make it 3-0 Padres in the 3rd but the Rays fought right back and Brandon Lowe's 3-run homer made it 4-3 Tampa Bay. The lead grew to 5-3 before Glasnow gave up another homer to Grisham and the just-activated Colin Poche gave up an infield single to allow the tying run to score in the 6th. Once again, though, the Rays responded with pinch-hitter Heston Kjerstad doubling to lead off the inning and scoring on Jarren Duran's single. Wander Franco reached and then the red-hot Austin Meadows made it 9-5 with a 3-run jack, his 6th of the postseason. Adley Rustchman, having a quiet playoffs, added a 2-run double in the 9th for further comfort. We now head back to Tropicana Field in two days with Mike Clevinger going up against one of his former teams.

Art Deco · 09-15-2021, 06:19 PM

A tough loss, and I have to cop to some managerial malpractice here as Fernando Tatis Jr should have been facing Devin Williams instead of Aaron Fletcher but I tried to "quick-play" the inning rather than go batter-to-batter on defense. So his 2-run homer in the 9th was the difference in the Padres taking Game 3, although the bats nearly rescued me from my blunder when Heston Kjerstad went deep with two out to cut it to 4-3, Hunter Bishop walked and Vidal Brujan singled to put runners on first and third, but Wander Franco capped a rough night by flying out to end the game. So now it's up to Chris Sale to try and get things even again tomorrow night.

Art Deco · 09-15-2021, 07:36 PM

One of the ideas going back to last year's playoffs when we were knocked out of the ALCS was that we needed a big-game starter or two. Jack Flaherty didn't work out (although the guy we acquired for him, Tarik Skubal, did) but our free-agent signing of Chris Sale has paid some dividends, at least when he's stayed healthy. And he came through on the biggest stage of all hurling 6 1/3 shutout innings to get the Rays right back into the series at 2 games apiece. Hunter Bishop had a huge night with a 3-run homer to put the Rays ahead to stay and a later RBI single, and Brandon Lowe's 2-run homer salted the game away. Things did get a bit dicey in the 9th when Colin Poche put two men on and had to come out with an injury, and then Luis Patino couldn't get anyone out (although one of his batters reached on an Austin Meadows error), making it 7-2 with the bases loaded and only one out. So Devin Williams finally appeared to face none other than Fernando Tatis Jr. and struck him out, making me really feel bad about last night, and then he got Manny Machado on a fly ball to preserve the win. Poche meanwhile was diagnosed with a torn rotator cuff and is not only done for the playoffs but will miss all of 2024 as well (this after missing all of 2021). Matt Peacock will get the ball tomorrow in place of the injured Skubal to try to give the Rays an advantage before heading back to San Diego.

Art Deco · 09-16-2021, 01:32 PM

What a game...

In what will go down as a postseason classic, at least in the Tampa Bay area, the Rays tied it up with two out in the 9th and scored in the bottom of the 10th with two out to take a 3-2 win over San Diego and the series lead by the same margin. Once again MacKenzie Gore (who shut out the Rays in Game 1) was a tough customer with only a Heston Kjerstad solo homer allowed in his 6 innings. Meanwhile Matt Peacock, left off the postseason roster at the start of the playoffs, pitched very well and would have been in better shape had the Rays not made two errors in the 2nd, the second of which was a Brandon Lowe muffed grounder which would have got them out of the inning but allowed the game's first run to score. The Padres rallied again in the 7th off Shane McClanahan and with a man in scoring position up stepped Fernando Tatis Jr. once again. So we turned to Devin Williams, who should have faced him in Game 3 and got him out in a key situation in Game 4. Advantage Tatis this time as he delivered an RBI single to put the Padres up 2-1. The Rays loaded the bases in the 8th but couldn't score and so we headed to the bottom of the 9th. With one out Austin Meadows singled, then took second on a grounder to first. Down to their final out and looking at having to go to San Diego to win two, Kjerstad came to the plate and delivered a clutch RBI single to center to tie it up. Justin Dunn came on for the 10th and found himself in immediate trouble with the first two men reaching, but he got a fly ball and a double play grounder to escape, bringing us to the bottom of the frame. Vidal Brujan led off with a hit by pitch and after Wander Franco struck out for the third time today, Brujan stole second. Randy Arozarena walked, but Adley Rutschman whiffed so once again we were at 2 outs when Lowe atoned for his costly error by delivering his own single to center to score Brujan as it instantly became pandemonium at the Trop. The Rays now head back to San Diego with two chances to win it all, and Tyler Glasnow will get first crack to put it away.

There was one transaction before the game as Colin Poche was put on the 60-day IL with his torn rotator cuff and rookie Taj Bradley was activated. Things will have to go very wrong, very right or very long to see him in action.

Art Deco · 09-16-2021, 03:42 PM

Unbelievable...

The champagne was ready, the game and the Series were won, all they needed was 3 more outs with a 3-run lead. And then that happened, the bullpen meltdown to end all bullpen meltdowns. Pete Fairbanks, who breezed through the 8th, came out for the 9th with Devin Williams still tired from Game 5. Fairbanks gave up his obligatory homer to Jurickson Profar to lead off the inning, put two on but got two out. This brought Fernando Tatis Jr. to the plate, and Fairbanks walked him on a 3-2 pitch to load 'em up. By this point Fairbanks was in the red so with Manny Machado due I went with Nick Sandlin, who had been inconsistent but is tough on righties with his sidearm delivery. Not this time, though, as Machado took him out of the park for a walk-off grand slam and the Rays went from World Series winners to a shaken team now needing to win a Game 7. A couple of things didn't help: the offense's inability to score after the 2nd inning, and Tyler Glasnow's 5-inning outing which saw him walk 5 and drive up his pitch count even though he only allowed the one run. As a result we had to go a thin bullpen early. But still, a 3-run lead in the 9th is a 3-run lead in the 9th, and just as the Rays shocked the Padres in Game 5, the tables were turned in an even more cruel fashion tonight. Mike Clevinger will need to step up and hopefully help the Rays recover from this blow in Game 7.

09-13-2021, 03:30 PM	#241
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 7,508	October 4, 2023: NLDS Game 1 The Dodgers blew a 4-0 lead in the 9th but it didn't matter as Michael Chavis went yard in the bottom of the inning to give them the win anyway. They did deprive Walker Buehler of a deserved win as the NL Cy Young-elect and pitching triple crown winner was brilliant as usual. And Nolan Arenado is paying dividends for the big contract Washington gave him last year as his 2 homers led the way for the Nats to take Game 1.

09-13-2021, 04:10 PM	#242
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 7,508	October 5, 2023: ALDS Game 1 & NLDS Game 2 Not a good start... The Rays got to White Sox ace Lucas Giolito but Chicago really got to Tyler Glasnow and later, Luis Patino, and Tampa Bay finds itself in an early ALDS hole. Tarik Skubal will try to keep the Rays from falling in a very deep one. Elsewhere all the favored teams won today, which means all the home teams have won so far in the playoffs, with the Angels getting a leg up while the Dodgers and Nationals appear on a collision course in the NLCS as they were both 100-win teams.

09-13-2021, 05:28 PM	#243
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 7,508	October 6, 2023: ALDS Game 2 We have a series... It wasn't easy but the Rays evened up their ALDS with the White Sox at a game apiece thanks to Brandon Lowe's 3-run homer in the 13th off Aaron Bummer, which was followed by a 2-run Carter Kieboom single to break it open. The Rays received a much better start today from Tarik Skubal and after Austin Meadows hit the second of his two homers on the day Tampa Bay had a 4-2 lead. But Pete Fairbanks coughed up solo homers to Andrew Vaughn and Yoan Moncada (I should have brought in Nick Anderson after the Vaughn homer) so on to extras we went. The Rays loaded the bases in the 10th with nobody out but two strikeouts and a fly ball meant they didn't score, but thankfully Nick Anderson and Devin Williams combined for 4 shutout innings of relief with the latter picking up the win. We now head back to the Trop in two days for Game 3 with Mike Clevinger on the mound. In the other ALDS, the Twins weren't as fortunate as the Rays, blowing a 4-3 lead in the 9th with a walk-off walk issued to Brandon Marsh to bring home the winning run for the Angels as they go up 2-0:

09-13-2021, 06:06 PM	#244
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 7,508	October 7, 2023: NLDS Game 3 The Dodgers sweep their way into the NLCS thanks to Will Smith's game-winning homer in the 9th while Michel Baez pitched the game of his life to keep the Padres alive.

09-13-2021, 07:16 PM	#245
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 7,508	October 8, 2023: ALDS Game 3 & NLDS Game 4 Advantage Rays... The Rays came up with a big 5-2 win over Chicago to move to within one game of the ALCS but suffered a costly injury in the process. Nick Anderson got a 4-out save but after retiring the final man he grabbed his elbow walking off the field while getting the congratulations of his teammates and it turns out he has bone chips in his elbow and is done for the playoffs. With Peter Fairbanks shaky again in the 8th (he loaded the bases before Anderson rescued him), it looks like Devin Williams will become the closer. As for the game Mike Clevinger pitched well, and would have been in line for the win but he left with a man on 3rd and 2 out in the 6th and Shane McClanahan gave up an infield single to allow the tying run to score. The Rays quickly struck back in the bottom of the frame when Adley Rustchman led off with a triple, scored on Randy Arozarena's single, and after the Rays loaded up the bases Vidal Brujan pinch-hit for Jarren Duran and came through with a 2-run single. Chris Sale will try to close out the series tomorrow against his old team. Elsewhere the Angels and Nationals had chances to advance but neither did as the Twins got a Royce Lewis homer off Ken Giles in the 8th to take a 3-2 win and stay alive down 2-1, and the Padres took an epic 17-inning win over Washington on a Starling Marte RBI single to force a 5th and deciding game back in the nation's capital.

09-13-2021, 07:47 PM	#246
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 7,508	October 9, 2023: ALDS Game 4 Transaction: Nick Anderson was placed on the Playoff IL, and Matt Peacock, who was left off the postseason roster initially, was activated. The Rays have returned to the ALCS after a dramatic walk-off 3-2 win over the White Sox in 10 innings at Tropicana Field, taking the series in 4 games. Randy Arozarena's bloop single with the bases loaded scored the series-winner. Before we got there we had some drama, with Chris Sale having to leave in the 3rd after giving up an RBI double for Chicago's 2nd run of the inning. It turned out to be a mild oblique strain so he'll be good to go for the ALCS. Enter Matt Peacock, the forgotten man who was just activated with Nick Anderson going on the shelf, and he turned in 3 2/3 scoreless innings while the Rays tied it on a 2-run Wander Franco moonshot to dead center. After Aaron Fletcher got Peacock out of the 7th, he put the first two on in the 8th but Devin Williams got a double play and a whiff to escape the jam. The Sox rather desperately brought in Game 1 starter Lucas Giolito to pitch the 10th and it backfired as he walked Hunter Bishop, gave up a Vidal Brujan single, intentionally walked Franco and then gave up the winning hit to Arozarena, all without retiring a batter. And the Rays will once again play the Angels in the ALCS as LA won it in the 10th inning as well, scoring 3 runs on a Jared Walsh RBI single and a 2-run Jo Adell homer to take the game 4-1 and the series 3-1.

09-13-2021, 08:07 PM	#247
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 7,508	October 10, 2023: NLDS Game 5 What a game, what a series as the Padres scored 3 times in the 9th off former Ray Diego Castillo to take a come-from-behind 8-7 win as they came from 0-2 down in the best-of-5. Victor Robles' 8th-inning homer looked like it would give the Nats some cushion, but Castillo in his 2nd inning of relief gave up a homer to Ha-seong Kim, put 2 more on and then gave up a 2-run double to another former Ray, pinch-hitter Jake Cronenworth to cap a wild, back-and-forth game. San Diego's reward for their heroics? A date in the NLCS with the mighty Dodgers, but they've already knocked off the league's top seed.

09-14-2021, 05:53 PM	#248
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 7,508	October 12, 2023: NLCS Game 1 Good start for the Padres:

09-14-2021, 06:14 PM	#249
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 7,508	October 13, 2023: ALCS Game 1 & NLCS Game 2 Off to a great start... The Rays came into the Big A and thumped the Angels 10-1 in the ALCS opener, hoping to avenge last year's loss at this stage. The good Tyler Glasnow showed up and threw 6 dominant innings and a balanced attack put 10 runs on the board despite only two extra-base hits. The key play of the game came in the 3rd when Shohei Ohtani, who had good stuff tonight but was wild, walked Heston Kjerstad and Jarren Duran and the pair pulled off a double steal ahead of a Wander Franco single which scored them both and made it 2-0. From there they continued to tack on runs with Hunter Bishop notching his first postseason homer. Tarik Skubal will look to continue the good times tomorrow. Meanwhile the Padres also seem hell-bent on preventing a repeat of last year's Freeway Series by beating the Dodgers in LA once again by a score of 6-4 to take a 2-0 lead going back to San Diego:

09-14-2021, 06:38 PM	#250
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 7,508	October 14, 2023: ALCS Game 2 Looking good going back to the Trop... The Rays have done what nobody expected and gone into the house of MLB's best team to take both games to start the ALCS after edging the Angels 4-3. Tarik Skubal pitched one of the best games of his career in holding LA largely off the board, and unlike yesterday when they won with small ball the Rays got solo homers from Wander Franco, Randy Arozarena and Hunter Bishop to take a 3-1 lead into the bottom of the 8th. But just as he did in the ALDS, Pete Fairbanks gave up a pair of solo homers to allow the opposition to tie it up. Fortunately the Rays got to former teammate and Angel closer Ken Giles in the 9th when Adley Rustchman led off with a double, Brandon Lowe and Austin Meadows walked, and Carter Kieboom delivered a sac fly. With no more Nick Anderson to count on, Devin Williams got the call in the 9th and after putting two on with one out he got another former Ray, Corey Dickerson, to hit one right back at him which he turned into a 1-4-3 game-ending double play. Mike Clevinger will try to put LA into the deepest of holes in Game 3 at Tropicana Field in 48 hours.

09-14-2021, 07:06 PM	#251
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 7,508	October 15, 2023: NLCS Game 3 The Dodgers are just about done and cooked:

09-14-2021, 08:02 PM	#252
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 7,508	October 16, 2023: ALCS Game 3 & NLCS Game 4 We have a series... It was all looking good for the Rays going into the 6th inning of Game 3, having come back from 2-0 down to take a 3-2 lead on Adley Rutschman's RBI single. But Mike Clevinger put two men on to start the 6th, and the bullpen melted down from there with Justin Dunn letting the game get away and Luis Patino letting the Angels blow it open in a 10-4 loss which trims the Rays' series lead to 2-1. Dunn and Patino had been very good this year but weren't today, and now Chris Sale will be tasked with trying to keep the Angels from getting even. We may have a series in the AL but we no longer have a series in NL as the Padres pulled off a shock sweep of the defending champion Dodgers as their pitching really came through in the series, holding LA to 9 runs total. Michel Baez went 5 scoreless innings for the win and Trent Grisham broke open a close game with a 3-run homer in the 7th. San Diego will be well rested when they face the Rays or Angels in the World Series.

09-14-2021, 08:27 PM	#253
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 7,508	October 17, 2023: ALCS Game 4 One win away... The Rays took a commanding 3-1 series lead with an 11-5 win over the Angels which saw Austin Meadows have a career game, 4-5 with 2 HR and 5 RBI, making him the clubhouse leader for ALCS MVP. Despite the lopsided score, there were a couple of moments when the game hung in the balance, and the biggest came in the top of the 5th when Chris Sale put 2 men on with 2 out for the dangerous Jo Adell with the Rays nursing a 4-2 lead, and Matt Peacock came in and got him on a lazy fly to center. A 1-2-3 inning for Peacock later, and the Rays broke it open with a 6-run 6th, which saw them bang out 4 run-scoring hits with 2 out around a walk. Peacock got into trouble in the 8th after a Brandon Lowe error opened the door for the Angels to load the bases with the score 10-5, but Pete Fairbanks bounced back from his bad outing the other day to get another inning-ending fly ball. Tyler Glasnow will try to replicate his Game 1 performance and close things out tomorrow.

09-14-2021, 08:58 PM	#254
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 7,508	October 18, 2023: ALCS Game 5 Bring on the Padres! We knew we were getting on a plane after this game to head to the west coast, but that flight is now bound for KSAN instead of LAX after the Rays took the ALCS with a 10-2 rout of the Angels which in many ways was a carbon copy of their Game 4 win. Just like yesterday they broke it open with a 6-run 6th after having a modest lead after scoring 4 runs. Tyler Glasnow was excellent once again and unusually efficient; had the lead not been so big he would have pitched into the 8th. Nick Sandlin got to be at the bottom of the dogpile by pitching the final two innings. Austin Meadows had two doubles and was unsurprisingly named series MVP, and Jarren Duran, who had struggled in September and was fairly nondescript in the playoffs, had the big hit of the night, a 2-run triple which broke a 1-1 tie in the 4th. Tarik Skubal is the likely Game 1 pitcher in a few days. Side note: In my longer-running Rays save the first time they made the World Series was 2023 as well, and the opponent? None other than the Padres. And who did they beat in the ALCS to get there? The Angels, of course. Those Rays went on to sweep San Diego and we can only hope history continues to repeat.

09-15-2021, 04:53 PM	#255
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 7,508	October 22, 2023: World Series Game 1 A rough start for the Rays in the World Series as they couldn't get anything going against MacKenzie Gore and fell 4-0. In addition to being blanked they suffered the loss of Tarik Skubal, who had to leave in the 6th with a strained hamstring and is done for the playoffs. Skubal was done in by Fernando Tatis Jr., who homered off him in the first and singled in a run in the 3rd. Tyler Glasnow will try to right the ship tomorrow and even the series before we return to St. Pete.

09-15-2021, 05:20 PM	#256
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 7,508	October 23, 2023: World Series Game 2 Transaction: Tarik Skubal placed on the Playoff IL, and Colin Poche was activated. Matt Peacock will start Game 5. The Rays got off to a rough start tonight and for a few innings it looked like they'd be staring at a 2-0 deficit before the bats answered back big time after being shut out in Game 1 in an 11-5 win. Tyler Glasnow struggled early, giving up the first of two homers to Trent Grisham to make it 3-0 Padres in the 3rd but the Rays fought right back and Brandon Lowe's 3-run homer made it 4-3 Tampa Bay. The lead grew to 5-3 before Glasnow gave up another homer to Grisham and the just-activated Colin Poche gave up an infield single to allow the tying run to score in the 6th. Once again, though, the Rays responded with pinch-hitter Heston Kjerstad doubling to lead off the inning and scoring on Jarren Duran's single. Wander Franco reached and then the red-hot Austin Meadows made it 9-5 with a 3-run jack, his 6th of the postseason. Adley Rustchman, having a quiet playoffs, added a 2-run double in the 9th for further comfort. We now head back to Tropicana Field in two days with Mike Clevinger going up against one of his former teams.

09-15-2021, 06:19 PM	#257
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 7,508	October 25, 2023: World Series Game 3 A tough loss, and I have to cop to some managerial malpractice here as Fernando Tatis Jr should have been facing Devin Williams instead of Aaron Fletcher but I tried to "quick-play" the inning rather than go batter-to-batter on defense. So his 2-run homer in the 9th was the difference in the Padres taking Game 3, although the bats nearly rescued me from my blunder when Heston Kjerstad went deep with two out to cut it to 4-3, Hunter Bishop walked and Vidal Brujan singled to put runners on first and third, but Wander Franco capped a rough night by flying out to end the game. So now it's up to Chris Sale to try and get things even again tomorrow night.

09-15-2021, 07:36 PM	#258
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 7,508	October 26, 2023: World Series Game 4 One of the ideas going back to last year's playoffs when we were knocked out of the ALCS was that we needed a big-game starter or two. Jack Flaherty didn't work out (although the guy we acquired for him, Tarik Skubal, did) but our free-agent signing of Chris Sale has paid some dividends, at least when he's stayed healthy. And he came through on the biggest stage of all hurling 6 1/3 shutout innings to get the Rays right back into the series at 2 games apiece. Hunter Bishop had a huge night with a 3-run homer to put the Rays ahead to stay and a later RBI single, and Brandon Lowe's 2-run homer salted the game away. Things did get a bit dicey in the 9th when Colin Poche put two men on and had to come out with an injury, and then Luis Patino couldn't get anyone out (although one of his batters reached on an Austin Meadows error), making it 7-2 with the bases loaded and only one out. So Devin Williams finally appeared to face none other than Fernando Tatis Jr. and struck him out, making me really feel bad about last night, and then he got Manny Machado on a fly ball to preserve the win. Poche meanwhile was diagnosed with a torn rotator cuff and is not only done for the playoffs but will miss all of 2024 as well (this after missing all of 2021). Matt Peacock will get the ball tomorrow in place of the injured Skubal to try to give the Rays an advantage before heading back to San Diego. Last edited by Art Deco; 09-15-2021 at 07:37 PM.

09-16-2021, 01:32 PM	#259
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 7,508	October 27, 2023: World Series Game 5 What a game... In what will go down as a postseason classic, at least in the Tampa Bay area, the Rays tied it up with two out in the 9th and scored in the bottom of the 10th with two out to take a 3-2 win over San Diego and the series lead by the same margin. Once again MacKenzie Gore (who shut out the Rays in Game 1) was a tough customer with only a Heston Kjerstad solo homer allowed in his 6 innings. Meanwhile Matt Peacock, left off the postseason roster at the start of the playoffs, pitched very well and would have been in better shape had the Rays not made two errors in the 2nd, the second of which was a Brandon Lowe muffed grounder which would have got them out of the inning but allowed the game's first run to score. The Padres rallied again in the 7th off Shane McClanahan and with a man in scoring position up stepped Fernando Tatis Jr. once again. So we turned to Devin Williams, who should have faced him in Game 3 and got him out in a key situation in Game 4. Advantage Tatis this time as he delivered an RBI single to put the Padres up 2-1. The Rays loaded the bases in the 8th but couldn't score and so we headed to the bottom of the 9th. With one out Austin Meadows singled, then took second on a grounder to first. Down to their final out and looking at having to go to San Diego to win two, Kjerstad came to the plate and delivered a clutch RBI single to center to tie it up. Justin Dunn came on for the 10th and found himself in immediate trouble with the first two men reaching, but he got a fly ball and a double play grounder to escape, bringing us to the bottom of the frame. Vidal Brujan led off with a hit by pitch and after Wander Franco struck out for the third time today, Brujan stole second. Randy Arozarena walked, but Adley Rutschman whiffed so once again we were at 2 outs when Lowe atoned for his costly error by delivering his own single to center to score Brujan as it instantly became pandemonium at the Trop. The Rays now head back to San Diego with two chances to win it all, and Tyler Glasnow will get first crack to put it away. There was one transaction before the game as Colin Poche was put on the 60-day IL with his torn rotator cuff and rookie Taj Bradley was activated. Things will have to go very wrong, very right or very long to see him in action. Last edited by Art Deco; 09-16-2021 at 01:38 PM.

09-16-2021, 03:42 PM	#260
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 7,508	October 29, 2023: World Series Game 6 Unbelievable... The champagne was ready, the game and the Series were won, all they needed was 3 more outs with a 3-run lead. And then that happened, the bullpen meltdown to end all bullpen meltdowns. Pete Fairbanks, who breezed through the 8th, came out for the 9th with Devin Williams still tired from Game 5. Fairbanks gave up his obligatory homer to Jurickson Profar to lead off the inning, put two on but got two out. This brought Fernando Tatis Jr. to the plate, and Fairbanks walked him on a 3-2 pitch to load 'em up. By this point Fairbanks was in the red so with Manny Machado due I went with Nick Sandlin, who had been inconsistent but is tough on righties with his sidearm delivery. Not this time, though, as Machado took him out of the park for a walk-off grand slam and the Rays went from World Series winners to a shaken team now needing to win a Game 7. A couple of things didn't help: the offense's inability to score after the 2nd inning, and Tyler Glasnow's 5-inning outing which saw him walk 5 and drive up his pitch count even though he only allowed the one run. As a result we had to go a thin bullpen early. But still, a 3-run lead in the 9th is a 3-run lead in the 9th, and just as the Rays shocked the Padres in Game 5, the tables were turned in an even more cruel fashion tonight. Mike Clevinger will need to step up and hopefully help the Rays recover from this blow in Game 7.