Tuesday, 4 a.m.

It ended. The season. The playoffs. Maybe the era.

The Tampa Bay Lightning, it seems, has some answers to find. Perhaps, they have some roster shuffling to do.

The Bolts bowed out of the NHL playoffs Monday night, losing a 6-1 game to Florida. After playing in three straight Stanley Cup finals, it was the team’s second consecutive first-round ouster.

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The Bolts trailed only 2-1 going into the third period, but gave up two goals. The Florida Panthers then scored two empty netters to make the score one-sided.

Along the way, the Bolts had two goals disallowed for goaltender interference, both of which were disputed by Lighting coach Jon Cooper.

“It was clearly a turning point in the game,” Cooper said. “If anyone is going to talk about this game, they’re going to talk about the goals that were taken away. There are mandates and the words were ‘to pull a goal off the game boards, it has to be unbelievably egregious.' I couldn’t find anything remotely egregious (about the first one).

“Now we have to rebound from that. The next one is a net-front battle. I will give the goalie credit. He quit on the play. He completely quit, didn’t see it and flailed at it. Maybe there was incidental content at most. Now we have to challenge it. They saw the reaction of the goaltender. He duped them. Are net-front battles not allowed anymore? It’s like prison rules. But for the goalies, we might as well put skirts on them.

“It’s a war down there. They have to battle through stuff, too. We’re letting goalies off the hook. They've got way more pads than anyone else out there.”

Cooper pointed out was a five-game series, not a seven-game one. For the most part, the Panthers were more lethal, more dangerous.

So where do the Bolts go from here? They are still capable of great things — three 40-goal scorers, the NHL points lead, a 30-win goalie. But they seem top heavy, and too many times the bottom lines seem along for the ride.

Of course, most of the conversation has been about Steven Stamkos and the fact he doesn’t have a contract.

“I hope there’s not much conversation about it,” Cooper said. “He belongs here. We know it. He knows it. This is two seconds after a game. I don’t know what’s going to happen. But he feels like a Bolt for life.

And so the Lightning skate away in disappointment again. They need to be quicker. They need to be better. They need to last longer.

Tuesday, 3 a.m.

It’s no fun, getting hit in the head with a baseball bat.

On the other hand, it beats losing.

Ask Rays’ catcher Rene Pinto, who was struck in the skull by former Tampa Bay player Jake Bauer in the ninth inning Monday night, helping to preserve a 1-0 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers.

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The Rays were hanging onto to their 1-0 lead in the ninth, but the Brewers had runners on second and third. Bauer struck out, but the ball squeezed through Pinto’s legs and allowed the tying run to score. However, Bauer was called out — and the play ruled dead — when his backswing struck Pinto in the head.

It preserved a narrow win for the Rays, one that helped to erase a three-game sweep by the Chicago White Sox. Ryan Pepiot pitched six innings of two-hit, shutout baseball to lead the win. He struck out seven.

But the pitching performance everyone will remember was Jason Adam’s first save of the year. He gave up a leadoff double to Sal Frelick, a walk and a double steal. But after striking out Bauer, he struck out Blake Perkins on three pitches.

The Rays looked as if they could have blown the game open in the first when they started the game with a hit batter and two walks. But the only run they could manage was when Isaac Paredes hit into a double play.

The Rays and Brewers play again tonight at 7:40 p.m. in Milwaukee. Tyler Alexander will start for the Rays against Freddy Peralta.

Monday, 4 a.m.

Call it the weekend that redefined a franchise.

No longer are the Tampa Bay Rays the plucky underdogs of baseball. No longer are they the smarter, slyer counterpart to the big money boys. No longer are they the surprise contenders of the AL East.

These days, the Rays are simply a bad baseball team.

The Chicago White Sox, the punchline of major league baseball, completed a sweep of the sliding Rays, winning 4-2. The Sox have now won three games against the Rays, and three against the rest of baseball.

Talk about humbling. The Rays gave up 21 runs and 34 hits in the three games (or 24 team at-bats). They went seven-for-35 with runners in scoring position. They left 28 men on base. They struck out 25 times.

Yeah, it was bad.

So, do you see this team gathering itself for a charge? Do you see Yandy Diaz and Randy Arozarena turning their slow starts around? Or is the way it will be?

The Rays did manage two hits each from Isaac Paredes (who homered) and Richie Palacios. But the Rays aren’t putting a lot of hits together. They were 0-for-six with runners in scoring position on Sunday.

The Rays are at Milwaukee tonight at 7 p.m.