Could someone please get a message to the Tampa Bay Rays?
Maybe remind them that, technically, the Los Angeles Angels are an awful baseball team.
Oh, you wouldn't know by their head to head meetings. Counting Friday night's 4-3 loss, the Rays have lost three of four to the Angels. They've given up 25 runs in their four games.
Otherwise, the Angels have struggled. They're in last place in the AL West and in a tie for last in the American League.
Against the Rays, however, the Angels are juggernauts. They jumped Rays' starter Shane McClanahan early, scoring all four runs on eight hits in only four innings.
The Rays climbed back into the game thanks to Jonathan Aranda, who drove in all three runs with singles in the fifth and ninth. But the Rays left the bases loaded in the first and the ninth.
In all, Tampa Bay left 10 runners on base (six walks) and, aside from Aranda, were one-for-eight with runners in scoring position.
The Rays and Angels play again tonight at 10:07 p.m. at Angels' Stadium. Griffin Jax will start for the Rays against Jose Soriano for the Angels.
In the race for ace of the Tampa Bay Rays, enter Drew Rasmussen's name to the list.
Rasmussen was overpowering Wednesday afternoon in a 7-5 victory over the Boston Red Sox at Tropicana Field. The win completed the sweep of Boston,
For the second straight game, Rasmusen (6-2) was impressive. He went seven innings and allowed just two hits and no runs. He struck out 13 batters, and struck out the top four in the Sox lineup all 11 times he faced them.
Fortes had four hits, scored four runs./KIM HUKARI
Coupled with his recent start over the Florida Marlins, Rasmussen has given up just three hits and has struck out 22 batters.
Rasmussen left with a 5-0 lead, and it looked like the win would be easy. The bullpen was shaky, however, giving up five runs in two innings.
The Rays' offense was led by Nick Fortes, who had four hits and scored four runs, and Yandy Diaz, who had three hits and drove in two. Tyler Walls had two hits.
Cedric Mullins had a two-run homer in the eighth to lengthen a one-run lead to three runs.
The Rays are off today. They travel to Los Angeles to play the Angels in Anaheim's Angels' Stadium. On Friday. Shane McClanahan will start for the Rays against a yet-to-be named starter for the Angels.
When the pitching is right, so too are the Tampa Bay Rays.
It was clear during the team's recent tumble. It was clear when the Rays took hold of the AL East.
Frankly, it's still obvious.
Nick Martinez threw seven strong innings Tuesday night, handcuffing the Boston Red Sox in a 4-3 victory at Tropicana Field.
Martinez allowed just three hits and one run through seven innings. Boston got to him for three straight hits, and two runs, in the eighth inning. However, the bullpen held strong. Kevin Kelly shut the Red Sox down in the eighth and Bryan Baker recorded his 18th save.
Baker records 18th save./KIM HUKARI
Ryan Vilade had three hits for the Rays. Ben Williamson and Nick Fortes had two,
The Rays scored three of their four runs in the fourth on run-scoring doubles by Williamson and Fortes.
The Rays and Red Sox finish their series today at 1:10 p.m. at Tropicana Field. Drew Rasmusen will start for the Rays against an unannounced pitcher from Boston.
Still, carrying an entire baseball team is impressive.
Diaz drove in two of the Rays' three runs in a 3-1 win over the Boston Red Sox at Tropicana Field Monday night.
Diaz, hitting a league-leading .325 on the season, led off the game with his 12th home run, a 390-foot shot to left field. He hit a deep sacrifice fly in the eighth for an insurance run.
The Rays' other run came on a single by Jonathan Aranda, who was stuck in a 2-for-24 slump. The Rays left 11 men on base and were just one-for-nine with runners in scoring position.
The Rays' pitching was a surprise. Ian Seymour started and allowed just one hit and one run through four innings. Casey Legumina got the win. Bryan Baker earned his 17th save.
The Red Sox had just four hits against six Rays' pitchers.
The Rays and Red Sox play the second game of their three-game series tonight at Tropicana Field at 6:40 p.m. Nick Martinez will start for the Rays against Payton Tolle.
Monday, 4 a.m. You know a team is going badly when it keeps getting mugged on Easy Street. The Tampa Bay Rays continued its struggles against losing teams Sunday afternoon, losing a 4-1 game to the Florida Marlins at loanDepot Park. In their last four series, the Rays have been swept by Baltimore (playing .477 […]
Sunday, 4 a.m. The Tampa Bay Rays continue to try to get a foothold in order to turn around a season that has gotten off-track. One day after snapping their three-game losing streak (and a span where they lost eight of 10), the Rays’ bats froze in a 4-3 loss to the Florida Marlins and […]
Saturday, 4 a.m. Turns out, the Rescue Ranger of the Tampa Bay Rays wears a red beard. Dennis Rasmussen brought relief to the slumping Tampa Bay Rays, pitching a one-hit gem (seven innings) in a 6-0 shutout over the Florida Marlins. Rasmussen allowed only a second-inning single to Javier Sanoja. He struck out nine. Perhaps […]
Thursday, 4 a.m. The days go by, and they sink lower. They look worse and worse. The beatings get more and more convincing. They are the Tampa Bay Rays, and they are playing dreadful baseball. The Rays were clobbered again Wednesday afternoon. Once again, it was an awful Detroit team that laid an awful beating […]
Wednesday, 4 a.m. Be careful when walking around the American League East these days. A Tampa Bay Ray might fall on you. The Rays, currently playing as poorly has any team in baseball, were jolted again Tuesday night at Tropicana Field. They lost 8-0 to the dreadful Detroit Tigers, only the third time they have […]
Tuesday, 4 a.m. How pronounced is the recent slump by the Tampa Bay Rays? These days, they seem to be struggling against last-place teams. The Rays made the woeful Detroit Tigers — who came in with a record that was tied for the worst in baseball — look like a World Series contender in Monday […]
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About Gary Shelton
• No one covers Tampa Bay like Gary Shelton.
• No one has seen as many moments, as many athletes, as many coaches as he has over the last quarter of a century.
• No one has won more awards, including two national Associated Press Sports Editors Best Columnist awards and eight top 10 finishes. He also just received his sixth Sportswriter of the Year award for Florida by the NSSA.
• No one has seen more big events, including 29 Super Bowls, 10 Olympics and 11 Final Fours. Gary still goes into the locker rooms to obtain his stories.
• No one has made you angrier, or laugh louder, or think harder about what he has written.
Now, he begins a website designed to keep him in touch with the readers who have grown up on his words.
