It made sense. Of course it did. Only a moron would suggest it didn't.
But that's the thing about the odds.
Sometimes, they slap you in the face.
Consider the bottom of the seventh in the Rays' win over Seattle Saturday. The Rays led only 2-1, and Junior Caminero was at the plate with first base open. Who in baseball wouldn't have walked Caminero?
Seattle did. And pinch-hitter Ryan Vilade made the Mariners pay.
On the first pitch from Gabe Speier, Vilade launched a three-run homer to left field. It was his seventh homer of the year.
It led the Rays to a 6-1 win.
Williamson went four-for-four./KIM HUKARI
Vilade had scuffled a lot lately. Coming in, he was one-for-his-last 18. He was five-for-his last 40 over 12 games.
The Rays had 12 hits on the day, four of them from Ben Williamson and three from Jonathan Aranda.
Griffin Jax (5-6) got the win, going five innings and allowing just four hits. The bullpen worked four innings and gave up just two hits and no runs. As a team, the Rays struck out 10 batters.
Before Vilade's home run, Aranda and Williamson each doubled in runs. The final run came when Fontes beat out an infield hit and Seattle pitcher Michael Rucker threw the ball into right field. Williamson scored on the play.
The Rays and Mariners play again today at 1:40 p.m. at Tropicana Field in their final game before the All-Star break. Ian Seymour (6-1) will start for the Rays againt Emerson Hancock (6-4).
The Tampa Bay Rays, suddenly, have discovered the joy of baseball on the other side of the fence.
The Rays, who have spent most of the season as the worst home-run hitting teams in the majors, launched four out of the park Friday night. They have now homered in 12 of their last 14 games and have hit a AL-leading 16 homers for the month.
The Rays still aren't built on power, but they have climbed to 26th in the league in homers.
Palacios started the Rays' attack,/KIM HUKARI
The Rays got homers from Richie Palacios, Cedric Mullins, Victor Mesa Jr. and Junior Caminero. Caminero now has 28 on the season.
Chandler Simpson singled in a run and Taylor Walls drove in another one with a sacrifice fly.
For the Rays, Jonathan Ararnda, Simpson and Mesa Jr. all had three hits. Caminero had two.
Nick Martinez won the game, improving his record to 8-2.
The Rays and Mariners play again today at 4:10 p.m. at Tropicana Field. Griffin Jax (4-6) will start for the Rays against Logan Gilbert (7-5).
With a chance to pull further away in the AL East Thursday, the Tampa Bay Rays fell on their noses.
The Rays were clobbered, 12-4, in a game where they simply could not calm down the Yankees.
The Yanks hammered out 14 hits on the day, three of them home runs. Ben Rice had two homers and Austin Wells one.
The Yankees did most of their damage in the third off Rays' starter Drew Rasmussen who gave up six runs and notched only seven outs in taking the loss (7-5).
The Yankees, meanwhile, had a bullpen day. Former Ray Ryan Yarbrough got the win.
After a mini-slump, Junior Caminero hit his 27th home run. Victor Mesa Jr. doubled in another run and Ben Williamson singled in one.
Chandler Simpson had two triples. Jonathan Aranda and Williamson also had two hits.
The Rays are home at Tropicana Field tonight against Seattle in their last series before the All-Star game. Nick Martinez (7-2) will start tonight's game at 7:10 p.m. against Luis Castillo (3-7)
The arms of the Tampa Bay Rays have rarely been better.
Once again, the pitching staff of the Rays dominated the big-swingers of the powerful Yankees. The Rays completed their sixth shutout of the year in a 3-0 victory over the Yankees.
The Rays have struck out 45 Yankee hitters in their three games. The Rays now lead the AL East by five games.
-- Designated hitter Yandy Diaz had four hits to up his average to .327, best in the American League.
-- First baseman Jonathan Aranda drove in all three runs, giving him 61 for the season, good for fourth in the AL.
-- Reliever Bryan Baker had his 25th save of the season.
In all, it overwhelmed the Yankees, who have won only two of their last 13 games.
The Rays and Yankees play again today at 1:10 p.m. at Tropicana Field. Drew Rasmussen will start for the Rays. The Yankees have not announced a starter.
Wednesday, 4 a.m. So which team is the Bombers around here? The Tampa Bay Rays, among the major league teams that have hit the fewest home runs this season, beat the powerful New York Yankees at their own game Tuesday night. Even with their recent power surge, the Rays rank only 26th in the majors […]
Tuesday, 4 a.m. Just asking. What, exactly, did the Rays get in return when they traded away Jose Caballero? Oh, Everson Pereira, who lasted a cup of coffee with the Rays? I guess it’s proper to suggest the Rays lost that trade, huh? Caballero, once a role player with the Rays, launched two home runs […]
Monday, 4 a.m. Shhh. Once again, the bats of the Tampa Bay Rays are sleeping. Careful, or you might wake them up. The Rays, who tend to go quiet on the days their Big Three do, lost their second straight game Sunday in a 2-0 defeat at the hands of the Houston Astros at Daikin […]
Sunday, 4 a.m. When a team is riding a winning streak, it always seems rude when a game turns out the wrong way. But this? The Rays blew a five-run lead and lost 10-8 to the Houston Astros. Yordan Alvarez homered twice and drove in six runs as the Astros stopped the Rays’ nine-game winning […]
Saturday, 4 a.m. And on today’s ongoing Junior News, he’s at it again. These days, what’s up with Junior Caminero of the Tampa Bay Rays is a separate category of what’s going on with his team. Both are soaring, by the way. After taking a night off from his home run streak, Caminero homered again […]
Friday, 4 a.m. Turns out, the Rays can win without Junior Caminero. It just isn’t as much fun. Caminero had his six-game home run streak stopped Thursday night in a 5-2 victory over Kansas City. It was a rare quiet game by Caminero, who had nine homers in his previous eight games. This season, Caminero […]
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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.
