Baseball Historians

The Devil Rays are no longer.  The team officially announced that their name has changed to just the “Rays” in a pretty poorly kept secret.  The team unveiled their new logo and uniform today and while I’m not holding my breath, it’d be nice if this ushered the era of the “Winning Rays” versus the […]

It’s hard to believe I haven’t written in almost three months to the day.  I got my butt chewed out because I’m supposed to be on a schedule but I’m not the only blogger in the network who’s gone missing.  Anyway, it’s been a tough, but normal year for the Devil Rays.  They have the […]

The Orioles and their big losing streak helped the Devil Rays get out of the cellar but at 31-39, they’re still one of the worst teams in the American League.  Not that the Rays don’t have any individual performances.
Carlos Pena would be the biggest one and what a season he’s putting together.  I profiled him […]

The Devil Rays had the number one pick and they scooped up Vanderbilt pitcher David Price.  This wasn’t a huge surprise with all of the hype leading up to the draft so now the Rays just have to work on signing him.  It’s just one more gem to drop down into the Devil Rays Minor […]

Jae Seo has had a pretty tough season so he was an unlikely starter to end the Rays six game skid but he threw seven shutout innings en route to his second win of the season.  Just as impressive, he struck out seven and he gave up just two hits and two walks.
Carlos Pena provided […]

This was pretty ugly, and you wonder why Fossum was left in there for so long.  His already high ERA is even higher after giving up nine runs on nine hits and three walks in five innings.  The pen didn’t fare much better as Ruddy Lugo was hammered for three run in two innings of […]

The Devil Rays took their series against the A’s and they did it behind a great start by Scott Kazmir.  He gave up just two runs on six hits and two walks with one strikeout in seven innings.  The win pushed him to 2-1 on the season.
The Devil Rays scored all of their runs via […]

James Shields threw eight great innings yesterday as the Devil Rays took care of the A’s 4-1.  He gave up just four hits with one walks and he struck out nine and the win improved his record to 2-0.
B.J. Upton was the only Devil Ray with two hits and he drove in one of the […]

I’m not sure what’s worse, 9-1 or 11-3.  Either way, Jae Seo was pounded for six runs and he was gone before the second inning was finished.  Gary Glover was also hit hard and he gave up five runs in 2 2/3 innings.
Carlos Pena provided most of the offense for the Devil Rays.  He finished […]

Edwin Jackson dropped to 0-3 yesterday in the Devil Rays 9-1 blowout loss.  He gave up six runs (three earned) on eight hits and a walk with four strikeouts in six innings.  Juan Salas had a tough time as well and he gave up three unearned runs in the seventh to match what Edwin Jackson […]

Normally, a trip to Fenway doesn’t cure any ailments but the Jays went to Boston and swept the Red Sox on their home turf in a quick three game series. And unlike the previous week, the Jays got both some nice hitting and some solid pitching.
Frank Thomas and Vernon Wells were the stars in […]

There, Rays fans don’t get to use the words sweep and Yankees in the same sentence to much and even though it was just two games, a sweep is a sweep.
Today, Carl Crawford had the big hit.  His first career grand slam in the seventh inning turned a 3-2 deficit into a 6-3 lead as […]

The bad news in this one is the Devil Rays gave up eight runs to the Yankees.  The good news is, the Rays got their sticks working and picked up ten runs themselves to win it 10-8.  Rocco Baldelli hit a big three run homer and Akinori Iwamura had two hits, two walks and three […]

James Shields really it done today. He gave up two runs on just two hits and a walk with an impressive 12 strikeouts in eight innings of work.  Unfortunately, he was taken out and Brian Stokes imploded to blow the game.  He gave up four runs in the ninth and a 4-2 lead turned into […]

Jae Seo was handed a 5-2 lead and despite blowing it, the Devil Rays still walked away with the win.  The big hit was a sixth inning RBI ground out by Ben Zobrist that made it 6-5 and that turned out to be the game winner.  Zobrist finished with two RBIs and Ty Wigginton, B.J. […]

This one was tough.  The Devil Rays scored single runs in the sixth and seventh to tie the game up, but then Juan Salas gave up what turned out to be the game winner in the top of the ninth as the Devil Rays lost 4-3.  Edwin Jackson had a mediocre start and he gave […]

The Devil Rays picked up a win to even their series with the Orioles.  Rocco Baldelli drove in two runs in the 6-4 win and Brendan Harris and Carl Crawford each had two hits and a run.
Casey Fossum picked up the win with his second straight solid start.  He gave up three runs on five […]

James Shields was knocked around yesterday by the Orioles offense in the Rays’ 9-7 loss.  He gave up five runs on nine hits and two walks with five strikeouts in 6 1/3 innings.  Jae Kuk Ryu took the loss after he gave up three runs without getting a single batter out.
The Rays did get some […]

The pitching was just okay but the hitters got the job done today as Devil Rays salvaged a split of their four game series with the Twins.  Delmon Young hit a two run homer and Dioner Navarro went two for four with an RBI and two runs.
Jae Seo wasn’t awful.  He gave up four runs […]

The Rays dropped to 4-7 today as the pitching took it on the chin.  Edwin Jackson dropped to 0-2 after he gave up five runs in three innings and the next three relievers all gave up runs as well.  When it was all said and done, the Twins had 12 runs and that was more then enough for […]

I have to be honest.  Even with Scott Kazmir on the mound, I thought the Rays had no chance in this game but that’s why they play them. Johan Santana struck out ten Rays, but he also gave up four runs and Scott Kazmir got it done.  He gave up just two runs on six […]

Man, this was rough.  A solid start by Casey Fossum went to waste because the Devil Rays never got their bats going.  He gave up two runs on six hits with two strikeouts in seven innings of work.  Then Brian Stokes gave up the game winning homerun to Justin Morneau in the bottom of the […]

The Rays avoided a sweep yesterday as they beat the Rangers 6-5.  Tampa scored all six of their runs in the first three innings but didn’t score after that.  The Rangers did give them a scare when they hit two homeruns in sixth to make it 6-5 but that was close as they’d get.
Carlos Pena […]

Man, this was a pretty ugly game.  Jae Seo was pummelled for ten runs in three innings and both relievers who threw also gave up runs.  In the meantime, the offense did their best to try to mount a comeback but those first ten runs in the first three frames were just too much.  The […]

The Rangers broke a 2-2 tie yesterday with six runs in the sixth inning as the Devil Rays lost the series opener 8-4.  This was a team effort as Edwin Jackson not only had a rough start, the pen didn’t throw all that well either.  Jackson did take the loss and he’s now 0-1.
Carl Crawford […]

This was a pretty good pitching matchup but Scott Kazmir was on the short end of the stick in his second poor start. He did strike out ten but he gave up four runs on six hits and two walks in seven innings of work.
Rocco Baldelli was the hitting star.  He went three for four […]

I told you in my last post that I didn’t have a lot of confidence in Casey Fossum and it looks like I was right.  He gave up seven runs on eight hits and a walk with three strikeouts in just 3 2/3 innings.
Carl Crawford homered and Brendan Harris hit a three run homerun.  Delmon […]

This was a nice one.  The Devil Rays scored three runs off of B.J. Ryan no less to win it 6-5.   Delmon Young hit a huge two run shot to tie it and then B.J. Upton singled home Akinori Iwamura for the game winning run.
Iwamuri was a perfect four for four with two runs while […]

The pitching wasn’t there but the Devil Rays outhit the Yankees today.  Elijah Dukes went yard with a solo shot but he struck out three times while Akinori Iwamura scored three times in the 7-6 win.  Ben Zobrist scored twice and stole two bases.
Jae Seo gave up five runs on eleven hits in the win.  […]

If you’re a glass half full kind of guy, you can look at the fact that the Devil Rays fought back and actually took the lead in their 9-5 loss to the Yankees today.  Of course they held that lead for all of an inning and a half before Scott Kazmir finally broke down.  The […]