More on the Rays Fire Sale

Last time we spoke about the potential fire sale that is about to go on in Tampa Bay I explained how my semi sarcastic comment claiming that a house cleaning was about to go down in Tampa was killed on Twitter. Well a Joel Peralta, Jeremy Hellickson and Cesar Ramos trade later and a Jose Molina DFA rumors are starting to circulate around more potential trade happenings with the Rays.

Over the weekend my folder full of news sites that I have bookmarked were loaded with potential Rays players being put on the block by Tampa. Some of these players included Matt Joyce, Ben Zobrist, and basically everyone else not named Evan Longoria and Alex Cobb (for now). This sure sounds like the team is ready to blow it up and start all over to me.

When the Rays announced two rookie managerial candidates in Raul Ibanez and Doug Glanville I knew the team was ready to start over. I just hope the person who killed me on Twitter for suggesting that it was coming after the team “traded their 7^th starter away” and a “terrible relief pitcher” see’s the error of his ways and acknowledges that maybe he isn’t the smartest Rays fan in the world. That’s all that I ask. 

Yankees Take Another Day Off; Lose Embarrassingly to Rays 1-0

Chris Capuano tossed an impressive 6 innings of two-hit ball and Adam Warren followed him by getting six more outs, but since the offense never reached third and Shawn Kelley struggled in the ninth the Yankees fell in walk-off fashion tonight to the Rays, 1-0, the third time in the last five games they've done so. 

Now in his outing this evening, though he threw 101 pitches, Capuano looked really good, allowing just a pair of singles while walking and striking out four to keep the contest in a scoreless tie.

Nonetheless, since the Yanks' already-bad offense somehow got even worse the veteran left-hander eventually had to settle for a no-decision, an unfairness that only got worse in the aforementioned ninth.

And yes, that frame was just as bad as yesterday's.

After surrendering two one-out knocks to put the winning run in scoring position in the at-bat, Kelley uglily walked PH Matt Joyce, loading the bases and appearing to be enough of a reason for Joe Girardi to take the reliever out.

Nonetheless, Girardi again refused to acknowledge that the other team was threatening to cross home, leaving Kelley in to face the 1-for-4 Ben Zobrist, who lined a 1-1 fastball into right field to end the night and hopefully wake Girardi up from his no-problems-here delusion.

Roberts' 9th Inning Homer Wasted in Extras as Yankees Drop Third Straight to Rays, 4-3

Going into this season's trade deadline, it's common knowledge that the Yankees have a lot of holes to fill. 

With Michael Pineda set to miss most of summer and the entire infield struggling to hit above .250, it's obvious that a solid starter and a reliable bat would be much appreciated, although after tonight the Yanks just might have one more kind of player to acquire.

A long reliever.

Yes, that notion sounds a little dumb, but after Jose Ramirez blew another game this evening it just might become legitimate, as the Bombers fell to the Rays again, 4-3.

To start off his top of the twelfth outing, Ramirez actually retired the always-dangerous Evan Longoria and James Loney, a success that quickly went for nothing, as the youngster would go on to walk Brandon Guyer and surrender an RBI Single to Logan Forsythe that broke the tie.

That sudden and painful collapse wasted a pair of scoreless innings the Yankees had gotten from the struggling Shawn Kelley, as well as a huge, game-continuing solo home run from Brian Roberts in the bottom of the ninth. 

Prior to those seemingly momentum-shifting occurrences, David Phelps also gave the Bombers 5.2 frames of two-run ball (solo homers from Matt Joyce and Kevin Kiermaier), almost matching the line of the Rays' Chris Archer, who, besides an Brett Gardner triple and Derek Jeter groundout in New York's half of the third, was great in his 21-out performance.

Still, as I said earlier, everything the Yanks did in this one ended up being worthless, as they dropped to an ugly 2-7 in their last nine contests, 2.5 games out of the division lead, and 3 games out of the second and final wild card spot, again proving that things are not actually getting better for them.