Rays Drop Fifth Straight, Slip Farther Back In Wild Card Race

by Erik Hahmann on Aug 15, 2009 9:49 AM EDT

James Shields: 8IP, 8H, 0BB, 7K, 111 pitches... 5ER, 2HR

Roy Halladay: 8IP, 8H, 0BB, 6K, 111 pitches...1ER, 1HR

Other than the earned runs and home runs James Shields out pitched Roy Hallday. Take that, Roy!

Shields' first three innings were awful. However, from the 4th inning on Shields allowed only one baserunner. It's as if he was two totally different pitchers tonight. If the Rays are going to get anywhere close to the Wild Card lead they're going to need the pitcher from innings 4-8 to show up a lot more.

-Every fanbase complains about the strike zone and how they're pitcher didn't get a call or is constantly getting squeezed. On this site we've gotten on our collective soap box and cried the need for robot umpires, but tonight the humanoid umpire called a game a robot would be proud of. Who was the umpire who called such a clean game? Derryl 'Shoe Box' Cousins.

via brooksbaseball.dustinkikuchi.com

That's James Shields strikezone plot. No green dots within the strikezone at all. Can't say I've seen too many pitch f/x charts like that. Roy Hallday's had a couple of low strikes that were not called, but I'm focusing on James Shields here. But speaking of Hallday...

He apparently loves the left side of the plate, and he owned it last night The Rays sent up six left handed batters last night and Halladay pounded them inside for most of it:

via brooksbaseball.dustinkikuchi.com

-The bright spot for the Rays last night was Carl Crawford. He went 4-4 to raise his average to .318 for the season. Crawford was only able to score once with those four chances, due to the Rays 3-4-5 hitters going 1-11, yet only striking out two times. That's not quite going to cut it against a machine like Halladay.

-It's not too often that Carl Crawford and B.J. Upton get caught stealing in the same game.

-Congrats to Gregg Zaun for his first Zaun Bomb as a Ray.

-The losing needs to stop here. They have dropped five games in a row, and the Wild Card is getting farther and farther away as each day passes. Scott Kazmir needs to forget his start in Seattle and focus on the two strong outings he had last home stand. Also, the Rays offense needs to treat Brian Tallet like he is Brian Tallet.

Tweet Comment 26 comments | 0 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

What Upton did last night is inexcusable, defenseless and should be made accountable for

In all the years i’ve watched baseball, i can’t recall an act so selfish,self-serving and stupid

And hopefully you jest when saying Shields “outpitched Halladay”. Putting your team down 5-0 in 2+ IP is curtains v Halladay

by Raymondo on Aug 15, 2009 10:03 AM EDT reply actions

What did he do?!?

I only watched bits and pieces of the game. Once we were down 5-0 I lost interest entirely.

by acablue on Aug 15, 2009 10:57 AM EDT up reply actions

down 5-2 he leads off the 8th with a single, gets thrown out attempting to steal

2B, Crawford follows with a single, so it could have brpight the tyomg run to the plate

excuse there was 1 out when he singled, makes no diff, you never steal a base when that run means nothing

by Raymondo on Aug 15, 2009 11:02 AM EDT up reply actions

We do this all the time

I remember BJ did it previously in one of our big comeback games. I remember MVB trying to steal third in a bad spot

we fail with fundamentals. It’s why we are on the outside looking in

Can David Ortiz please send Dioner Navarro some of his PED's? K? Thanks

by matthan on Aug 15, 2009 11:05 AM EDT via mobile up reply actions

Thinking 'outside the box' has found us 'outside, looking in'

by Raymondo on Aug 15, 2009 11:07 AM EDT up reply actions

Both caught stealings brought the wind out of the sails for that inning.

Swav or Die (>'-')> <('-')> <('-'<)
For the lulz

by SRQman on Aug 15, 2009 11:56 AM EDT up reply actions

To suggest Crawford's CS in the 1st inning is in any way comparable

to Upton’s in the 8th doesn’t even deserve this reply

by Raymondo on Aug 15, 2009 12:03 PM EDT up reply actions

I was just saying that both seemed to be the begining of end for offense in that inning.

When CC got caught it changed it to 2 outs no one on. I can’t remember the count but it was favorable for Evan IIRC. When Upton got caught stealing, there was 0 outs and Zaun just hit his HR and Upton got on. Then with Upton getting CS it was stupid he even went.

Swav or Die (>'-')> <('-')> <('-'<)
For the lulz

by SRQman on Aug 15, 2009 12:12 PM EDT up reply actions

What did he do? I missed the game

and I agree about shields.

Can David Ortiz please send Dioner Navarro some of his PED's? K? Thanks

by matthan on Aug 15, 2009 11:03 AM EDT via mobile up reply actions

SP this year has been very dissapointing to say the least

by Raymondo on Aug 15, 2009 11:08 AM EDT up reply actions

Funny because if Bartlett would've done it

He probably would’ve been praised for his aggressiveness. In fact I remember MVB being thrown at at third base in a late inning situation and it was no big deal.

But I forgot only we cherry pick about our favorite players.

www.draysbay.com

by Tommy Rancel on Aug 15, 2009 12:39 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions

I actually mentioned this a few comments up

However I do remember Bartlett taking a lot of heat when he attempted to steal that base. So it has little to do with favoritism. Upton made a dumb boneheaded play. No other way to slice it. The rays as a whole lack fundamentals

Can David Ortiz please send Dioner Navarro some of his PED's? K? Thanks

by matthan on Aug 15, 2009 1:02 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions

I was talking about Raymondo's favoritism

www.draysbay.com

by Tommy Rancel on Aug 15, 2009 1:53 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions

I was talking about Raymondo's favoritism

www.draysbay.com

by Tommy Rancel on Aug 15, 2009 1:54 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions

Sorry i'm late with this--i was delayed

If i show any favoritism it is purely coincidental

The attempt was ill-advised at best, and yes i do remember Bartlett’s a while back, and though i don’t remember the game reset, i remember thinking how dumb it was

by Raymondo on Aug 15, 2009 3:19 PM EDT up reply actions

I think people gave Bartlett a hard time

That was the same game that BJ misjudged the ball with two outs and Wheeler on the mound after Wheeler didn’t get a call on a clear strike 3. Of course BJ got it harder, but there was basrunning criticism.

Follow Me on Twitter @FreeZorilla

by FreeZorilla on Aug 15, 2009 3:30 PM EDT up reply actions

Oh get off your high horse

A successful steal there (and he certainly looked safe from the outfield) and that single cuts the lead to two. You can’t blame the guy for trying to manufacture a run.

For the record he went 2-3 and had at least three amazing catches that would have dropped with 95% of the other fielders in the league. With anyone else in CF, the lead would have been 7-2 at least.

BJ getting caught stealing didn’t kill this game—going 1-12 with the 4/5/6 hitters killed this game.

Into the Wall : Sarcasm for the Soccer Guy

by ReasonableDoubt on Aug 15, 2009 1:20 PM EDT up reply actions