DRaysBay: All Posts by Steve Kinsella

Rays Bullpen Rounding Into Form

2013-06-14T17:00:12Z

The 2012 Rays bullpen led the American League in ERA (2.88) and FIP (3.19) and were 2nd in fWAR (6.1) For the first time in several off-seasons the Rays front office was not reconstructing a bullpen over the winter. The bullpen was thought to be a strength for the team heading into 2013 but through the first month and a half of the season the Rays bullpen struggled.

If it wasn't Jake McGee struggling it was Fernando Rodney or both. Kyle Farnsworth was seldom used and when he entered a game negative results usually followed. Jamey Wright started well and then he struggled. Brandon Gomes was given an opportunity but wasn't effective before heading to the disabled list with a right lat strain and Josh Lueke couldn't command the strike zone. The only member of the bullpen to avoid a prolonged stretch of poor performances has been Joel Peralta.

Early in the season there were some who felt Fernando Rodney and Cesar Ramos may have been feeling the effects of the World Baseball Classic. Others felt that Joe Maddon didn't give the relievers enough quality work in spring training. Most of the what's wrong with the bullpen discussion has quieted as over the last several weeks the Rays bullpen has seemed to come together and are beginning to deliver results. The table below from Fangraphs represents the last 14 days:

Name	W	L	SV	G	IP	K/9	BB/9	ERA	FIP
Alex Torres	0	0	0	5	10	14.4	0.90	0.00	0.16
Cesar Ramos	0	1	1	4	11	7.36	2.45	2.45	2.25
Jake McGee	0	0	0	6	5	12.6	0.00	1.80	0.26
Fernando Rodney	0	0	3	5	5.2	11.12	4.76	3.18	2.18
Jamey Wright	1	0	0	8	9.1	11.57	3.86	3.86	3.17
Joel Peralta	1	0	0	7	6	6	6.00	0.00	3.73
Josh Lueke	0	0	0	2	2.1	7.71	7.71	0.00	3.92
Kyle Farnsworth	0	0	0	6	6	6	0.00	3.00	4.40

Fernando Rodney got off to a slow start in April and many felt it was a lack of consistent work that was plaguing him but that proved not to be the case as once he began to receive consistent work he began to consistently give up leads. From May 3 to May 25 he blew 4 save opportunities. He worked 11 innings and walked 11 hitters and gave up 2 home runs while giving up 9 earned runs. Since blowing a save against the Yankees on May 25th he has worked in 8 games (8 innings) walked only 4 while striking out 10. He has only given up 2 earned runs and has converted all 4 save opportunities.

Jake McGee could do no right through his first 15 appearances covering 12 innings of work. He allowed 19 hits, 15 earned runs, surrendered 4 home runs, and had issued 8 walks. In his next 14 appearances covering 13 innings of work he has only allowed 1 earned run on 4 hits while striking out 16 and walking only 2.

Jamey Wright was one of the few bright spots in the bullpen to open the season. Through his first 15 appearances covering 14 innings he had only allowed 2 earned runs on 9 hits striking out 12 and only walking 4. Over his next 9 games (May 8 though June 4) he saw his numbers do a 180-degree turn. Over 13 innings of work he allowed 11 earned runs on 14 hits and issuing 7 walks. Over his last 5 outings Wright has worked 4.1 scoreless innings allowing only 1 hit striking out 6 and walking 2.

Cesar Ramos got off to a bumpy start of the season. He made 10 appearances in April working 6.1 innings allowing 5 earned runs on 9 hits walking 3 striking out 3 and allowing a home run. Since the beginning of May he has worked in 13 games delivering an impressive 24 innings. He has allowed 9 earned runs on 22 hits while striking out 19 and walking only 8.

Kyle Farnsworth was seldom used early in the season and when he did make an appearance he was giving up hits and the lack of strikeouts was alarming. From opening day through May 20th he only appeared in 15 games working 10.2 innings. He allowed 10 earned runs on 20 hits while walking 4 with only 5 strikeouts and giving up 3 home runs. Over his last 8 games he has worked 7 innings allowed only 2 earned runs on 5 hits striking out 4 while walking none.

Maybe the biggest addition to the bullpen has been left handed pitcher Alex Torres who has delivered an impressive 14.1 scoreless innings of work allowing only 3 hits while striking out 19 and walking only 3. Torres performance has elevated him from the long man in the bullpen to a reliever that will be tested in some higher leverage situations.

If the Rays starting pitching can get to consistently giving a minimum of 6 innings and the offense can continue to perform to go along with the solid relief effort the Rays should be able to string together victories and make up some ground in the AL East. The good news is that David Price and Wil Myers should be added to the roster soon to help with the starting staff and boost the offense.

Hellickson & Trio Of Relievers Shut Out Orioles 8-0

2013-06-09T00:14:49Z

The Rays defeated the Baltimore Orioles 8-0 to win their 10th game in 13 games and their 5th in a row at Tropicana Field. The victory improves the Rays record to a season high 7 games over .500 at 34-27 and with the loss the Orioles fall to 34-28.

Jeremy Hellickson (4-2, 5.18 ERA) was outstanding working 6 scoreless innings allowing only 4 hits striking out 5 and walking none. It was the first time Hellickson has won back to back decisions since July 24 and July 29, 2012. On the afternoon he threw 96 pitches and 62 for strikes. Alex Torres worked a 10-pitch scoreless 7th inning striking out 2 hitters, Jamey Wright came in to work a scoreless 8th,and Kyle Farnsworth came in to work a scoreless 9th.

For Alex Torres it continued an impressive streak of appearances in 2013 that send a message to the Rays that he is done with Triple-A. In his 5 appearances between two separate stints with the Rays he has allowed 1 hit and 3 walks with 14 strike outs in 11.1 innings pitched.

The Orioles threatened Hellickson in just two innings, the 1st and the 5th. In the 1st they put 2-on with 2-out and forced 23 pitches but Chris Davis popped out harmlessly to 3rd to end the inning.

After retiring 10 batters in a row Matt Wieters and J.J. Hardy opened the 5th with back-to-back singles before Chris Dickerson struck out. Ryan Flaherty sent a ground ball to James Loney who threw to 2nd for the force out and Yunel Escobar's relay throw was in time for the double play but Hellickson was late getting to the bag and Flaherty was safe. The play did not hurt as Nate McClouth flew out to left to end the inning.

The Rays grabbed an early 1-0 lead on a 2-out RBI by Evan Longoria to drive in Ben Zobrist who had doubled. They extended their lead to 3-0 in the 2nd inning after Luke Scott drew a 1-out walk, moved to second on a single by Jose Lobaton, and came into score on a Yunel Escobar RBI single to push the lead to 2-0. Gausman came back to strike out Matt Joyce for the 2nd out in the inning but was unable to escape further damage as Ben Zobrist delivered a 2-out RBI single to extend the Rays lead to 4-0.

The Rays broke the game open in the bottom of the 5th inning and in the process knocked Orioles starter Kevin Gausman out of the game. Ben Zobrist doubled to lead off the inning, Evan Longoria drew a 1-out walk and James Loney delivered an RBI single to give the Rays a 4-0 lead. Desmond Jennings walked to load the bases and left hander T.J. McFarland was brought in to the game to face the left handed hitting Scott who was just 5 for his lat 44 (.114 avg) and had gone 11 games without an RBI. Scott met the challenge by lacing a triple into the right field corner driving in 3 runs. Jose Lobaton chased Scott home with a double to complete the Rays scoring.

The Rays bottom of the order was the catalyst for the Rays offense today. The trio combined to go 7 for 11 with 3 runs scored drove in 5 runs and drew a walk. Luke Scott was 1-3 with a walk, a run scored and 3 RBI, Jose Lobaton was 3-4 with a run scored and a RBI, and Yunel Escobar was 3 for 4 with an RBI.

Jose Lobaton continues to shine for the Rays. He is hitting .329 (25 for 76) with 9 extra-base hits, 10 RBI and 10 walks over his last 26 games a span which dates back to April 25th. In that time he leads all catchers (min 75 PAs) with a .907 OPS.

The Rays will look for their second consecutive sweep against the Orioles tomorrow afternoon at 1:40. The Rays will send Matt Moore (8-1, 2.95 ERA) to the mound and the Orioles will counter with Chris Tillman (5-2, 3.97 ERA).

Series Preview: Baltimore Orioles

2013-06-07T17:30:05Z

The Baltimore Orioles are the team that just won't collapse. No matter how many pitchers they lose to injury (already used 11 starting pitchers this season) and regardless of how many blown saves Jim Johnson can have they keep fighting back and refuse to wilt under the pressure of high expectations. Count me in as one who kept waiting for the collapse last year, did not feel they improved over the winter, and thought that they'd quickly come down to earth in a tough AL East in 2013. Here we are heading in to the second weekend in June and the 32-27 Rays are 1.5 games behind the 34-26 Orioles.

The two teams have already met 9 times this season with the Rays holding a 5-4 advantage. The Rays swept the most recent series in Baltimore May 17 thorough 19th but that Orioles treated that as a speed bump as they arrive in St. Petersbug winners of 11 of their last 16 games.

The pitching matchups for the weekend series are: Jason Hammel (7-3, 5.43 ERA) vs Chris Archer (0-1, 11.25 ERA) on Friday at 7:10 p.m., Kevin Gausman (0-2 7.20 ERA) vs Jeremy Hellickson (3-2, 5.59 ERA) on Saturday at 4:10 p.m., and Chris Tillman (5-2, 3.97 ERA) vs Matt Moore (8-1, 2.95 ERA).

The Offense

Chris Davis continues to torch the baseball. On the season he is posting a slash line of .356/.436/.740 with a .473 wOBA and a 207 wRC+. He has 20 HR and 20 doubles and is the first player since 1921 to have 20 of each in his teams first 60 games. On his current pace he would hit 55 home runs and 55 doubles and join Albert Belle as the only player to eclipse 50 of each in a season...and Belle did his trick in only 143 games in 1995.

Manny Machado leads the majors in doubles with 26 and is tied for 2nd in MLB with 26 multi-hit games.

Since May 18th the Orioles have stolen 18 consecutive bases.

The Orioles have at least two extra base hits in 34 straight games and they have homered 31 times in their last 15 games. They lead the majors in home runs (84), extra base hits (219), and slugging (.465). They are second in the AL in OPS (.794), runs scored (301), hits (571), doubles (130), and batting average (.276). The table below represents the Orioles offense over the past 30-days.

Name	PA	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OBP	SLG	wOBA	wRC+
Chris Davis	116	11	22	0	0.385	0.448	0.808	0.519	231
Chris Dickerson	42	4	9	2	0.310	0.310	0.643	0.404	154
J.J. Hardy	112	8	18	0	0.305	0.348	0.600	0.401	152
Nick Markakis	117	4	18	0	0.336	0.385	0.523	0.391	145
Danny Valencia	34	3	7	0	0.250	0.294	0.625	0.386	142
Manny Machado	124	0	10	2	0.339	0.366	0.475	0.364	126
Adam Jones	120	7	15	5	0.276	0.300	0.491	0.338	109
Matt Wieters	102	4	19	1	0.253	0.304	0.495	0.330	103
Nate McLouth	104	1	3	12	0.289	0.327	0.381	0.310	90
Yamaico Navarro	31	0	2	0	0.286	0.333	0.357	0.305	87
Steve Pearce	37	2	4	1	0.206	0.270	0.412	0.297	81
Ryan Flaherty	40	1	3	0	0.243	0.300	0.351	0.290	77
Alexi Casilla	35	0	3	3	0.207	0.294	0.310	0.269	62

Jim Johnson seems to be over his struggles that he experienced in mid-May and has recorded 20 saves. Over his last 4 appearances he has worked 4 scoreless innings allowing only 2 hits striking out 5 and walking 0. Tommy Hunter has really settled in to the Orioles bullpen. Since April 12th he is 3-0 with an 0.95 ERA and has struck out 21 and walked only 5 in a span of 28.1 innings pitched. The table below represents the relievers performance over the past 30-days.

Name	W	L	SV	G	IP	K/9	BB/9	HR/9	ERA	FIP
Tommy Hunter	2	0	0	11	17.1	7.27	1.04	1.04	1.56	3.64
Brian Matusz	1	0	0	14	11	7.36	2.45	0.82	3.27	3.43
Darren O'Day	1	0	0	11	9	10.00	3.00	1.00	2.00	3.95
Alex Burnett	0	0	0	2	1.1	13.50	13.50	0.00	20.25	4.56
Steve Johnson	1	0	0	4	7.2	14.09	4.70	2.35	5.87	4.89
Jim Johnson	1	3	8	13	12	7.50	2.25	1.50	9.00	4.56
Pedro Strop	0	1	0	8	6.2	8.10	6.75	1.35	6.75	5.46
Troy Patton	0	0	0	10	14	7.71	3.21	1.93	7.07	5.21
T.J. McFarland	0	0	0	7	15	4.80	4.20	1.80	6.00	6.00

Jason Hammel:

The Rays faced Hammel on May 17th and knocked him out of the game in the 5th inning. He only worked 4.2 innings allowed 7R/ER on 10 hits striking out 4 and walking 2. Since that outing he has made 3 starts and worked 17.2 innings posting a record of 2-1 with a 4.58 ERA striking out 14, walking 5, and allowing 4 home runs.

Kevin Gausman:

Gasuman was the Orioles #1 pick last season (#4 overall) and rocketed to the big leagues after only 13 minor league starts between 2012 and 2013. He will be making his 4th big league start and in his first 3 he's worked 15 innings giving up 12R/ER on 20 hits with 9 strike outs and 3 walks.

Fangraphs Scouting Profile:

Gausman works off his 96-98 MPH four-seam fastball with features significant arm side run and sink when located down in the zone. The pitch frequently touched 99 MPH, even in later innings. When elevated up in the zone, the pitch maintained velocity but flattened out and became hittable. On Friday, Gausman demonstrated a clear preference to keep the pitch down in the zone — where it was most effective — a tendency which may explain his 51.5% ground ball rate this year.

Chris Tillman:

The Rays have faced Tillman twice this year and beat him both times. He has worked 11 innings and allowed 7R/ER on 11 hits including 4 home runs.

From the last Series Preview:

Tillman had a very successful 2012 season with the Orioles posting a 9-3 record with a 2.93 ERA but his numbers served as a red flag for many analyst who predicted a downfall 2013 season for him. His FIP in 2012 was 4.25 (xFIP of 4.34) , his BABIP against was .221, and he lost velocity due to an elbow ailment in September. The thought was that he had gotten by with smoke and mirrors and that he'd regress in 2013.

Speaking Of Ozzie Smith, Topps Baseball Cards, & My Youth

2013-06-06T16:16:31Z

When I was a child growing up in Cleveland Ohio there was always a nervous anticipation in early February as I walked to the corner drug store with my father and the family dog. The anxiety was created out of the excitement of knowing that the new Topps Baseball Cards would be coming out very soon. In the late 70's and early 80's there wasn't a known release date, I had no idea what the cards would look like, all I cared about was opening those wax packs, chomping on the gum, and shuffling through the pack to see if I got any of Indians or one of my favorite players.

Each and every year one of the first cards I would want to get was my favorite player, Ozzie Smith. Although he wasn't a member of my beloved Tribe he was the guy that I thought I could be. In middle school I was one of the smallest kids in my grade and like Ozzie, my power alley was located somewhere right over the shortstops head, so I gravitated more toward the glove men in major league baseball and there wasn't a better glove man around than the Wizard of Oz.

We had a game that some of the guys would play called amazing catches. One kid would hit grounders or fly balls to the left or right of the fielders. I'd spend my time in the infield tracking down groundballs to my left and right and throwing what I'll describe here as a rocket (more likely a lollipop) to nail the imaginary runner. The whole time humming the music from This Week In Baseball's amazing plays segment.

Trading baseball cards was standard practice back in my childhood and never was the cards dollar value the main attraction to the trade. The circle of card collecting friends knew which players were valued by each member and the trade negotiations often bordered on the absurd.

The quest to obtain the card of the player you liked as well as to get the cards that others coveted extended far beyond the local drug store. The goal was to find a store that carried the cello pack (clear cellophane wrapped cards). If you were really lucky you may find the 3-pack strip of cello wrapped cards on display in an aisle.

With clear cellophane wrapping you had the ability to see the top card and bottom card of each pack. They were slightly more expensive then the wax pack but if you were to get to a store such as Gold Circle at Severance Mall before the local competition you'd have all the time in the world to rifle through (well, until the store staff came and yelled at you) and get the best of the best off the shelf.

The exhilaration of being first to a freshly laid out cello pack was an amazing feeling but to find the card you were looking for at the top or bottom of one of the packs was the cherry on top. It's a foggy memory as to whether getting the player I wanted most (Ozzie Smith) or the player coveted by one of my neighborhood rivals was more desirable. Knowing my personality I wanted the card coveted by my rival as leverage as well as to hold bragging rights until either he broke down and met my demands or acquired the card through other means.

Looking back on my youth the game of baseball wasn't spread through cable television or the internet. The players faces became known during the spring time when rifling though the Topps Baseball Cards. I'd commit the statistics to memory and have my father quiz me as I ate my morning cereal. I can still hear my mother saying "If you'd only spend half as much time on your schoolwork as you did with those baseball cards...." and I'm sure I'm not the only one to hear that line uttered from a parent.

Topps Archives Baseball is a celebration of the 70s, 80s and 90s, what many consider to be the glory years of card collecting. If you collected Topps Baseball Cards during these years then you will love Topps Archives Baseball. Look for autographs and memorabilia cards from today’s stars and your favorite retired players on classic Topps card designs.

Ubaldo Jimenez Silences Rays Bats, Indians Get To Archer Defeat Rays 5-0

2013-06-01T21:09:39Z

The Indians received a stellar outing from Ubaldo Jimenez (4-3, 4.83 ERA ) in defeating the Rays 5-0 to improve their record to 30-25. Chris Archer (0-1, 11.25 ERA) started for the Rays and took the loss.

Archer was making his season debut with the Rays and faced three batters in the 5th inning before being removed from the game with the Rays trailing 5-0. On the afternoon he completed 4 innings of work allowing the Indians 5R/ER on 7 hits including two home runs while striking out 4 and walking 3.

After a quick 1-2-3 inning in the first he issued a leadoff walk to Nick Swisher in the 2nd and left a changeup up in the zone that Jason Giambi deposited in the seats to give the Indians an early 2-0 lead (screen grab from MLB.com)

The Indians added another run in the 3rd on a double by Jason Kipnis who moved to 3rd on a ground out by Asdrubal Cabrera. Nick Swisher worked the count full and Archer had appeared to strike him out but the umpire didn't agree. The inning was extended for Jason Giambi who delivered with an RBI single to drive in Kipnis with the Indians 3rd run (from brooksbaseball.net).

The Indians used the long ball to add two more runs against Archer in the bottom of the 5th to extend their lead to 5-0. Jason Kipnis led off with a single and Asdrubal Cabrera followed with a 2-run homer off another poorly located changeup to put the Indians up 5-0 (screengrab MLB.com).

Following the homer to Cabrera Nick Swisher sent a line drive screamer back up the middle that glanced off of Archer and knocked him down. It was the 3rd time this season that he has been hit by a batted ball. After getting up and dusting himself off Joe Maddon went to the bullpen and called on Alex Torres.

Torres was once again brilliant in relief working the final 4 scoreless innings and saving the Rays bullpen after the long night last night. In his 4 innings of work he allowed only 1 hit while striking out 6 and only walking 1. Of his 52 pitches 35 were for strikes. He had 10 of 14 first pitch strikes and induced 11 swing and misses.

Archer made 94 pitches on the afternoon and 55 were for strikes. He threw a first pitch strike to 15 of the 22 batters he faced and was able to get 10 swing and misses. Of the 7 hits he gave up on the afternoon 5 came when he was behind in the count 2-1, 1 when the count was even at 2-2, and 1 when he was ahead in the count 0-1.

The Rays bats went silent in large part due to the effectiveness of Ubaldo Jimenez who mixed his speed, missed a lot of bats, and had tremendous location. He went 8 shutout innings and allowed only 4 hits and 3 of them were infield hits. He struck out 7 and issued only 1 walk. He threw a season tying high 108 pitches and 72 strikes including 13 swing and misses.

After the game Joe Maddon was asked whether or not Archer would make his next start and said,"No, we haven't even discussed that. There's no reason to think that he would not get that next opportunity." It's an understandable position as pulling the rug out from under Archer after 1 poor outing may not do too much for his confidence moving forward.

Of his performance Archer said "my fastball command really wasn't there - as consistently as I would like it, and if you fall behind a good hitting team then leave pitches up, you're going to get banged." As the screen captures above point out he certainly left a few pitches up and the good hitting Indians made him pay.

He looks forward to his next start and views it as a test saying "from the 2nd through the 5th was a battle but I think the true test is how do I bounce back. Do I let it get to me or do I come back and execute pitches better next outing."

The Rays were given a boost heading into the series final thanks to the stellar work by Alex Torres allowing the bullpen a day off which includes an important 2-day break for the back end guys Joel Peralta, Jake McGee, and Fernando Rodney.

James Loney also began contributing to tomorrow's game by making Indians closer Vinnie Pestano throw 9 pitches with 2-out and nobody on to push his pitch count up. Desmond Jennings followed Loney's lead and made him throw 6 pitches before flying out to end the game.

The Rays will look for the series victory tomorrow at 1:05 and will turn to Jeremy Hellickson (2-2, 5.61 ERA) to the mound and the Indians will counter with Zach McAllister (4-4, 3.08).

Series Preview: Cleveland Indians

2013-05-31T17:00:06Z

Which team will the Rays face this weekend at Progressive Field? The team whose starters were knocked around in starting the year 8-13? The team that had all cylinders firing at once going 18-4 to push their record to 26-17? Or the team that found ways to lose on a nightly basis in losing 8 of their last 11 to fall to 28-24 on the year?

The Indians offense has been streaky this season and has been in a minor slump for the last 2 weeks but overall they still rank high in several offensive categories in the AL including 3rd in runs per game (4.94), 2nd in HR (67), 4th in batting average (.262), 2nd in SLG% (.447), and 2nd in OPS (.779). Mark Reynolds has been a big surprise this season leading the team with 13 homers. Carlos Santana has cooled off somewhat but still has an OPS of .908.

Since the two teams last met several changes have been made to the Indians roster. Lou Marson who was bulled over at home plate by Desmond Jennings has landed on the disabled list with a shoulder injury and has been replaced by Yan Gomes who was acquired along with Mike Aviles from the Toronto Blue Jays over the winter for Esmil Rogers. Gomes has been a pleasant surprise posting a slash line of .292/.309/.631 with 5 home runs in 68 plate appearances.

Jason Giambi was on the disabled list when the two teams met and since coming off the disabled list he's put up a slash line of .185/.267/.431 with 4 HR and 16 RBI in 75 plate appearances. He has been able to hit well with runners in scoring position and is just now coming out of an 0 for 23 stretch.

Lonnie Chisenhall's struggles landed him back in Triple-A Columbus and since his demotion on May 13th the Indians have been using a 8 man bullpen - and at times 8 hasn't been enough.

Their bullpen has fallen apart over the last few weeks. Closer Chris Perez has landed on the disabled list with some sort of impingement in his throwing shoulder. Vinnie Pestano was on the disabled list and has been inserted in the closers role but has been unable to find his velocity which is a concern to many.

How bad has the bullpen been? Over the last two weeks they have an ERA of 7.46 (34 earned runs in 41 innings of work). The table below shows how bad the pen has been over the past two weeks.

Name	ERA	SV	BS	IP	BB	SO
Scott Barnes	0.00	1	0	3.2	0	4
Cody Allen	1.35	0	0	6.2	1	10
Joe Smith	2.08	0	1	4.1	2	5
Matt Albers	2.25	0	0	4	2	6
Bryan Shaw	6.75	0	1	6.2	1	7
Rich Hill	10.13	0	1	5.1	5	6
Vinnie Pestano	10.80	0	2	5	3	5
Chris Perez	17.18	0	1	3.2	5	4
*David Huff	33.75	0	0	1.1	1	3
Nick Hagadone	54.00	0	0	0.1	0	0
* No Longer On Roster

As inconsistent as the offense has been and as unreliable as the bullpen has been the Indians starting pitching has held together nicely over the last 30-days while facing formidable opponents. Over the last 30-days the Indians starters have the 2nd lowest ERA (3.79) and the 3rd lowest FIP (3.90) in the American League. The table below shows the numbers for the Indians starters over the past 30 days.

Name	W	L	ERA	IP	HR	BB	SO
Trevor Bauer	1	1	1.59	11.1	0	8	9
Zach McAllister	3	1	2.82	38.1	5	10	25
Justin Masterson	4	1	3.02	41.2	3	14	44
Ubaldo Jimenez	2	1	4.23	27.2	4	13	34
Scott Kazmir	2	1	5.04	25	4	9	28
Corey Kluber	1	3	5.52	29.1	5	7	32

The Rays vs Corey Kluber

Kluber has been filling in for injured starter Brett Myers and has had his ups and downs but has pitched much better of late.

After a drubbing at the hands of the Tigers on May 10th where he gave up 8ER in 4.2 IP and only struck out 4 and walked 2 he has had three very effective outings.

His next start against the Phillies he went 6 innings allowing 3ER and struck out 5 walked 0. In a rematch against he Tigers he gave up 3ER in 6.1 IP and struck out 8 walked 0. His last outing against the Red Sox and he went 6.2 IP allowing 1ER striking out 10 walking 1.

Pitch	Count	Freq	Velo (mph)	HR	BA	SLG	ISO	BABIP	TAv
Fourseam (FA)	57	9%	93.23	0	0.200	0.200	0.000	0.500	0.216
Sinker (SI)	267	41%	93.40	2	0.394	0.591	0.197	0.453	0.345
Cutter (FC)	177	27%	89.69	2	0.189	0.378	0.189	0.208	0.221
Slider (SL)	66	10%	83.00	1	0.200	0.400	0.200	0.400	0.209
Changeup (CH)	88	13%	85.29	0	0.333	0.400	0.067	0.385	0.260
Data from Brooksbaseball.net

Rays Vs Ubaldo Jimenez

Although Ubaldo Jimenez has a long track record I am going to focus on what he has done in a smaller sample size of the month of May since he has been working on a new process with Tito Francona and pitching coach Mickey Callaway. In his last 7 starts dating back to April 21 Jimenez has gone 3-1 with a 3.86 ERA striking out 42 and walking 16 in 39.2 innings of work. The only hiccup in that body of work came against the Detroit Tigers who lit him up for 6 earned runs in 4 innings of work. Although he may never be the Ubaldo Jimenez that was at one time 15-1 he has seen a return to the serviceable pitcher which is a long way from where he was during the 2nd half of 2011 and the early part of April this year.

Ubaldo Jimenez In May
Pitch	Count	Freq	Velo (mph)	HR	BA	SLG	ISO	BABIP	TAv
Fourseam (FA)	118	24%	92.79	0	0.280	0.400	0.120	0.636	0.266
Sinker (SI)	128	26%	91.27	3	0.296	0.704	0.407	0.263	0.364
Slider (SL)	112	23%	83.75	0	0.300	0.400	0.100	0.375	0.273
Curveball (CU)	16	3%	77.51	0	0.286	0.286	0.000	0.400	0.211
Changeup (CH)	5	1%	83.09	0	0.000	0.000	0.000	0.000	0.260
Splitter (FS)	106	22%	83.5	1	0.133	0.233	0.100	0.167	0.189
Data From Brooksbaseball.net

Rays vs Zach McAllister

McAllister faced the Rays in St. Pete on April 5th and allowed 4R/2ER in 6 innings striking out 3 and walking 0. On the season he is 4-4 with a 3.08 ERA but he is outperforming his FIP (4.10) by over a run. His last start came against the Cincinnati Reds working 5.1 innings allowing 3R/ER on 10 hits striking out 6 and walking 1 in taking the loss in a 8-2 drubbing by the Reds.

McAllister will attack with a fourseam fastball that has downward movement and look to generate groundballs. He has a tendency to lose the strike zone and elevate the fastball resulting in home runs.

Zach McAllister 2013
Pitch	Count	Freq	Velo (mph)	HR	BA	SLG	ISO	BABIP	TAv
Fourseam (FA)	765	71%	91.78	5	0.265	0.400	0.135	0.308	0.265
Sinker (SI)	4	0%	90.59	0	1.000	1.000	0.000	1.000	0.660
Cutter (FC)	46	4%	87.16	0	0.571	0.714	0.143	0.571	0.430
Slider (SL)	178	16%	78.84	1	0.303	0.576	0.212	0.346	0.296
Changeup (CH)	87	8%	82.41	1	0.278	0.556	0.278	0.333	0.283
Data from Brooksbaseball.net

Series Preview: Yankees Return To Tropicana Field

2013-05-24T17:00:07Z

The New York Yankees return to Tropicana Field in first place in the AL East with a record of 28-18 and they hold a 4 game lead over the Rays (24-22). They visited St. Petersburg on April 22nd through 24th and the Rays took 2 out of 3.

In the first game of the series Matt Moore delivered 8 strong innings allowing only 1R/ER on 2 hits striking out 9 and walking 3. Ryan Roberts had 2 homers and Yunel Escobar added another as the Rays defeated C.C. Sabathia 5-1.

In the second game David Price delivered his best performance of the season but the offense was unable to take advantage against Phil Hughes and the Yankees scored 2-runs in the 8th inning to take a 4-2 lead. Evan Longoria hit a home run off Mariano Rivera in the 9th to draw the Rays to within a run but the Rays were unable to come back and lost 4-3.

The final game of the series matched Alex Cobb against Andy Pettitte and the game remained scoreless through 4 innings before the Rays added 2 runs in the bottom of the 5th and a single run in the bottom of the 6th. Alex Cobb absolutely dominated the Yankees going 8.1 shutout innings allowing 3 hits striking out 7 and walking 1 and the Rays won 3-0.

The pitching matchups for the weekend are as follows: David Phelps (2-2, 3.83 ERA) vs Roberto Hernandez (2-4, 5.24 ERA) on Friday at 7:10 p.m., Matt Moore (8-0, 2.29 ERA) vs Vidal Nuno (1-1, 1.13 ERA) on Saturday at 4:10 p.m., and Alex Cobb (5-2, 2.73 ERA) vs C.C. Sabathia (4-3, 3.43 ERA) on Sunday at 1:40 pm..

Since the two teams last met Curtis Granderson has returned to the Yankees, Reid Brignac has been acquired, and David Adams and Austin Romine have joined the team from Triple A. The injuries keep coming as Kevin Youkils, Eduardo Nunez, Francisco Cervelli, Joba Chamberlain, Andy Pettitte, and Ivan Nova have joined Derek Jeter, Mark Teixeira, Alex Rodriguez, and Michael Pineda on the disabled list.

Teixeira and Youkilis each had 6 plate appearances in a simulated game on Wednesday afternoon and are are inching closer to beginning rehab assignments. Another player of interest who may be getting close to returning to action is Michael Pineda who may begin a rehab assignment after one more appearance in extended spring training.

The Yankees are winning with their pitching. Despite being 4th in the AL in homers with 58 their offense has struggled averaging only 4.24 runs per game and a 93 wRC+ and a wOBA of .314. The inability to score runs has led to 24 of their 46 games being decided by 2 runs or less and they have gone 17-7 in those games. They are 8-4 in one run games which is 3rd in the majors behind Cleveland (11-3) and Texas (9-4). They won their first 19 games when scoring first before losing to the Orioles Tuesday evening.

The table below shows the Yankees hitters performance in the month of May.

Name	PA	AVG	OBP	SLG	HR	RBI	SB	wOBA	wRC+
David Adams	27	0.308	0.333	0.615	2	3	0	0.405	154
Lyle Overbay	75	0.261	0.307	0.493	3	13	0	0.341	111
Vernon Wells	78	0.270	0.308	0.459	4	11	2	0.328	102
Curtis Granderson	28	0.269	0.321	0.423	1	1	1	0.326	101
Robinson Cano	84	0.238	0.274	0.500	6	16	1	0.322	98
Brett Gardner	77	0.257	0.325	0.371	0	4	7	0.308	88
Travis Hafner	52	0.200	0.308	0.356	2	7	1	0.299	82
Chris Stewart	40	0.235	0.282	0.412	2	4	1	0.296	81
Jayson Nix	65	0.226	0.338	0.283	0	4	2	0.281	70
Ichiro Suzuki	66	0.206	0.231	0.333	1	3	3	0.238	41
Chris Nelson	37	0.222	0.243	0.278	0	2	0	0.23	36
Austin Romine	29	0.143	0.143	0.214	0	2	0	0.153	-16

The Yankees bullpen includes: Mariano Rivera (17 saves), David Robertson, Boone Logan (LHP), Adam Warren, Shawn Kelley, Preston Claiborne, and Dellin Betances.

David Phelps

Spent the month of April working out of the Yankees bullpen but injuries opened the door for him to join the rotation and he has taken advantage of it. He has made 4 starts going 1-1 with a 2.45 ERA and the Yankees are 3-1 in his 4 starts. The reigns have been taken off in terms of his pitch count as he is fully stretched out and delivered 113 pitches in his last start and 115 the start prior to that. His last start came against the Toronto Blue Jays delivering 7 innings allowing 1R/ER on 6 hits striking out 8 and walking 3. The data below is David Phelps data as a starting pitcher provided by Brooskbaseball.net.

Pitch	Freq	Velo (mph)	BA	SLG	ISO	BABIP	TAv
Fourseam (FA)	19%	90.5	0.133	0.333	0.2	0.125	0.172
Sinker (SI)	34%	89.71	0.286	0.476	0.19	0.333	0.307
Cutter (FC)	21%	84.73	0.286	0.476	0.19	0.353	0.285
Curveball (CU)	16%	80.3	0.211	0.316	0.105	0.286	0.238
Changeup (CH)	9%	81.94	0.154	0.231	0.077	0.222	0.149

Vidal Nuno

Drafted by the Cleveland Indians and released after 2 season in the Indians system. He ended up in the Frontier League where he was signed by the New York Yankees and in a little over 2-years he made his way to the big league club. He made his first major start against the team that drafted him and earned his first big league win going 5 shutout innings allowing only 3 hits in a 7-0 Yankees victory. More about Nuno from R.J. Anderson at the Process Report:

Originally a 48th-round pick by the Indians, Nuno washed out of their system and wound up pitching in indy ball. He found his way onto the Yankees’ farm and has overachieved at every level since. The southpaw doesn’t have good stuff. His fastball sits in the mid-to-upper-80s and he throws a variety of junk pitches, including a slow curveball, to keep batters off balance......read more here

C.C. Sabathia

Sabathia has had his start pushed back one day and has a 4-3 with a 3.43 ERA. He's made 10 starts and delivered 65.2 innings pitched. He has a strikeout rate of 7.7 K/9 and 2.1 BB/9 but has given up 9 homers (12.0% HR/FB). His fastball velocity still has not returned as his fastball is averaging 89 mph. His last start was against the Baltimore Orioles and he went 6.1 innings allowing 4R/ER on 11 hits while striking out only 2 and walking 0.

via www.fangraphs.com

Series Preview: Baltimore Orioles

2013-05-17T18:08:24Z

Fresh off of a heart breaking loss to the Boston Red Sox the Rays (20-20) the Rays will look to rebound as they continue their stretch of 12 games against AL East opponents at Oriole Park at Camden Yards against the Baltimore Orioles. The Orioles enter the weekend after being swept in a two game series against the San Diego Padres and have a record of 23-17 and are in 2nd place 1.5 games behind the New York Yankees and 3 games in front of the Rays. This will be the third meeting between the clubs this season and second in Baltimore with the Orioles owning a 4-2 edge.

The pitching matchups will be Jeremy Hellickson (1-2, 5.25 ERA) vs Jason Hammel (5-1, 4.93 ERA) on Friday night, Roberto Hernandez (2-4, 4.43 ERA) vs Jair Jurrjens (season debut) on Saturday at 4:05, and Matt Moore (7-0, 2.44 ERA) vs Chris Tillman (3-1, 3.40 ERA) on Sunday at 1:35.

The Orioles are dealing with a injuries to their starting staff as Miguel Gonzalez (blister) and Wei-Yin Chen (oblique). They join Brian Roberts (hamstring) and Wilson Betemit (knee). How the injuries impact the Orioles will depend a lot on how their offense performs over the next couple of weeks.

Entering Thursday's action the AL average slash line was .256/.322/.415 and a wOBA of .321 and a wRC+ of 99. Despite being 2nd in the league in runs per game (4.90) the Orioles only rank slightly higher than league average in most categories with a slash line of .263/.325/.431 a wOBA of .326 and a wRC+ of 101.

A quick look at how the Orioles bats have performed in the month of May:

Player	AB	R	H	HR	RBI	BB	K	SB	CS	AVG	OBP	SLG
Manny Machado	57	13	24	3	8	3	6	2	2	0.421	0.450	0.684
Adam Jones	54	7	16	1	6	4	9	4	0	0.296	0.356	0.426
Nick Markakis	53	7	16	0	6	6	3	0	1	0.302	0.367	0.415
J.J. Hardy	50	6	14	4	8	1	2	0	0	0.280	0.294	0.540
Nate McLouth	49	6	7	1	2	3	7	3	0	0.143	0.192	0.245
Matt Wieters	43	4	11	2	6	5	7	0	0	0.256	0.327	0.488
Chris Davis	43	4	10	2	9	6	14	0	0	0.233	0.327	0.512
Ryan Flaherty	34	2	5	1	3	4	10	0	0	0.147	0.256	0.235
Nolan Reimold	30	5	4	1	2	0	8	0	0	0.133	0.129	0.233
Steve Pearce	15	1	5	1	3	2	1	1	0	0.333	0.444	0.600
Alexi Casilla	11	1	2	0	0	1	0	3	0	0.182	0.250	0.182

The Orioles bullpen still hasn't lost a game when leading after 7 innings - a streak that now stands at 101 games but closer Jim Johnson's club record streak of 35 straight saves ended Tuesday evening against the Padres. Overall the bullpen still ranks in the upper echelon of the league with a league leading 2.84 ERA.

Name	W	L	SV	ERA	FIP	IP	K/9	BB/9	HR/9	HR/FB
Jim Johnson	1	3	14	1.80	2.87	20	7.65	1.80	0.45	6.70%
T.J. McFarland	0	0	0	2.95	2.53	18.1	9.82	2.95	0.49	6.30%
Darren O'Day	2	0	1	1.42	3.49	19	9.47	3.32	0.47	4.50%
Brian Matusz	1	0	0	2.93	3.41	15.1	9.39	1.76	1.17	14.30%
Tommy Hunter	3	1	1	1.74	4.47	20.2	7.40	1.31	1.74	16.00%
Pedro Strop	0	1	0	4.80	4.82	15	9.60	6.00	1.20	20.00%
Troy Patton	1	0	0	3.18	5.49	17	3.71	4.76	1.06	9.10%

Jason Hammel

On the year Hammel has a 5-1 record with a 4.93 ERA/4.77 FIP. His strikeout rate has dropped from 8.62 K/9 in 2012 to 6.31 K/9 this season. At the same time he has seen his walk rate increase from 3.20 BB/9 in 2012 to 3.55 BB/9 in 2013.

After getting an additional 2 days of rest he will look to rebound from a poor effort last Friday in Minnesota versus the Twins where he worked a season low 4 innings allowing 6R/ER on 8 hits while striking out 6 and walking 2.

According to Brooksbaseball.net his pitch mix in 2013 has been fastball (28%/93.4 mph), sinker (35%/93.04 mph), slider (21%/84.81 mph), curveball (9%, 77.82 mph), and changeup (7%/87.02 mph).

Jair Jurrjens

Jurrjens will be making his season debut and it is difficult to know what to expect as he makes his first start of the year. After 4 successful season with the Braves (2008-2011) where he went 47-32 with a 3.34 ERA Jurrjens fell on hard times in 2011 posting a 3-4 record with an ERA of 6.89 and splitting time between Atlanta and Triple A Gwinnett. The Orioles signed him over the winter and he reported to Triple A Norfolk where he has been effective posting a 4-1 record with a 3.14 ERA and has 36 strikeouts and 15 walks in 51.2 innings of work.

In his career he has a fastball, sinker, slider, changeup that he mixes up and is a pitch to contact pitcher.

Chris Tillman

Tillman had a very successful 2012 season with the Orioles posting a 9-3 record with a 2.93 ERA but his numbers served as a red flag for many analyst who predicted a downfall 2013 season for him. His FIP in 2012 was 4.25 (xFIP of 4.34) , his BABIP against was .221, and he lost velocity due to an elbow ailment in September. The thought was that he had gotten by with smoke and mirrors and that he'd regress in 2013.

Thus far in 2013 Tillman has made 8 starts and has a 3-1 record with a 3.40 ERA. He is still outperforming his ERA estimators with a FIP of 4.43 (xFIP of 4.49) and BABIP against is .269.

He uses a fastball, curveball, changeup and will mix in the occasional cutter.