The Rays Tank: Meatloaf Served at a Sell-out

Thanks to a Wil Myers 400-foot homerun, game-tying RBI single by Evan Longoria, and a go-ahead RBI from Sam Fuld, the Rays defeated the Giants 4-3 and served up some meatloaf. With the series win against the Giants this weekend, the Rays have improved to 11-0-2 over their last thirteen series. The last time the Rays lost a series was June 18-19 against the Red Sox (they lost two of three), following Wil Myers call up.

Speaking of Wil Myers, let’s just take a look at his blast from yesterday one more time.

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Since the All-Star Break, Wil has hit five homeruns and is hitting .417. Per FanGraphs, Wil still leads American League rookies with a wRC+ of 154, and is second among all rookies in MLB to Yasiel Puig (191). As quoted on the post-game notes, Joe Maddon told the media that Wil has been energizing the lineup.

"You can’t deny that. Hitting in the middle of the batting order—some of the guys have been struggling a bit and he’s really kind of picked us up. …Wil has really done a nice job. Again, in this very low key manner that he does things, I kind of like. He’s not overwhelmed. …He goes out there and he just plays the game of baseball…"

Evan Longoria talked to the media about his first hit in his last 20 at-bats, mentioning that he even kept the ball afterwards! Video courtesy of Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times.

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If the crowd seemed louder than normal yesterday, well, you have the sell-out to thank for that. The crowd of 34,078 was the Rays' second sell-out of the season, with the other being Opening Day. The last time that the Rays sold out a game that wasn’t Opening Day was on April 7, 2012 against the New York Yankees, per the Rays post-game notes.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>The fans have been great. It does make a difference for us and I think we’ve entertained them. Love to see them out there. Keep on coming.</p>&mdash; Joe Maddon (@RaysJoeMaddon) <a href="https://twitter.com/RaysJoeMaddon/statuses/364162964930461696">August 4, 2013</a></blockquote>

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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Good way to finish the homestand! Sold out crowd at the Trop today. Thanks for coming out in force!</p>&mdash; Wil Myers (@wilmyers) <a href="https://twitter.com/wilmyers/statuses/364143700454023168">August 4, 2013</a></blockquote>

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The Rays will enjoy a day off as they head to Arizona for a quick two game series on Tuesday and Wednesday. The expected pitching matchups for that series are Jeremy Hellickson against Wade Miley and Chris Archer versus Randall Delgado.

Links:

-Carson Cistulli of FanGraphs takes a look at the projected leaderboards for the rest of the season. Evan Longoria and David Price make appearances on the lists.

-Matt Garza offered an apology to Eric and Kaycee Sogard yesterday for his twitter rant on Saturday night. I suppose the apology confirms that @Gdeuceswild really IS his twitter.

-In Yankees news, A-Rod is currently ‘penciled in’ to Monday’s lineup and Derek Jeter is awaiting the results of his latest MRI examining his sore right calf.

-The PED Suspensions are rumored to be handed down today and the Rangers’ Nelson Cruz is contemplating an appeal of his.

-Clay Buchholz believes that he is throwing at about 80% intensity currently and will discuss the next step in his rehab progress with the Red Sox training staff today.