Game Recap: Yankees 10, Rays 2

On paper, this one looked like must-see baseball. David Price vs CC Sabathia.  A marquee pitching matchup between two AL East rivals and a much-needed homecoming for the Rays after a rough road trip. Yet, for those who have watched this year’s Devil Rays baseball team, not to mention this year’s CC, this one went exactly as expected.  The scoring struggles continued against another soft-tossing lefty, and the Devil Rays pitching allowed them to cruise to another disheartening loss.  This is starting to get old.  Let’s take a quick run through tonight’s festivities.

Price came out pairing his 91-93 mph two-seamer with a low 80’s change and managed to strike Ellsbury out looking on a beautiful pitch.  But wait! #HumanElement reared its ugly head, and kept Jacoby alive as a clear strike 3 was called a ball. Ellsbury capitalized with a grounder to SeanRod at 1B that he attempted to flip to Price for the out but could not handle.  It was ruled a single.  Things only got worse from there.  The Devil Rays Ace managed to one-up this circus act by walking the ghost of Derek Jeter on five pitches. After recording a couple of outs, Price allowed a base hit to noted clown show, Brian McCann, that knocked in the Captain. 1-0 Yankees.

This is when I opened my first beer.

The Devil Rays shockingly did nothing in the bottom of the first.  In the 2nd, the Cy Young Award Winner allowed this chain of events to occur:

• Scott Sizemore double.

• Brian Roberts triple scoring Sizemore

• Jacoby Ellsbury triple scoring Roberts (both of these triples were absolutely SMASHED)

• Jeter single to score Ellis

• 4-0 Yankees

This is when I opened my second beer.

The bottom of the second, things were looking up.  Longo started us off with a single to center. Myers walked to give us two ducks on the pond with nobody out.  Up steps Sean Rodriguez. WHO GROUNDS INTO A TRIPLE PLAY.  YES, A TRIPLE PLAY. KILL. ME. NOW.

This is when I opened my third beer.

In the 3rd, there was another strange incident. Carlos Beltran had the afterburners on, full speed into the short wall in right field foul territory chasing a Devil Rays foul ball and flipped completely over it after some hard contact. Unlike Jeter, Beltran did not end up with the ball.  Just some bruises and a sore wrist.  After the trainers checked him out, he stayed in the game. This should be on ESPN Not Top 10 for some time, alongside Guyer's absurd dive 25 feet behind the ball an inning earlier.

In the 4th, things started looking up again for our D-Rays. Lefty Masher Logan Forsythe led off with a single. Longo followed up with a weak grounder to Roberts, but Jeter was too slow to second, so Roberts tossed a poor throw to first that Sizemore had to leave the bag to grab. Longo safe at first on an error.  2 on, no out for Wil Myers. A real opportunity here.  What does Wil do?  Stands in the box, looks at an 88 mph pitch middle/middle so he could ground into a double play on the next pitch and erase any shred of momentum the Rays may have had.  Guys, Wil Myers looks lost out there.  I don’t know if it’s a lack of preparation, a lack of effort, an inability to read pitches and quickly process information or just a plain old slump, but this dude is LOST out there right now and is showing no ability whatsoever to make an adjustment.

This is when I switched to liquor.

Somehow, Forsythe did manage to score for the Devil Rays on a wild pitch before the inning was over.
In the 5th, Price gave up back to back homers to Soriano and McCann. 6-1 Yanks. Price just heaving meatballs into the zone that guys are taking for a ride.  Ugly, ugly outing tonight.

Things never got better from here. Bell was nothing to write home about.  Lueke continued to prove that he does not belong on a Major League Baseball team. Balfour allowed Solarte his first big league home run with a two-run shot in the 9th.  Precious. The Devil Rays ended up allowing a grand total of 10 runs on 16 hits. Brian Roberts, who parked his car at the Trop with a handicap parking pass hanging from his rearview, ended up a homer short of a cycle.
If you absolutely insist on a positive from tonight, SeanRod did hit his 3rd career homer off of CC Sabathia tonight.  A first pitch no-doubter off the bat in the 7th.

The frustration continues.  This team is a dumpster fire right now, but hang in there. The highs feel so much better when the lows are this low.