Rays Tank: The preordained and the forgotten

Welcome to the Rays Tank, where the Rays Tank was forgotten and the recap was forgotten also.

Sometimes you know the outcome of an at bat before it happens. The result is preordained. You even start the celebration early. September 10, 2008 was one of those times. This video is from the 14th inning of of a game against the Red Sox. It was a tight affair that felt like a preview of the playoffs, but finally the Red Sox ran out of pitchers, and Terry Francona had to let Carlos Pena face the 42-year old righty, Mike Timlin, in what was probably the last high-leverage appearance of his career.

I remember telling my roommate, who was a Red Sox fan, that it was over while Pena walked up.

As for your recap, it's all on me. I was pretty sure the Rays were off today, and that I was scheduled to recap tomorrow. I'm really bad at calendars. It's a wonder this doesn't happen more often. Still, sorry. This would have been a fun one to recap.

Source: FanGraphs

Jake Odorizzi pitched six scoreless innings, racking up a strikeout per inning, and then was followed by scoreless innings from C.J. Riefenhauser, Enny Romero, and Kirby Yates. Meanwhile, the Rays offense was lead by four homers off the bats of Logan Forsythe, J.P. Arencibia, Tim Beckham, and Mikie Mahtook. Here are the four.

Ex-Ray Kyle Lobstein took the loss. Frankly, I'm not sure how Lobstein is starting in the majors, as he really just doesn't have the stuff (sinker-baller without a ton of sink, and with no velocity), so it's good to see the Rays offense take advantage.

Now for your link dump:

• The idea that hitters should want to put backspin on a pitch? Wrong says Eno Sarris, Dr. Alan Nathan, and a bunch of major leaguers.
• Buster Posey no longer strikes out looking.
• In Topkin's roundup, Blake Snell is happy to be named USA Today minor league player of the year, and Steven Souza is probably about to be recalled after his rehab appearances.
• Blake Snell also made the Baseball America first-team all-star team, with Richie Shaffer and Jacob Faria on the second team.