Tampa Bay Rays News and Links: Rays go Streaking

The Tampa Bay Rays won back to back games vs the Chicago White Sox for their first series win of the young season behind excellent performances from Matt Moore and Brandon Guyer. Today is already their third day off, with Rays baseball resuming Tuesday in Boston where Drew Smyly is scheduled to toe the mound.

Twitter roundup:

Steve Pearce drills an RBI double that would have been a home run in many other parks:

THIS close to @WayneTwentyOcho's first #Rays HR.

We'll take an RBI double to the deepest part of the yard. #RaysUphttps://t.co/7rDMfhDeIp

— Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) April 17, 2016

Brad Miller talks with Rays Radio Dave Wills and Andy Freed after his 2-4, HR, 3 RBI performance on Saturday:

Brad Miller is the 17th Florida-born player to hit a home run in a #Rays uniform.https://t.co/3bGYgnGwoW

— Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) April 17, 2016

After 5 strong innings in his third start for the Montgomery Biscuits, Chris Blessing had this to say of pitching prospect Chih-Wei Hu:

#Rays Chih-Wei Hu throws the kitchen sink at ya. 91-93 FB. 5 pitches. Don’t see many palm balls. Acquired from #Twins in Kevin Jepsen trade.

— Chris Blessing (@C_Blessing) April 17, 2016

Obligatory attendance talk:

Nearly 70,000 fans at the Trop in @dtstpete this weekend against White Sox. Let's keep it going! #BaseballForever #RaysUp

— Rick Kriseman (@Kriseman) April 17, 2016

Of their 13 Sunday games last year, today's #Rays attendance of 21,810 was larger than 11 of them.

— TBBaseballMarket (@TBBaseballMkt) April 17, 2016

Links:

• I think we all know this, but Matt Moore is enjoying a successful return from Tommy John Surgery.
• Tons of media and notes on Saturday's win here. Of note, Kevin Cash on whether he would reveal the third starter in the next series in Boston, "Not quite yet. We know, but we're not telling anybody."
• Behind a pay wall, Marc Topkin probably talks about prospect Jake Bauers adjusting well to the corner outfield positions for Baseball America.
• This Fangraphs leaderboard shows Jake Odorizzi's 0.8 fWAR is #1 among qualified pitchers in the AL, edging out the $217M David Price.
• Jeff Zimmerman looks into the effects of cold weather on velocity, which could explain why Chris Archer's velocity was down in Baltimore. According to Brooks Baseball, Archer was 0.75 mph faster in his next start in the Trop vs Cleveland.