Tampa Bay Rays news and links: "He's just got to throw strikes."

The Rays got swept by the Mariners to go 3-3 on their west coast roadtrip, but Corey Dickerson did hit a home run, and finally, there as someone (three someone's) on base. Dickerson talked to Bill Chastain about his first career grand slam.

"I was looking heater," Dickerson said. "He throws pretty hard and I was trying not to miss the heater. And my body reacted to it. ... It's pretty cool to get the first one."

That grand slam was part of a comeback that turned back into a loss in extra innings. But the real problem came from Archer's first inning. Said Kevin Cash, quoted from Mark Topkin's recap:

"He's just got to throw strikes," Cash said. "That's the bottom line. He's got to get the ball over the plate. He knows that. All of our pitchers, that goes for everybody. We're going to be successful riding those guys. And they've got to throw strikes."

Links:

- From Topkin's notes, Logan Forsythe should be back in the lineup on Friday, and Matt Andriese will get another start.

- This isn't Rays news exactly, but it's close. Russell Carleton continued his assault on the shift. I still think he's posing an interesting question but not coming up with a convincing answer. More on that in a separate article.

- Very neat charts about count and run values by Jim Albert (h/t Tango).

- David Laurila talked to Josh Donaldson, who said that pitchers try to deceive hitters with balky deliveries, and that it's cheating.

- Roger Cheng at The Hardball Times with mathy stuff on trying to predict swinging strikes.

- There have been fewer than usual Tommy John surgeries this year, says Ben Lindbergh and Rob Arthur.

- MLB is investigating the Red Sox for potentially trying to game the international market bonus pool restrictions.

- Clearwater is the most homer-happy park in the FSL. Huh. It never felt like a bandbox to me.