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Carl Crawford’s stolen base streak came to an end last night, but he more than made up for it by hitting a go-ahead home run against Yankee reliever Mariano Rivera in the 9th inning. Evan Longoria followed up Crawford’s first home run since last June with one of his own as the Rays held on for a 6-4 victory. The win gave the Rays a sweep of their division rivals and put them right back into the heat of things in the AL East. The Yankees are now reeling after their 5th straight loss, although they will have Alex Rodriguez back in the lineup tonight in Baltimore.
Rays stolen base specialist Carl Crawford has 20 stolen bases on the season and is on pace to steal about 100 bases this year, which would be the first time that has been accomplished in 22 years. Still, in an interview he gave recently to MLB.com, he says he doesn’t expect to reach that mark. I’m inclined not to believe him, because he doesn’t seem to be showing any signs of slowing down. If anything, I think he’s caught the stolen base bug. It seems that every time he gets on first base now, he’s immediately looking to steal. That might mean waiting a few pitches (he knows that pitchout is probably coming on a 0-1 count), but chances are at some point he’s going. What’s weird is that everybody in the stadium knows this, yet he’s still 20 for 20 on the season.
Crawford will have a challenge tonight: a lefty on lefty matchup against Yankees hurler Andy Pettitte. Even if he gets on base, he’s going to have some trouble stealing on Pettitte, who picks off the most baserunners every season because umpires won’t call his obvious balk pickoff move. Whatever happened to “don’t break the plane” and “don’t step towards home”? I’m convinced Pettitte could take a full lunge towards home, rotate his shoulders and fling the ball to first and the umpire would let it slide because Andy Pettitte is Andy Pettitte. Jose Molina is also a great catcher for nabbing runners, except he’s been really dinged up in the past few days and hasn’t looked good throwing the ball down to second base. I think his shoulder and/or collarbone is still bruised from a brutal foul tip he took in the game against the Red Sox on Tuesday.
Alright, so here’s what happened: the Rays Carl Crawford had one of the greatest individual moments in team history, tying the major league record for stolen bases in a single game with 6 on Sunday against the Red Sox. Where was I with commentary on this event? Well, I was in bed with some sort of flu-like illness. I don’t know where I got it from, but I have been sleeping with a lot of pigs lately. Anyway, I’m back.
The Rays beat the Orioles today by a score of 6-3 with the help of starter Matt Garza, who pitched 8 innings of 4-hit ball and absolutely carried the fantasy league team of the guy I’m playing this week. This is the same guy who grabbed Garza one pick before I was about to draft him. Super.
Carl Crawford had another stolen base in this game, his 19th of the season. He’s on pace to steal 100 bases this season, and if he stays healthy there’s a chance he might do it. He seems to have caught the stealing “bug”, something I’ve only noticed in a few other players in the past 25 years. They include names like Kenny Lofton and Otis Nixon (who also had a 6 sb game). Once these guys get into a rhythm stealing bases, they seem to go every chance they get. Crawford isn’t reckless with his steal attempts either; his 19 stolen bases have come on exactly 19 attempts this year. That’s a sign that this guy is not only really fast (which we all knew), but is also reading pitchers really well when he’s on first base.
The Rays lost today, but even worse B.J. Upton left the game in the 2nd inning with tightness in his quadriceps. He’s already missed 6 games this season while recovering from offseason surgery on his left shoulder.
A death in Evan Longoria’s family will cause him to miss games on Wednesday and Thursday. He is expected to be back with the Rays on Friday.
Matt Garza pitched well but couldn’t match the Yankees A.J. Burnett, who had a no hitter going into the 7th inning, as the Yankees beat the Rays by a score of 7 to 2. The Rays are now 4-4 on the season and tied with the Yankees for 3rd place in the ultra-competitive AL East. Burnett ended up striking out 9 Rays in 8 innings of work on his way to the victory. Nick Swisher had a double and a homer and might just be the hottest player in baseball right now. He also had a homer the night before against the Rays and also pitched a scoreless inning of relief.
The Rays bats were absolutely anemic last night. Even after breaking up the no hit bid, the Rays only managed 3 hits, all of them singles. They’ll need to do better today as they face aging lefty Andy Pettitte.
Carlos Pena may have started the season slowly, striking out in all his at bats yesterday and starting tonight’s game with another strikeout, but he finally found his stroke in the 5th inning with a 2-run home run off Red Sox starter Jon Lester, leading the Rays to a 7-2 victory.
Scott Kazmir struggled in the early innings but by the middle of the game looked like he was in mid-season form, giving up a total of just one earned run to the Sox in 6 innings.
The Rays have Matt Garza going tomorrow against Daisuke Matsuzaka in an afternoon game starting at 1:35pm.
The AL Champion Tampa Bay Rays struggled against Red Sox ace Josh Beckett in a 5-3 loss on their opening day. Beckett struck out 10 over 7 innings and only gave up a single earned run. The Rays did get to Red Sox reliever Hideki Okajima, who gave up 2 earned runs and only recorded one out. Carl Crawford had the Rays only extra base hit of the game with a double against Beckett. Evan Longoria added a hit and a couple RBIs. Carlos Pena looked terrible, going 0 for 4 with 4 strike outs.
The Rays have Scott Kazmir going tomorrow against Jon Lester.
B.J. Upton had surgery on his labrum in November and has been recovering ever since, but he still sees the Rays home opener as a possibility for his 2009 debut. The Rays first game at Tropicana Field comes one week after their opening day game against the Red Sox on Monday.
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