The Morning After: Game 3

Rays 13 (2-1), Yankees 4(2-2)

MVP: Shawn Riggans

Highlights

• Aki had a breakout day. I am sure Scott over at Rays of Light still thinks his swing looks ugly, but it was effective. He got on base his first four times up (two singles, walk, and an error). He was caught stealing once (badly). But that caught stealing can be somewhat attributed to Molina’s rocket arm behind the plate.

• Riggans pinch hit in the third for Navi after he cut his throwing hand. Riggans came in with the bases loaded. It was his first career at bat with the bags full and boy did he deliver. He ripped a liner into right field and drove in all three base runners.

• Hinske continues to impress me with the bat. He had a nice opposite field double to increase the lead to 6-0. Then in the 8^th he hit another nice double to left. Very impressive.

• Floyd had a good day. He had an RBI single early on and then just murdered a ball out to right off of Hawkins in the 8^th to extend the lead 7-4.

• Sonny’s first time through the lineup was very good. He gave up no runs and looked like he had good command. Because he does not throw hard he must have good command to be successful.

• After struggling in the 4^th Sonny came back and got through two more innings without giving up another run. These were critical innings by Sonny. His mental toughness was admirable.

• Wheeler was extremely efficient in the 7^th. He went 1-2-3 and did it very quickly. He has looked awesome since he got that extension. Hopefully, he can keep this up and be our setup man later in the season.

• PENA!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 3^rd Deck!

Lowlights

• Absolutely awful call in the 8^th. Upton hit a grounder to Jeter in the 8^th and his throw was weak and pulled Giambi off to the home plate side. Giambi attempted to apply the tag and missed by about two feet. The umpire obviously was not in a good position to see the play and called him out. Beyond this the umpiring was fairly brutal. The home plate umpire was horribly inconsistent for both teams.

• Nathan Haynes is useless with a bat. I would rather not see him bat again this season unless the Rays are up by more than five.

• Upton once again played a ball horribly off the wall. It gave Jeter a triple instead of a double, but it wouldn’t have made a difference. He would have scored anyway. It is in little situations like these that Upton’s inexperience in the outfield shines through.

• Crawford displayed somewhat feeble looking attempt to catch a deep fly in left center. It was a tough catch and everything but he didn’t look too good going after it.

• Sonny’s second time through the lineup. They just absolutely crushed him. Balls were flying all over the stadium. The Yankees got all 4 runs in that 4^th inning.

Analysis

This was a very fun game to watch. The Rays played excellent. The starting pitching was good, the bullpen was good, and the fielding was good. It’s nice to start this series out with a win. Hopefully the Rays can win or at least split this series. My optimism for this season is steadily increasing. The defense up the middle has been great. I am excited to see Aki and Bartlett work together for the rest of the season.

News and Notes

• Yankees announcers don’t believe the Rays will win 80 games much less 88 games.

• Sonnanstine is a fast worker. I love fast workers.

• The Yankees announcers were pretty brutal. They said a load of nonsensical crap and gave the Rays no respect. I guess I should have expected as much.

• Tomorrow’s game won’t be on EI due to blackout of all games during the day. So my recap will be based off of the radio. Thus, it likely won’t be as detailed as it could be, but I will do what I can.