HER RAYS!

The curious case of the baked blogger.

So I had a tooth pulled yesterday.  Always fun.  However I got some pretty good pain pills which I popped mid-way through the game.  The Rays were cruisin along.  Jackson was on.  Shockingly Mr. Gross hit a homerun, and Pena actually made contact and hit one out too.  All was well in Rays land.  3-0 Rays.  I’d be in bed soon.

Edwin Jackson pitched 8 innings of shut out baseball.  It was a great performance.  When he left the game I was doing the drunken “I love you man” thing.  Then all hell broke loose.  Percy comes in to finish ‘em off.  Uh-huh.

Rolen hits a single to left.  No sweat, he’s been hot lately.  Percy then strikes out Stairs.  Alright two more and we’re outta here.  Or not.  Percy leaves one up and Wells hits it a long way.  2 runs score.  So now I’m having a panic attack.  Mercy Percy don’t do this to me, please get two more outs.  I can’t take two nights of bullpen suckage.  Then Overbay doubles and the panic turns to anger.  I called Percy some terrible things, some of which might be illegal.   Just as I’m starting to catch my breath, Aaron Hill singles and the run scores, tie ball game.  Right, I completely lost it, but this time I’m yelling at Maddon.  “Pull his ass.  Get out of the dugout and pull his ass.  They are hitting everything!”

Maddon didn’t pull him, and the next batter hit it, but it was a fly ball to right.  Okay two down.  Aaron Hill steals second.  The winning run is in scoring position people.  Scutaro is up.  Isn’t he the one that pissed off Garza yesterday.  Percy struck him out.  Of course I cheered for Percy, even though I had called him every name in the book a few minutes earlier.

BJ Ryan shut down the Rays in the top of the tenth.  Wheeler came in to pitch the bottom.  First batter Rios hits a triple.  A ball that Crawford might have caught but Gomes was out there instead.  I threw my hands up, it’s over, I’m totally pessimistic on these drugs.  Wheeler dug deep.  Struck out Stewart, intentionally walked Rolen, struck out stairs, unintentionally/intentionally walked Wells.  Bases loaded got Barajas swinging.  Unbelievable.

In the 11th Crawford had a single and Upton walked but Pena went down again.  Hope he pulls out of this soon.  Howell came in and shutdown the Jays.

I’m good and fuzzy at this point.  12th.  Longo singles.  Love him so.  “Noooo!” Navi hits into a double play.  You’d think I’d been shot.  I think I even made some cracks about his weight.    Gross singles.  I’m not used to typing that.  Gomes couldn’t bring him in.  Howell gets them one, two, three.

13th.  I’m fried, can’t take much more.  Camp in to pitch.  “You owe us you little….It’s redemption time”  Yep, I got all cocky and shit.  Bartlett singles.  Love him so.  Aki singles too.  Way.  Crawford hits a sac fly and Bartlett scores!  Yes!  BJ singles and Aki goes to third.  Then BJ tries the ‘ol Bad News Bears trick and gets caught in a pickle so that Aki could sneak home.  Almost worked and miraculously they were both safe.    Camp walks Pena and the bases are loaded.  Longo fouls out.  Navarro comes up with two outs.  Oh the drama.  He hits a grand slam!  Off of Camp.  So sweet.  I was jumping around the room.  I think I might’ve even peed a little bit!  Gross struck out after that but who cares.

Howell came in and scared me a little bit in the bottom of the inning, but I was starting to doze off at that point.  He got the job done and the Rays won 8-3.  Woo-Hoo!

Another series win, 2 games over .500, 2nd place in the AL East.  Good on ya boys, and good luck against those Angels now that you’ve gotten rid of the devil.  Go Rays!!

So now that I’m sober again I would like to apologize to the players I called awful names.  Yes even Shawn Camp.  Oh and to my neighbors sorry for the ruckus!

Pregame – Sonny vs. Burnett.  John Gibbons looks so mean.  Like Ray Liotta mean.

1st inning – pitchers roll, everyone out.

Top of 2nd – Burnett strikes out the side.

Bottom 2nd – Stairs gets a base hit.  Wells hits into a fielders choice, out at second.  Then the Rays get Wells in a pickle.  Overbay singles too, but Hill pops out to end the inning.

Top 3rd – Navi gets a bloop single past McScrappy.  It’s a start.  Gross gets a walk.  Did he borrow Alex Rodriguez’s purple lip gloss?  Bartlett hits one hard but right to the left fielder.  Damn.  Aki gets a favor from the baseball gods.   Two balls that were clearly off the plate were called strikes, then the gods took it in their hands.  A ball gets away from the catcher Zaun and the runners move to second and third.  Then as a bonus Aki gets a base hit!  Navi scores 1-0 Rays.
Carl Crawford hits a sac fly to score Gross.  2-0 Rays.  BJ base hit up the middle, Aki scores.  3-0 Rays.  Rock on.  Pena of the RAAYS, who likes to call time, strikes out.

Bottom 3rd – Zaun has a nice hit but is held to a single because of Gross and his go go gadget arm.  Eckstein hits one over BJ’s head in center, did they underestimate Scrappy-Do’s power?  Aki’s relay gets Zaun at home, but shocker, the Rays get screwed on another call!  WTF!  Are they aware that the Devil Ray that hit an ump with a bat is no longer a Ray!!  They score another run in this inning on a sac fly, but they shouldn’t have scored any.  3-2 Rays.

Top 4th – Longo strikes out.  Hinske doubles.  Navi pops out.  Hinske steals third.  Shitske my ass.  That sounds funny.  Gross strikes out.

Bottom 4th – Wells hits a triple on an 0-2 meatball.  Overbay hits a sac fly and the score is tied.  Hill and Zaun fly out and ground out.

Top 5th – Bartlett basehit.  Aki doubles and scores Bartlett, but is kinda dumb and tries for a triple, out.  If the Rays lose there is plenty to bitch about in this game.  Crawford pops out.  BJ singles up the middle, then steals second, and takes third on an error.  Pena strikes out again.  4-3 Rays.

Bottom 5th – McDonald singles (he’s in for Eckstein who hurt himself being all scrappy and sh*t)  Rios strikes out again.  Stewart grounds out on a nice barehanded play by Bartlett.  It gets a “nifty” from Magrane.  Rolen gets Sonny’s only walk, but Stairs grounds out.

Top 6th - Longo looks a little lost and fouls out.  Hinske homers! Huge!  At this point ya gotta believe he’s trying to piss off Jays fans.  5-3 Rays.  Navi grounds out.  Gross maims their shortstop with a ground ball single.  McDonald really hurt his ankle? trying to make the play.  Holy Honkin Paramedic Chick!  McDonald gets to ride off on the cart.  Bartlett strikes out.

Bottom 6th – Wells base hit.  Overbay doubles off the wall.  Wells scores, with no throw home???  Aki’s kinda off tonight.  5-4 Rays.  Hill flies out.  Zaun hits a grounder and Pena takes it off the face, but can’t make the play.  Definitely saved some runs though.  Scutaro grounds into a double play.  Whew, that was close.

Top 7th – Brian Tallet pitching.  Aki grounds out.  CC walks.  BJ grounds out but moves CC over.  Pena strikes out hook, line and sinker.

Bottom 7th – Wheeler in to pitch.  Sonny did a good job of keeping the Rays in the game.  Rios notches strike out number three.  Stewart grounds out, and Rolen flies out.  Nice.

Top 8th – Longo walks.  Hinske grounds out but moves Longo over.  Navi grounds out but moves Longo to third.  Gross and his .174 batting average strike out.  Was there any thought about pinch hitting there??

Bottom 8th – Opens with a nice shot of one of the Jays pitchers in the bullpen adjusting his cup with his hand inside his pants.  Stairs grounds out.  Wells grounds out and Bartlett makes a nice bounce pass out to Pena.  Love them both.  Overbay walks, but Wheeler does an excellent job and gets Hill to fly out.

Top 9th – Sean Camp in to pitch.  Doesn’t he owe us a couple?  He gets the Rays in order and makes it look easy.  Insert snarky comment here.

Bottom 9th – Percy in to pitch.  One, two, three. but the best part was Magrane calling one of his pitches a “dipsy doodle.”  Percy doesn’t seem like the dipsy doodle type to me.

Oh Yeah the Rays win!!  Tampa 5 – Toronto 4.  Let’s hope they can make up some ground on Boston tomorrow.  Go Rays!! 

Pregame – Most of the pregame discussion revolves around all of the roster moves/trades the Rays are making, or will be making as players come off the DL.  I don’t know if it’s just because I’m a chick, but I’ve never gotten into debating these moves.  I pretty much go on emotional involvment.  In other words most of the discussions of that last couple days don’t bother me much because I’m not attached to any of the players involved. 
Hammel vs. Halladay
Pena’s in the line-up at first.  WooHoo.

Top 1st – Hammel walks Eckstein to start it off.  I think Pena could pick Eckstein up and put him in his pocket.  Stewart hits a sharp grounder down the 3rd base line, but Longo makes a great play to get the out.  Hill moves Eckstein to third with a ground out, but Hammel strikes out Wells!  Nice.

Bottom 1st – Halladay gets the Rays in order.

Awesome, the three amigos are at the game.  Excellent sombreros.

Top 2nd – Shit.  Stairs just hit a homerun.  1-0 Jays.  Hammel gets the next three.

Bottom 2nd – Pena hits a bloop single.  Yuck, Longo grounds into a double play.  Hinkse flies out. 

Top 3rd – Jays get a man on, but leave him stranded.

Bottom 3rd – Gomes gets a base hit up the middle.  Yuck, Navarro grounds into a douple play.  Sounds familiar.  Bartlett ground out.

Top 4th – Hammel walks one but three fly out.

Bottom 4th – Aki singles up the middle.  Crawford moves him over.  BJ flys out, Aki to third.  Pena strikes out.  Sh*t burgers.

Top 5th – Inglett base hit and steals second.  Eckstein strikes out.  Inglett steals third, Navi slow to throw.  Hammel gets the next two.  Nice again.

Bottom 5th – Rays go down one, two, three.

Top 6th – Wells singles to right.  Holy crap! Stairs just launched one again.  3-0 Jays.  Hammel settles down and gets three ground outs .

Bottom 6th – Navarro doubles to left.  Alright! Let’s go.  Bartlett RBI!  but no?  Why the hell is Navi still on third.  He better score in this inning or I’m gonna have a fit.  Aki strikes out.  Crawford base hit up the middle and whew Navi scored!  3-1 Jays  BJ walks, bases loaded for PENA.  Ugh he strikes out.  Longo!  Base hit scores two!  Tie game  Love him.  Hinkse!  Base hit scores one.  3-4 Rays.  Gomes pops out, but the Rays take the lead.

Top 7th – Wheeler’s in to pitch.  Eckstein singles, but a sweet double play and a pop fly end that.

Energized drinker fan gets the award for pounding beers.

Bottom 7th – Rays go down in order.

Top 8th – Wells gets a base hit but Wheeler holds them.

Bottom 8th – Crawford triples to center!  He is wicked fast.  BJ hits a sac fly to bring him in.  3-5 Rays!  Pena and Longo ground out, but I still love them.

Top 9th – Percy in to pitch.  Do I dare call him that?  He could squash me like a bug.  Ouch, a kid just made a great catch on a foul ball, but it was with his barehand.  Had to hurt.  Three up, three down and the Rays win!

Post Game – It’s a helluva day when you can beat Halladay!  Hammel did just what we always ask of him.  Defense was good.  Offense was good.  The Rays looked tough tonight.  I dig that.  Let’s hope they can stay hot and sweep the Jays and get back to .500!  Go Rays!!