Now stop me if you’ve heard this one: the Tampa Bay Rays lost an easily winnable game to great starting pitching. Their own starter struggled and the winning margin was decided by a single inning’s worth of offensive production. Pop quiz, hot shot: which game am I talking about? Not sure? Neither am I; they’re starting to run together.
The Rays dropped their Tuesday night game to the San Diego Padres as starter Wade Davis looked shaky, giving up two runs, enough to let the Padres take this one 2-1.
Designated hitter John Jaso singled in the eighth to bring home Jason Bartlett for the Rays meager offensive offering. It stings to out-hit a team 6-4 but lose 2-1 based on a run scored because of a hit batter.
Davis, in his 4.3 innings pitched, loaded the bases on multiple occasions, giving up five walks and throwing more than 100 pitches in less than five innings of work. He got out of the hole he dug in the first inning, loading the bases after retiring the first two batters. Davis was not so lucky in the third, when he allowed Tony Gwynn – whom he walked – to score on Chase Headley’s infield single. He then walked Scott Hairston and brought David Eckstein around to score by hitting Will Venable with a pitch. This, of course, all happened with two outs. The rest of the game was also typical: several three-up, three-down innings on offense, men stranded on base in scoring position, and B.J Upton predictably striking out to end the game. It feels way too familiar, eh?
Conversely…
“He was very impressive,” Rays manager Joe Maddon said of Padres starter Mat Latos.
It’s become a real tired story of late. “Oh, the Rays got beat by great starting pitching.” Don’t give pitching all the credit; the Rays’ bats have an equal share of the blame for this current trend, which entails the Rays losing eight of their last 11 games, five of which were by a three-run margin or less. The excuse is wearing thin; great starting pitching. I’m tired of hearing it, tired of saying it, and tired of writing it.
Great ball clubs overcome great pitching. Is Latos a great pitcher? Sure. Did he throw a great game? Absolutely, but the Rays face great pitchers all the time, and in this season alone have managed to tune up Jon Lester for 7 runs, Mark Buehrle and A.J. Burnett each for 6, and Cliff Lee for 5. This IS a great ball club and they CAN overcome great pitching, they just can’t do it lately. That needs to end and it needs to end soon; you can make the excuse that we’re not even halfway through the season, but New York and Boston are not slowing down right now and the Rays may soon find themselves in a verrrrrrrry deep hole if they don’t find an offensive spark soon.
Silver lining
At least there was something worth celebrating Tuesday night, as Rays television announcer Dewayne Staats was honored for his 5000th career game called. It’s very impressive, have a broadcasting career spanning more than three decades. I love the way Dewayne and the rest of the Rays crew call games. You can tell they are not only supportive of the team but fans of the game of baseball in general. Staats was seen on-field throwing out the ceremonial first pitch to his son-in-law, Rays reliever Dan Wheeler (who, incidentally, had a great outing, throwing two no-hit innings).
Bitching about pitching? Sonny is money
At what point do you consider pulling Davis from the starting rotation? Right about now, in my opinion. With whom do you replace him? Andy Sonnanstine, who is on fire right now in the Rays bullpen, offering great long relief in recent games. Sonny pitched two and a third hit-less innings in Tuesday’s game and is showing great command. He was optioned to the Rays AAA affiliate, the Durham Bulls, on June 27, 2009, after posting a 6-7 record as a starter with a 6.61 ERA. Davis is currently 5-8 in 14 starts. It’s about that time of the year and I think we need to see the return of Andy Sonnanstine. Rays manager Joe Maddon waffled on the topic when asked about replacing Davis with Sonnanstine during the post-game press conference, preferring to extol – rightfully so – Sonnanstine’s performance out of the bullpen, saying, “what Andy’s done has been wonderful.” Yeah, he’s a great asset in relief. You know who’s not looking so hot? Davis. Make the move, Joe.
This article appears in Jun 17-23, 2010.