Rays 9, White Sox 1
Record: 10-3
Attendance: 11,107, but it didn't look like that many. It was cloudy and 38 degrees and the game had already been delayed an hour and a half before they started playing. Silly to play a baseball game in that kind of weather, but you have to hand it to the fans: they stayed home by the thousands. Considering how badly they were beaten under those miserable conditions, the White Sox management should probably have called the game off and rescheduled it during the summer. 20-20 hindsight's hard to beat.
Tyler Glasnow won his third game in a row (ERA now 0.53), pitching six scoreless innings, striking out eleven, and then giving the ball to Jalen Beeks who pitched three innings, giving up the Chisox only run in the ninth inning, and earning the save, his first. It was dominant pitching once again as the Rays swept the series to make a serious statement to MLB: Their pitching is breathtakingly good. The team ERA is 1.98 and the batting average against them a paltry .199.
However, let's hold off with the highest accolades until after they've faced the AL East, which is coming up this Friday with three games in Toronto, followed by three against Baltimore, and finally a set against Boston at the end of the month. The Yankees don't venture into the schedule until mid-May, with a six-game home-and away series. After that kind of fire, we ought to know just what kind of team we have here, but off the early going, it's hard not to become excited by the 10 and 3 Tampa Bay Rays.
On the offensive side of the ball, where they pounded five WS pitchers for 14 hits, manager Kevin Cash has to be excited as well. Tommy Pham had a pair of hits to extend his consecutive game on-base streak to 45--but they were both homers, his first two of the year. Austin Meadows (AL Player of the Week? early ROY contender?) had another three hits, including his fourth home run and three more RBIs (13 on the year.) Avasail Garcia had three more hits and two more RBI's against his former team--which may have turned the corner on his slow start this season. He went 8 for 15 with four RBIs on the sweep. Big smiles from him. And Willy Adames went 2 for 5 to continue his comeback from a slow start.
Make no mistake. The Rays are playing on all eight cylinders right now. No one wants to be their next opponent.
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