Wild, Wild Night at the OK Tropicana

Yankees 8, Rays 7

You have to admit here, that was the kind of game you want to tell your grand kids about when you are old and gray.

First the visitors’ take a starter deep not once, twice, but three
times early on and the score seems lopsided. The the home squad kicks
and scratches its way to a tie, then a long ball decides the outcome
late in the game.  More on what happened after the Trivia fact.

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On May 30, 1946, Bama Rowell was
the first person to hit the Bulova clock in Ebbetts Field. Some say
that was the inspiration for the scoreboard scene in “The Natural.”

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                                The Good,The Bad,and the Ugly

                        

                                         

                                                          The Good

 

There
were a few great plays tonight that could have garnished the top spot,
but since he has come up, Evan Longoria has done almost nothing wrong. Tonight
he got his first Homer in the Trop. in front of the home folks and it
was a wild sight indeed.  Longoria is currently hitting a
blistering .444.

Longoria’s
shot tied the score at 7-7 in the bottom of the 7th inning and sent the
crowd in a flurry of emotions. Before this inning, the Rays were down
to the Yankees  7-2 and did not show signs of waking the offense up
tonight. But, the 7th inning was special tonight. Rays
shortstop Jason Bartlett started the inning by smashing a ball off Ian
Kennedy’s hip for a  single.  The infield single knocked Kennedy out
of  the game and reliever Billy Traber came in to pitch.

One batter
later, Carl Crawford connected on his first homer of the year, a two
run shot to get the score closer, 7-4.  Up came Rays slugger Carlos
Pena, who then walked and B J Upton slammed another two run homer to
close in on the Yankees 7-6.

That set the stage for Longoria’s solo homer to tie the score.

Honorable mention Kudos of the Night:

***            Rays reliever Scott Dohmann came in with the bases loaded and did not give up a run during his 3.2 innings of work.

**             B J Upton raised his average to .313 by going 2-5 tonight and stealing a base.

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Major Kudos to the Rays Carl Crawford for his 3 RBI’s, Two on his
homer, and one on a Sacrifice Fly to deep left field bullpen area that
scored Nathan Haynes from third base.  Carl went 2-4 and showed
remarkable improvement at the plate.

 

                                                       The Bad

                                                 

Andy
Sonnanstine never seemed to be in a rhythm tonight. In the first inning
alone, Sonnanstine gave up a lead off  solo homer to Johnny Damon, and
then another to Alex Rodriquez. The worst part is the homer was A-Rod’s
521st homer, which tied him with Ted Williams and Willy McCovey for
15th on the All-time  Home Run list.

                     

Rays
reliever Al Reyes came in the top of the 8th inning to help preserve
the tie for the Rays. In that inning, Reyes gave up a pinch-hit homer
to Yankee second baseman Robinson Cano. Before the home run, Cano was
batting .170 for the year.

                                                The Really Ugly

I was going to gripe about B J Upton’s fifth base running error in 5 games, but instead I have another bone to pick tonight.

The
Yankees series have always been one of the best attended series of the
year for the Rays. The announced attendance for tonight’s Monday night
game was 18,872, which would put the Trop. at 47.5 percent full. It
used to be a predestined thing that this series would hit the money
tree for the Rays. But if this Monday game is any indication, then the
upcoming Yankees series that runs from Monday, May 12- 15, should be
another below par for attendance.

On
May 15th, that contest will be on a Thursday afternoon with a start
time of 4:10 PM. I know this start time is to give the Rays ample 
airline travel time to their next Inter-Leaque series in St. Louis,
Missouri that  Friday night. It
is just that the schedule looks like the local Yankee fans will be
shortchanged this year with the only other visit to the Trop for the
pinstripes coming on another weekday series from Sept. 2-4th.

In comparison, the Chicago White Sox have two weekend series, the first from April 18-20, and another from May 29-31st.

 

Former Rays Player of the Night:

                                                 

Twin Left fielder Delmon Young is my ex-Ray of the night.

In
tonight’s 11-9 loss to the Detroit tigers, Delmon went 3-5 with two
RBI’s and a stolen base. Young also score 3 runs tonight. Delmon is
currently hitting at a modest .280.

Another Twin having a great night was second baseman Brendan Harris who went 2-4 with 2 RBI’s and is hitting .351 for the year.

 

Don’t
forget the second and final game against the “Evil Empire” is tomorrow
night at 7:10 PM. Let’s see if we can get behind Rays pitcher Edwin
Jackson and cheer him on to his third victory of the season.

See you at the Trop!!!