SB Nation Tampa Bay - Opening Day 2011: Rays Lose To Orioles, Dominant Pitchinghttps://cdn.vox-cdn.com/community_logos/49019/tb-fave.png2011-04-02T02:47:35-04:00http://tampabay.sbnation.com/rss/stream/18485392011-04-02T02:47:35-04:002011-04-02T02:47:35-04:00Opening Day 2011: Rays Lose To Orioles, Dominant Pitching
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<p>Well, game one of the baseball season has come and gone. The <a href="https://www.draysbay.com/" class="sbn-auto-link">Rays</a>, unfortunately, did not win. But this was one game. One of 162. The season is still anew and Tampa Bay has two more games to stick it to the <a href="https://www.camdenchat.com/" class="sbn-auto-link">Orioles</a>. </p>
<p><b>THE GAME</b></p>
<p>The Rays fell to the expertise pitching of Orioles ace <span>Jeremy Guthrie</span>. The 31 year old fast ball hurler kept the Rays fooled with a slider and allowed a mere three hits and one walk over eight innings. He didn't allow a single run. By then, the score was 4-0.</p>
<p><span>David Price</span> was on the mound in his first opening day. Seven strikeouts were not enough to stop Roberts and Markakis of the O's to gather two RBI's a piece. The bullpen showed up in full force, holding Baltimore to their four runs, but the Rays never came back.</p>
<p>Overall, the game had two defining moments. The good was a flash of power from lead-off man <span>Ben Zobrist</span> when he railed a homerun into the right field corner in the ninth. The opening day shut out was thwarted to make the score 4-1, where it would stay. The bad featured a potentially poor call by the umpires in the eighth. BJ Upton was caught between second and third as he wandered a little too far from the bag. As he ran the bases to avoid the tag, short stop JJ Hardy ran into the backside of Upton, visibly knocking him to the ground. The umpire considered this leaving the baseline and an automatic out. Was Upton dead to rights? yeah. But Hardy almost blew an easy out, and one the Rays eagerly would have liked back. </p>
<p>The villain today was Guthrie, who has a history of success against the Rays (which <a target="_blank" href="http://tampabay.rays.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/index.jsp?gid=2011_04_01_balmlb_tbamlb_1&mode=recap&c_id=tb#!/box">MLB.com</a> was quick to note). In fourteen starts he has always brought his A game, earning eleven quality starts. Said <span>Johnny Damon</span>, "He was pretty good. He kept getting that pitch just off the outside corner for strike one. To me, it seemed like after he got strike two, he would surprise me with a pitch in my wheelhouse, but I was definitely looking for something else. He did his homework... We have a chance to be really good, but the American League East all got better this year."</p>
<p><b>THE FUTURE</b></p>
<p>The Rays have two more games against the Orioles before hosting the <a href="https://www.halosheaven.com/" class="sbn-auto-link">Angels</a> next week. Tomorrow, <span>James Shields</span> will take the mound vs <span>Chris Tillman</span> at 7:05. Tillman was the number three starter for Baltimore until Brian Matusz found himself on the disabled list.</p>
<p>The series will end on Sunday as the <a target="_blank" href="http://tampabay.sbnation.com/tampa-bay-rays/2011/3/31/2082905/rays-sign-wade-davis-seven-year-deal-contract">newly inked</a> <span>Wade Davis</span> will battle the spring training phenom Zach Britton. Both games should provide ample opportunities for the Rays to flash their power and might against the new-look O's. Nothing this season will come easy, but with 161 games to go something tells me the boys in blue will find Another Way.</p>
https://tampabay.sbnation.com/tampa-bay-rays/2011/4/2/2086370/all-is-not-lostDaniel Russell2011-04-01T08:08:45-04:002011-04-01T08:08:45-04:002011 Tampa Bay Rays Opening Day Lineup
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<p>The <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.draysbay.com/">Tampa Bay Rays</a> lineup for the season opener tonight has already been released:</p>
<p><span>Ben Zobrist</span> 2B<br>
<span>Johnny Damon</span> LF<br>
<span>Evan Longoria</span> 3B<br>
<span>Manny Ramirez</span> DH<br>
<span>Dan Johnson</span> 1B<br>
<span>B.J. Upton</span> CF<br>
<span>Matt Joyce</span> RF<br>
<span>Reid Brignac</span> SS<br>
<span>John Jaso</span> C</p>
<p><span>Jeremy Guthrie</span> is a right-handed pitcher, so it appears Maddon is taking a slightly different approach with his lineup than he did last season. John Jaso hit lead-off against righties many times last season, but Maddon is instead favoring the switch-hitting Ben Zobrist. Both Zobrist and Jaso get on base at an above-average clip, but Ben Zobrist is the better overall hitter and deserves to be hitting higher in the lineup.</p>
<p>Also, Maddon is showing that he believes Dan Johnson’s power from last season was no fluke, slotting him in at fifth in the lineup. Most projection systems are very optimistic about Johnson this season, and <a href="http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=2167&position=1B" target="new">his numbers suggest </a>he could break out and hit over 20 homeruns while batting around .250 and walking at a high rate.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t be surprised if this is the similar general format that Maddon uses when facing more right-handed pitchers. I’m not naive enough that I think he’ll use this same lineup against every right-handed pitcher – Maddon’s not nearly so predictable – but it’s a very good template of how he views the Rays talent at the moment.</p>
https://tampabay.sbnation.com/tampa-bay-rays/2011/4/1/2084524/2011-tampa-bay-rays-opening-day-lineupSteve Slowinski2011-04-01T07:56:01-04:002011-04-01T07:56:01-04:00Rays Face Orioles On Opening Day At The Trop
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<p>At 7:05 PM tonight, the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.draysbay.com/">Tampa Bay Rays</a> begin the season-long fight to defend their title as the AL East Champions. After finishing second in the AL Cy Young voting last season, <span>David Price</span> gets the nod as the number one starter for the Rays, while right hander <span>Jeremy Guthrie</span> takes the mound for the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.camdenchat.com/">Orioles</a>. Price is one of <a href="http://www.draysbay.com/2011/3/31/2079962/david-price-rays-opening-day-starter" target="_blank">only a handful of number one draft picks</a> to get an Opening Day start, and he's got a chance to be the most successful pitcher taken with the number one draft pick in history.</p>
<p>After losing so many players this off season - <span>Carl Crawford</span>, <span>Carlos Pena</span>, <span>Jason Bartlett</span>, <span>Matt Garza</span>, and nearly the entire bullpen - the Rays are considered long shots to make the playoffs again, but this team's talent level might surprise the doubters. The Rays have quietly assembled a <a href="http://tampabay.sbnation.com/tampa-bay-rays/2011/3/31/2082502/tampa-bay-rays-2011-roster-opening-day" target="_blank">very talented roster </a>this season, and most projection systems peg them as around an 88 win team. While that number is lower the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.overthemonster.com/">Red Sox</a> (95 wins) and <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.pinstripealley.com/">Yankees</a> (91 wins), it's close enough that the Rays should be in the hunt all season long. With some good luck for the Rays and bad luck for the Yanks or Sox, it's certainly possible that the Rays could end up back in the playoffs for the third time in four years.</p>
<p>The game tonight is already sold out, with only a handful of scattered single seats available. This is the sixth opening day at the Trop in a row that has been sold out.</p>
<p>For more detailed analysis on the game today, check out SB Nation's blog on the Tampa Bay Rays, DRaysBay. They've recently covered the<a href="http://www.draysbay.com/2011/3/28/2075213/know-thine-enemy-baltimore-orioles" target="_blank"> hitting tendencies of Orioles hitters</a>, and taken a look at <a href="http://www.draysbay.com/2011/3/29/2009815/should-joe-maddon-shift-on-any-of-the-new-orioles" target="_blank">which batters Joe Maddon might use a shift against.</a></p>
https://tampabay.sbnation.com/2011/4/1/2332526/rays-face-orioles-on-opening-day-at-the-tropSteve Slowinski