The Tampa Bay Rays, based in St. Petersburg, Fla., participate in Major League Baseball (MLB) and are a member of the American League East Division. The Rays were founded as the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in 1998.
ST. PETERSBURG — In his unrelenting, agonizing and frustrating 2009 season, there have been few moments like this for Scott Kazmir, who strode off the mound at Tropicana Field to a standing ovation on Tuesday night, tipping the Rays cap he's worn for six years. An hour later, the emotional swell had swiftly subsided and [...]
ST. PETERSBURG — What needed to happen when the Yankees came to town didn't. So when the Bombers left Tropicana Field on Wednesday night after taking a 6-2 win over the Rays, the first-place team in the American League East moved to a 7 1/2-game lead over the reigning AL champions. In defeat, the Rays [...]
ST. PETERSBURG — Now, that's more like it — Rays baseball, according to manager Joe Maddon. "We pitched it, we caught it, we got a clutch hit, there was some really aggressive baserunning, a hustle kind of attitude — I like the attitude," Maddon said. "Everything in this game was set up by the starting [...]
ST. PETERSBURG — Monday wasn't exactly the way the Rays wanted to start things off with the Yankees. Trailing the first-place Bombers by 6 1/2 games entering the series opener at Tropicana Field, Tampa Bay desperately needed to make up some ground on New York — even if the calendar did read July 27. But [...]
TORONTO — Heading into a treacherous 10-game road trip after the All-Star break, the Rays could have seen their season tank away from home. Instead, after Sunday afternoon's 5-1 loss to the Blue Jays, Tampa Bay finished the three-city trip to Kansas City, Chicago and Toronto with a 6-4 mark. After Sunday's loss, Joe Maddon [...]
TORONTO — Down but hardly out on Saturday afternoon at Rogers Centre, the Rays erased an 8-0 deficit to take a 10-9 win over the Blue Jays in 12 innings. Jason Bartlett's RBI double in the top of the 12th scored Ben Zobrist to put Tampa Bay up, 10-9, and complete the miraculous come-from-behind win. [...]
TORONTO — Matt Garza went toe-to-toe with perhaps the best pitcher in baseball on Friday night and came away with the win. Not a bad way to begin the final leg of a 10-game road trip. Garza and Toronto's Roy Halladay locked horns over nine innings at Rogers Centre before the game went into extra [...]
CHICAGO — Jason Bartlett never had a chance to reach first base safely against White Sox ace Mark Buehrle, when he rolled a bouncing ball to shortstop for the final out of Thursday afternoon's game. Bartlett wasn't alone. Twenty-seven times, Rays hitters took their cuts off Buehrle. And 27 times, they walked back to the [...]
CHICAGO — After the Rays arrived at U.S. Cellular Field for the start of this four-game series against the White Sox on Monday, Rays shortstop Jason Bartlett soon found himself making small talk with White Sox catcher A.J. Pierzynski. "The first day, A.J. was like, 'You know, we play some tough games against each other,'" [...]
CHICAGO — Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon insists that if Jeff Niemann weren't somewhere in the neighborhood of "6-foot-12," nobody in the Rays clubhouse would notice his presence. "He's a big guy," Maddon said. "He's just very quiet and he goes about his business, and he listens and he works. He does everything right." Niemann, [...]