The Wandering Disciple

St Petersburg, Florida:  The Tampa Bay Rays played host to division rivals as they hosted the Toronto Blue Jays on Friday night at Tropicana Field in the first game of a three game series.  The Rays jumped out to an early lead only to watch the bullpen falter in the late innings resulting in an 8-4 loss for the home team. Both starting pitchers, Chris Archer for Tampa Bay and Francisco Liriano for Toronto were dialed in to start the night.  They posted zeroes to the scoreboard for the first three innings of the game. The Rays broke the scoreless tie in the bottom of the forth.  Daniel Robertson and Derek Norris delivered back to back homer to put the Rays in front.  Later in the inning, they loaded the bases and Steven Souza Jr drew a bases loaded walk to score Tim Beckham and give the Rays a 3-0 lead. Toronto scored their first run of the evening in the fifth inning.  Justin Smoak hit an RBI single to center, scoring Kendrys Morales to make it 3-1. ...

Port Charlotte, Florida: The bats were red hot on Sunday afternoon as the Tampa Bay Rays blasted the Toronto Blue Jays 8-2 in Grapefruit League action at Charlotte Sports Park. The Rays combined for four homers including two by Casey Gillaspie who hit one from each side of the plate and a moon shot by Jake Bauers. The Rays broke the scoreless tie in the second inning on a two run blast Bauers. The ball landed on the roof of the administrative building in right field with unofficial estimates of 450 feet from home plate. The Blue Jays battled back to tie the game in the fifth. Dwight Smith Jr delivered a two run double to left that scored Rowdy Tellez and Jonathan Diaz to tie the game. The Rays regained the lead in the sixth on a solo homer by Evan Longoria, his first of the spring. The Rays added some insurance in the form of three runs in the seventh. Gillaspie struck his first of two homers to get the scoring started. Later in the inning Ryan Brett singled home Pat L...

St Petersburg, Florida: After losing to the Blue Jays on opening day, the Tampa Bay Rays returned to the field at Tropicana Field for game two of the four game opening series. A combination of a red-hot power lineup for the Blue Jays and a tough to hit knuckleballer on the mound, the Rays dropped the game by the score of 5-3. The Rays took an early lead in the second inning on a solo home run by Steven Souza Jr to make it 1-0 Rays. But the Blue Jays quickly countered on a solo homer by Josh Thole in the third to tie the game. The Blue Jays took the lead fourth inning on a sac fly by Troy Tulowitzki and a two run homer by Michael Saunders to make it 4-1. Both clubs exchanged runs on the fifth, a solo homer by Josh Donaldson in the top of the inning for the Blue Jays and Kevin Kiermaier scoring on a wild pitch in the bottom of the inning made it 5-2. The Rays scored their final run of the night in the bottom of the sixth on an RBI single by Kiemaier. But the Rays could not m...

St Petersburg, Florida: The Tampa Bay Rays opened up their final series of the season with a three game set against the AL East leading Toronto Blue Jays on Friday night at Tropicana Field. The Rays were unable to keep the red hot offense of the Blue Jays quiet as they fell 8-4 in the last Friday night game of the season for the Rays. The Blue Jays had already clinched the American League East title and had their ticket to the postseason punched but they didn’t roll-over for the Rays as they pushed to secure home field advantage for the playoffs. They were also looking to put starter Mark Buehrle in the record books as the sought his fifteenth straight 200-inning season. The Blue Jays jumped out to an early lead in the second inning. A ground ball to short by Kevin Pillar scored Chris Colabello to give them a 1-0 lead. The lead held until the bottom of the fifth when the Rays struck for four runs. Luke Maile tied the game with an RBI single to score Richie Shaffer. Then l...

Sarasota, Florida:   Spring training is full swing throughout Florida and Arizona as major league teams prepare for opening day.  Over 7,400 fans packed Ed Smith Stadium to watch the Baltimore Orioles host the Toronto Blue Jays for some Grapefruit League action under the sunny Florida skies. The visiting Blue Jays jumped out to an early lead in the first inning.  They wasted no time, tagging the Orioles started Miguel Gonzalez for back to back singled to lead off the inning.  Justin Smoak later drove home Jose Reyes for the first run of the afternoon.  Then Ramon Santiago scored on an RBI double by Kevin Pillar to make it 2-0 Blue Jays. The Jays added to their lead in the fifth inning.  Munenori Kawasaki doubled to left, scoring Josh Tole to increase the Blue Jays lead to 3-0. The Orioles reached the scoreboard by posting a pair of runs in the bottom of the seventh.  The Orioles loaded the bases with a single by JJ Hardy, a walk by Chris Davis ...

Sarasota, Florida: The Baltimore Orioles wrapped up a record breaking spring on Tuesday afternoon at the newly renovated Ed Smith Stadium. This spring, over 115,000 people passed through the gates of the ballpark which saw 40 million dollar renovation during the off-season to make it one of the premier venues in the Grapefruit League. A crowd of over 5,000 witnessed and offensive show for the spring finale between the Orioles and the Toronto Blue Jays. The clubs combined for 11 runs on 26 hits and in the end it was the Blue Jays winning the game 7-4. The Blue Jays jumped out to a three run lead in the first inning. Yunel Escobar and Jose Bautista reached base on back to back singles. Then Aaron Hill double to left, scoring Escobar and Bautista. Hill would later score on an RBI single by Juan Rivera to put the Blue Jays ahead 3-0. The Orioles chipped away at the lead staring in the home half of the first. Derrek Lee doubled to left with two outs to put a runner in scoring positio...