Of course I can forgive him for only one so far this season, I just thought it was funny that when I read the Rays Notes & Quotes this morning, the first thing i thought was, "oh no, they just jinxed Percival."
--RHP Troy Percvial might be better than ever since coming out of retirement. In 51 innings over 45 games with the Cardinals and Rays since coming back last June, Percival has a 1.41 ERA, third best of all relievers with 50 or more innings behind only J.C. Romero (1.08) and Joe Nathan (1.18). And he has a .149 opponents' batting average that is the best. He has had 39 scoreless appearances and 27 that have been hitless.
Yeah, as Percival was coming into the game last night, the Blue Jays announcers were just raving about his performance so far this season. I was thinking, "Please shut up, you're going to jinx him." Sure enough...
But... what a gutsy performance by the Rays last night. Don't get too many wins after blowing a save. I think this could be the type of "signature win" that really helps these guys believe in themselves. I love what I've seen from them so far.
If we can get a group of our guys to get hot at the same time, we can put together a nice little streak. It was really good to see them not get down last night, and had some great 2 strike hits by crawford and Navvy. Even Pena hit the ball hard. As long as he keeps hitting it hard, the hits will come, just quit striking out so much.
Dont leave Howells performance out either, other then the 13th when he gave up the 2 hits he pitched very well, only giving up the single walk. He kept the game tied for us. I think Percival also deserves some credit due to finishing the inning out, he easily could have cow tailed and given up the 4th run as well, wheeler did a great job by getting around the lead off triple, I thought it was over, and shame on Maddon for Gomes in Left, never should have happened, and that ball while hit well stayed in the air long enough to where if crawford or haynes wouldve made a play on it, if not catch it, at least hold him to a double or a long single. 4-5 on the road trip not bad considering we got swept in Boston, winning 2 out of three series on the road is a positive and hopefully a sign for things to come.
This game is one which the Rays would have lost last year in 9 innings. Instead of giving up the 3 runs, resulting in the tie, they would have given up 4. Percival isn't going to be perfect in save opportunities, and it was nice to see Wheeler and Howell bail him out, hold the Jays and preserve the win. Another solid performance by Jackson, who was masterful for the 8 innings.
This team is for real. This home stand should be a good time to make hay, however, the Angels are one of the powers outside our division. It doesn't get any easier.
i thought to myself as it was happening were still ok...troy percival's demeanor never changed...you could even see him reassuring his defense....last season we lost that game right there...and if we didnt lose it there.. it certainly was over after the lead off triple in the tenth....dan wheeler did a great job of working his way out of that.....and i found it just a weeeeee bit ironic that Shawn Camp came to the rescue for once....kudos to J.P. Howell for pitching 3 strong innings himself.....and yeah dioner navrro has been vastly improved at the plate this season...he finally leveled his swing off and isnt popping everything he sees up....hes been spraying the field with line drives....even the grand slam was a line drive.....this is the type of win the Rays arent familiar with....because i cant remember them ever winning a game like this....we always folded up our tents in the face of adversity....not this year...
well he did't look at all shaky last night. i think you can chalk that up to a bad outing and every pitchers going to have them from time to time. he has been a big plus for us out of the pen this season.
