Losing Lance Cormier
mvn.com 7/4/2009 — He was the bright light in the bullpen in April, making 9 appearances for 18 innings with a 3.37 FIP, pitching mostly in long relief with four outings of 2.1 innings or more pitched. Lance Cormier really shined in spring training and earn a spot in the Rays bullpen as the long reliever, ...

Bullpen Heart Racing Ninth, Wasn't Necessary
mvn.com 6/29/2009 — The Rays have been without a closer for over a month now. That shouldn't have made a difference going into the top of ninth with 5-1 lead over the Florida Marlins. David Price went six and a third innings and Joe Nelson an effective one and two-thirds innings to give the Rays one-run ball over ...

The Bullpen Has Been Under Worked Lately. Good Or Bad?
mvn.com 6/5/2009 — Just a brief look at the dates the last time the Rays relievers pitched in a game. Rest days since last appearance and stats when pitching on # of rest days in 2009 0 Days- J.P. Howell (7 IP, 6 H, 3 BB, 9 K, ER) 2 Days- Grant Balfour (7 IP, 3 H, 2 BB, 7 K, ER) 4 Days- Joe Nelson, Jason ...

It Wasn't All There In 4-3 Loss
mvn.com 6/18/2009 — June 18, 2009 Box    1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   R   H   E  Tampa Bay  ...

Rays Use Longball To Beat Yanks 8-6
mvn.com 5/8/2009 — May 7, 2009 Box    1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   R   H   E  Tampa Bay  ...

Bring The Heat Balfour
mvn.com 6/22/2009 — Recently, I have been going over Pitch f/x charts of various bullpen members of the Rays. Dan Wheeler , J.P. Howell , and Joe Nelson all got their pitch f/x charts analyzed here in the past week. Now it is Grant Balfour's turn, pitching 1.2 innings in Sunday's game holding up one of the two ...

The Amazing Nelson
mvn.com 6/19/2009 — We already discussed Joe Nelson's new mechanics a couple of times, with a follow up last week . Although I won't go over how well he improved and all that, but just look at his numbers since he changed in New York. G IP ERA H HR BB/9 K/9 WPA  ...

A May Bullpen, No Old Pitchers Please
mvn.com 5/26/2009 — Yes no more Cleveland posts, for now. Any way here is a quick look at the bullpen in May. (Yellow stats and players are good, orange stats and players are bad!) Those four pitchers in the last two innings yesterday were hurt statistically so analyzing these stats are hard. Also I am too lazy ...

Joe Nelson Is A Soft Tosser
mvn.com 6/25/2009 — The Rays vulcan changeup master Joe Nelson middle reliever Joe Nelson is officially a soft-tosser. Looking at the leaderboards for lowest fastball velocity among pitchers, Nelson is among the lowest. Among qualified relievers , Nelson is tenth for the lowest fastball velocity ahead of J.P. ...

Waiting Game: The Story Of The Rays First 50 Games
draysbay.com 5/29/2009 — More photos » by Mark Duncan - AP B.J. Upton is just waiting. So are we. (AP Photo/Mark Duncan) Browse more photos » It's sort of ...

Rays 10, Mets 6: Another Poor Outing by Parnell Proves Costly to the Mets — NYT > Baseball 6/21/2009
Entrusted with a 5-4 lead, Bobby Parnell, whom the Mets hope to make their setup man in the future, faced four batters on Sunday and all four scored.

BULLPEN BLOWS UP; RAYS TOP METS, 10-6 — NY Post: Sports 6/21/2009
> B.J. Upton homered and matched a career high with four RBIs, Carl Crawford drove in a pair of runs and the Tampa Bay Rays broke out of an offensive slumber with a 10-6 victory over the New York Mets on a soggy Sunday. Upton and Evan ...

Upton powers Rays to rain-delayed win over Mets — Boston.com -- Baseball News 6/21/2009
B.J. Upton drove in four runs as the Tampa Bay Rays pounded the New York Mets 10-6 in a rain-delayed interleague game on Sunday.

Rays 10, Mets 6: Philly is doing worse — Surfing the Mets - NY Daily News Blogs 6/21/2009
Hey, at least the Phillies are struggling worse. They lost their sixth straight and were swept by the Orioles on Sunday, allowing the Mets to remain two games back in the NL East despite their 10-6 loss to the Rays. Of course, you can view ...

Plate ump Crawford leaves game with back pain — The Seattle Times: Sports 6/21/2009
Plate umpire Jerry Crawford has left a game between the Tampa Bay Rays and New York Mets because of lower back pain.