Rays fall to Indians, 5-2

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Cliff Lee tied the major league lead with his 15th win and the Cleveland Indians stayed unbeaten against the AL East-leading Tampa Bay Rays this season with a 5-2 victory on Monday night.

Lee (15-2) went seven innings, giving up two runs and eight hits. The left-hander is 9-2 in 13 road starts.

Tampa Bay's five-game winning streak ended. The Rays began the day 2 1/2 games ahead of Boston in the AL East.

David Dellucci hit his 100th career homer for the Indians, who improved to 20-36 on the road. Cleveland is 5-0 against the Rays this season, including a four-game sweep at home July 10-13.

Rafael Perez pitched the final two innings to record his second save.

Akinori Iwamura drove in both runs for Tampa Bay, which fell to 43-17 at home.

Rays left fielder Carl Crawford (sore left hamstring) and shortstop Jason Bartlett (right index finger) were out of the starting lineup. It's possible both might not start again Tuesday.

Kelly Shoppach put the Indians ahead 1-0 with an RBI double in the second. He made it 5-2 on a run-scoring in the eighth, and has eight RBIs over his last seven games.

Cleveland took a 2-0 lead on Asdrubal Cabrera's third-inning solo homer.

Lee worked out of jams in the first and second innings, leaving five runners on base and holding Tampa Bay to 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position over the stretch.

After needing just seven pitches to work a perfect third, Lee allowed a two-run, two-out single to Iwamura in the fourth that tied it at 2.

Dellucci hit a two-run shot to put Cleveland back up 4-2 in the fifth.

Tampa Bay starter Matt Garza (9-7) allowed four runs and seven hits in five innings.

The announced crowd at Tropicana Field was 17,049.

Associated Press

Comments

[Mike]

Oops I, meant aTTendance

[Razzlegator]

You guys need to check out the next blog entry. Gomes has been optioned to Durham.

[Mike]

Some things just take time. After taking a dump all over the fans for 10 years, with 10 years of the worst in baseball, new management took over and has turned over a new leaf. Things are improving, more and more fans will come but it won't happen instantaneously. Addendance is wayyy up as evidenced by the weekend series. PATIENCE MY FRIENDS!

[Andy]

It is much easier to support an NFL team than it is to support an MLB team. Gainesville regularly pulls 80k+ for Gator games. Why? Because its easy for people to plan a trip around the team when it only happens 8 times a year. The same it true for NFL teams.

It's also much, much easier to support an NHL team, as the venues are roughly half the size of most MLB parks.

[TT]

SKP and Andy - please, you are making way too much sense for those that NEED to whine about attendance.

Forget that Rays attendance is way up. Forget that there are still some fans smarting from 10 yrs of the Naomoli era. Forget that we're in a deep recession and that our metro area had the single highest number of job losses of any MSA last month and please forget that there are no viable places to move the team.

By the way (more facts to get in the way here) Carolina Hurricanes were 20th of 30 NHL teams in attendance. They had a winning record but didn't make the playoffs. The Lightning, with the fewest points in all of hockey were 8th. Do you think maybe Stu Sternberg is aware of these facts and knows that by creating a winner the fans will come out? The Lightning are still "drawing" because of their Stanley Cup run, their fans haven't completely jumped off the bandwagon yet. Yes, it takes bandwagon fans to push teams over the edge. If you don't believe me, look at the Red Sox attendance in the late 90's or the Yankess in 99/2000 - averaging 15K less per game than now.

But please, ignore the facts and continue to complain about attendance and keep making phantom statements about the team moving away.

[Mark]

The economy is a big factor... Construction Services are a big part of the Tampa/St.Pete area and its dive-bombing. You notice when us Tampa fans have "time" to come to the games on the weekend, it fills up. Nobody wants to show up to a game after the 1st inning is over, or atleast I don't. I've noticed that during the week the crowd is predominantly older-retired fans, possibly living in St.Pete. On the weekend, you start to see the middle-aged, weekly worker with his family. Having said all that, attendance will improve just look at the Bucs. Even when they started to get good, and only had 8 home games it took a few years to sell the place out every game. Give it time! Go Rays

[Jesse]

My words exactly Dick about the Bucs compared to the Rays..you really cannot compare the two.....Im a season ticket holder of 3 years and I cant begin to describe the difference from the past 2 in attendance..Those of you who are slamming the fans and saying we dont deserve a team, how many games have ya'll been too??? Probably not as many as us who hold down row T section 147....

Dick and Harold thanks for making the argument. The community is not supporting the team like it should for many reasons. If Carolina can support the Panthers and Hurricane why not the Rays? How many tonight 20-22K? There should be 36K with scalpers on every corner. How much money and attention to the Bay area would a WORLD SERIES bring? Time to get serious Rays fans!

[dick]

Chiming in on the attendance situation, Andy is pretty much right on. During the summer months, the majority of this "market" is up north. The remaining "market" has numerous other distractions to draw their attention, rather than baseball. Toronto fans don't have beaches, great weather, etc. This, added to the present economical woes explains why the place isn't filled on a regular basis (PLUS SEASON TICKET HOLDERS). You hear many people say "the Bucs don't have any problem selling out"--well, the Bucs only play 8 regular season home games--the Rays play 81..The Bucs play in the fall/winter when the snowbird market is back here--the Rays play in the summer when market is elsewhere..so, there is absolutely no comparison to the two sports teams attendance. Just look south the Miami--the Marlins are also in a pennant race and they draw less than us, both now and when they won the whole enchilada. The state of Florida will never haved a BASEBALL team that sells out like NY/BOSTON/CHICAGO, etc., unless they do it through season ticket holders and that is most doubtful. Be thankful they are drawing what they are, especially during these tough economic times.

[Bailey]

Go Devil Rays !!!

[Andy]

For those that suggest the Rays will move to greener pastures and get 'guaranteed attendance', i have a simple question. Where?

The Tampa Bay area has roughly 2.5 million people to make up the potential Rays fan-base (not even counting Polk, Manatee, or Orange counties). Places like Charlotte and Oklahoma City have around 1.5 million people to draw from if you're being generous, and Vegas doesn't even have a million. So where is this magic market with the ability to consistently draw more than the 20k a night the Rays are averaging?

[Harold]

I really appreciate Helene's Comment.
While its true that this team may leave at sometime in the future it doesnt warrent all the Shrill noise on these blogs day after day about attendence.
IF the team moves it wont be because of attendance. the Colts didnt move out of Baltimore because of attendance. The Browns didnt move because of attendance.
The fact of the matter is that Pinellas county has 11 percent of the population living under the feds poverty line. Check the census for 2006. Average income for the county less than 37000 per year. im lucky . I make a good living but its expensive to go to a professional sporting event. Its a major deal for my family of four to go to a game. We still manage to get to 20 games or so a year but that is out of reach of most people in Pinellas County .The other factor is that This part of Florida has a large Retirement community. Retired= fixed income. Additionally those retires usually have loyalty to the teams from whence they retired from.
So in conclusion, It is less than optimal to have 12th best attendance when the team is in first place in August. But on the positive side it no longer 14th. Enough of the shrill noise.
Its getting better as the team is getting better. there isna adarn thing that can be done if the Team wants to move. Everything I have heard suggests that These owners are going to do everything to stay in the area.
So yea, go to a game support the team.
But stay out of my ear (or eyes) about the team leaving town if everyone doesnt stampede down and mortgage the house to get season tickets.
OUT

[MD]

1st inning set the tone. Runners on 1st & 2nd, Joe doesn't bunt. Same thing in the 7th, Rays don't score. Jonny in the line up hitting way under his weight. Love the guy but it's a major league team in 1st place, enough is enough.

[skp]

give it up with the attendance whining already...the reason Toronto drew 24k in 4th place on a Monday is because of SEASON TICKET HOLDERS, which are tough for a 100-loss team to get in droves...watch the season ticket buys next year, they'll boost "attendance" by thousands more each game whether there's butts in those seats or not....

no team can survive and post respectable attendance with walk-ups and single game tickets alone, and now that the rays have proven they can entertain the fans, expect a huge push for full and partial season tix in 2009 whether we make the playoffs or not

[Dave]

Nice concoction of comments some on target others not. I loved Helene's comment because I believe in this economic situation the Rays are drawing excellent. They know it hence the promotions free gas cards etc. Maybe the FRO should arrange bus transports that will go areas where fans can drive3 a short distance to catch the bus and serve $8 beers pn the bus plus with the appropriate propaganda to get these fans all hyped by the time they arrive at the stadium. Agfer the game Canbies can hang out and drive the over indulged home.

Anyway, Baldelli won't be activated until know that Crawford and Bartlett can go. I doubt Bartlett will go to the DL buy I bet he misses sll this week. I hope he doesn't because this team is a very different team when he is out. Take last night when Aybar couldn't et low enough to take a grounder to his left. Bartlett makes that play look routine. Instead Garza is now in the stretch and it's a double down the line. Garza's gopher balls were simply mistake pitchers that you can't make when up against Lee. Garza knew he had to be perfect last night to win. The Rats got him enough runs to win.

I do wish when the Rays are up against a tough pitcher and we get runners on with no outs that we bunt them to get a runner on third. Zimmer was great at that and I still remember him saying get a guy on 3rd and the pitcher will always pitch differently.

I love this team and it's fun to watch.

Plus let's face it - last night was a perfect loss - both NY and Boston took it on the chin.

Selig can't stand Tropicana Field, a 1st place team with a stadium less than half full. Some other city will offer a brand new stadium and guaranteed attendance for the Rays to move. They have already shipped spring training operations out of St.Pete. The next move is to take the big club. The fans here won't know what they had until moving trucks hit I-275 north. Then the boo hoo crying will start. How does the Carolina Rays sound?

[Helene]

Dear Rays,

I'm a big fan. I love you guys, and I watch you religiously on TV, but I've only made the trip to the dome twice this year. Is it that I'm in Tampa and the stadium's in St. Pete? Nope. I wish it were closer but the drive isn't that big a deal. Is it that I'm currently living paycheck to paycheck, and it's freaking expensive to go to a ballgame nowadays? Yes, yes, a thousand times yes. If the powers that be at the Trop brought back free parking and the $3 "Beach" tickets, the hubby and I might be filling two seats (drinking our $8 beers and cheering obnoxiously) every weekend. So...yeah. Though I certainly don't begrudge you for having occasionally expressed disappointment that more fans haven't come out to the games (gee, a first place team expecting hometown support? what whiners!) it's easy for you to say when money is no object to you. Sorry guys, but this year (for the most part) I've gotta be at the Trop in spirit only, for the sake of y'know, paying my bills. Maybe things will turn around for me soon. After all, Trever Miller just got a win.

xoxo,
Helene

[RaysFan81]

Someone please explain why we're going to rely on Rocco Baldelli to be the savior of the lineup? So far this year in 24 games at the A and AA level he has a combined average of .257. I know he is working out the rust and in the final 13 games his avg was .297 but let's be realistic. Oh not to mention he probably can't play the field so that means if he's the DH who's coming out of the lineup and we still have that pesky problem about not having an everyday RF. I really hope I'm wrong and the guy bats .400 up in the bigs but why are you people talking as if you expect him to be 100%?

[Craig]

Hey look! Some other team's loser fan is ragging on attendance again. Very original.

Oh, and p.s. the team isn't going anywhere, so I guess you'll be the one choking on it for years to come. The team is solidifying and attendance will continue to rise, don't you even worry about it.

LOL

How flawed can you get. The Royals are a 4th place team 9 1/2 games out. The attendance for a weekend series for a 1st place team should have been 108K. Yes the attendance is up but there still is no buzz or excitement around the Trop. The team is undefeated with crowds over 30K. Get your head out from where it is firmly implanted and SHUT your piehole! Fact is the attendance for a 1st place team has been weak, MLB and Rays ownership will see the Tampa area is not capable of sustained support of the franchise. Then it is out the door. Choke on it!

[JeffC]

To all the critics on here: how many weekday games do you attend? We're you there last night?

Please SHUT UP about the attendance. The Rays just completed a 90K weekend against the Tigers, attendance is up over 35% from last year. The Rays had 13,000 walk-up ticket sales on game day Sunday - an astounding number.

The Rays have the lowest season ticket base in MLB which greatly impacts attendance, unfortunately the whiners who post on this blog regularly STILL do not understand that basic economic fact.

People are coming out for games, check the attendance for a Mon game in early Aug game last year and you will probably see 12K, not 17K - ho-hum 45% better. The Royals, with a season ticket base just about double the Rays only had a few more thousand for their game against the Red Sox (who probably boosted attendance by at least 5K). Yet no one is crying on Royal's blogs about poor attendance.

And if you're waiting for new stadium to be approved, built and opened in Tampa, please hold your breath until it happens.

That is great for you Jeff C. The alarming fact is after a weekend sweep of the Tigers and maintaining the 3 game division LEAD there was no buzz at Tropicana Field for the Indians game. The place should be jumpin right now and it's not. Dedicated Rays fans don't want to admit the small crowds are trouble for the future. Oh I'm sure the Johnny come latelys will show up in September to fill the ballpark for Boston and New York and everyone will get excited but this team deserves better. This is a race for the pennant! Fans around here just don't get it. Not yet.

[Graham]

Did anyone else notice that right as they were saying that Gabe Gross struggles against lefties, he hit the double that set up Aki's game-tying double with two outs? Seriously, if we're not going to activate Baldelli, at least play Gross instead of Gomes. The guy has been nothing but clutch for us. Gomes' game is tired and he's got to go. If his strength is against lefties, why is he batting below .200 there as well? Yep. Jonny 'Strikeout' Gomes. Love it.

[Graham]

If people are going to show up on Monday through Thursday, one of two things will have to happen- the stadium gets moved to a location suited to the Tampa working class who, if they get off of work at 5 or 6 PM, barely have time to make it- or push the games back an hour. Seriously. I hated the idea of the sailboat stadium, not because it was a sailboat and not because it was outdoors, but because it still presented the same problem. Move this stadium just off 275 where it meets the west side of the bay. Plenty of real estate, still in Pinellas and equidistant.

[JeffC]

I really enjoy the posts about how much better the Rays would be with a better manager.

The RedSox would also be better if they had a better manager, and so would the Yankees, and so would the RedSox, and so on down the line.

1st place in the AL East, 22 games above .500 and some people still cannot enjoy it.

Their attendance is up 30% over last year, albeit on a low base. Plus with the number of games this year that sold out or were close, I bet a lot of people but season ticket plans for next year.

The attendance will continue to improve, as will the Rays.

Not all people, me included can make weekday games. However, I have been to about 17 so far, and have tickets to another 3.

GO RAYS!

[Alex]

Friedman says "Rocco is relatively close to being activated" That's it Friedman,wait until he is very rusty from not seeing any live game pitching for a while,then activate him!Make a decision Friedman, either Gomes or Gross!!Activate Baldelli NOW!!!

[Start showing up]

The 4th place Toronto Blue Jays drew 24,761 against a brutal Oakland team. The division leading Rays managed 17,049. You can't argue with numbers. Facts are facts, attendance is up but still a huge disappointment. The owners will forget a new stadium and start focusing on a new city outside of this market. A city that will fill the seats. Seattle just lost the Sonics to Oklahoma City, it does happen.

[Were you around last year?]

If you exclude the Yanks/Sawx/Cubs games, as well as the artificially high crowds for Parks and Rec day, tonight was the largest crowd the Rays have drawn for a Monday-Thursday game in several years. Not to mention they drew more for this game than they did for a few of the early season Yankee games. The fans are showing up slowly but surely.

[Lack of support will send the Rays packing]

Not even 18,000 for a 1st place team. This area doesn't deserve what the Rays have given this season. The players have said it helps when the place is packed. I think this area is just content to have a baseball team. I have read the articles, heard the analysts about the lack of support. The explanation is not enough fans willing to go to the ballpark. When will they start showing up...when it counts. It counts now. Start showing up or say goodbye to your team!

[Edgar]

tonight Matt Garza had the Scott Kazmir syndrome. 100 pitches through 5 innings. When this team ties it vs Cleveland the following inning the give up a couple of runs right back. This is frustrated to see a team lose and when the Yanks and Red Sox lose. The Indians are not a power house team and the Rays make them look like murderer's row. Get Rocoo activated and stop with the mind games.

[Andy]

Caleb,

You are dead wrong. When you look at how many runs this team has scored and compare it with how many they've given up, you'd see that they are playing several wins above their expectations (based on run differential their expected record is 61-50).

10 games up? You do realize that Boston has the best 2nd place record , New York has the best 3rd place record, Toronto has the best 4th place record, and Baltimore has the best fifth place record in all of baseball? And yet the Rays 28-19 against these teams. They couldn't be much better given the competition they face.

Lou Pinella is a good manager, but has a horrible record at developing young players. He is the kind of guy that would have kept Longoria on the pine to give more playing time at 3B to the 'proven veteran' Hinske. I have nothing but praise for what Maddon has done with this group of youngsters, and it's ridiculous to suggest that the best team in franchise history is under-performing.

[Andy]

Riggans in left? They need to go ahead and activate Rocco.

[Caleb]

That'll teach 'em to activate a right handed bat next time. Rocco was there to be used and the Rays are letting him go to waste.

Kinda stinks, with better management this team could be 10 games ahead in the division and first place overall. Where is sweet Lou?

[Mark]

eh cant win them all.......

but go rays!