[VIDEO] Yu Darvish Becomes Fastest Starter to 500 Strikeouts

Even after missing three weeks, Yu Darvish came back doing what he does best: throw strikes.

Fresh of the disabled list from neck discomfort, the lanky right-hander allowed seven hits over seven scoreless innings Sunday to help his Texas Rangers avoid a three-game sweep with a 3-0 win over the Tampa Bay Rays.

He struck out six and walked one, leaving the Rays hitless in 10 at-bats with runners in scoring position during his season debut.

Darvish got right down to business, accomplishing his 500th career strikeout by fanning David DeJesus and Wil Myers in the first inning. In fact, the 401.2 innings in which he did so was the fewest number of innings for any starter to reach that milestone in major league history. That's just three innings fewer than that of the old record holder, Kerry Wood.

The Rangers are hoping for another stellar season out of Darvish after his performance last year, in which he boasted a 2.83 ERA with a league-best 277 strikeouts and 13-9 record in 32 starts.

Get Well Soon, Evan Longoria

Evan Longoria was placed on the 15-day disabled list with a partially torn left hamstring Tuesday. Not only does this suck for the third baseman, but it sucks a whole lot more for the Tampa Bay Rays, who will be without their best player for at least 3-4 weeks and what might end up being up to 8 weeks.

Longoria, who is batting .329 with four homers and 19 RBI already, hurt himself on Monday while running to second on an attempted steal. He slid into the bag and just sort of laid there for a while before getting to his feet and walking to the dugout under his own power. He had this to say about his injury:

Season Previews: Tampa Bay Rays

With Spring Training well underway, it's time for one of our favorite things in all the world: Season Previews. Five years ago, they began as a semi-serious analysis and ended up as half-assed haiku. We're just gonna go with what we know. Continuing our preview of the American League East, here are the 2012 Tampa Bay Rays.

Shields and David Price
Jeremy Hellickson and
Niemann and Davis

Matt Moore got a big
Five-year deal worth big bucks
The lefty throws heat

Pena at first base
Longoria HOT corner
Zobrist at second

Rodriguez at short
Brignac and Johnson back up
And ride on the bench

Lobaton catches
But Molina won't give up
Luke Scott is DH

Jennings in left field
B.J. Upton in center
Matt Joyce out in right

Peralta's alright
But Kyle Farnsworth will close
Brandon Gomes is back

Scary Fernando Rodney Bullies Tampa Bay Rays into Giving Him a One-Year Deal

It's no secret that Fernando Rodney scares the crap out of us. In fact, we're pretty sure that he frightened the Tampa Bay Rays into giving him a one-year contract worth $2 million on Wednesday. The deal even has a club option for 2013. Hot Stove in Tampa Bay!

Let's be serious here for a minute. The right-hander's 4.50 ERA with the Los Angeles Angels last season doesn't exactly scream, "show me the money."

Rodney, who turns 35 in March, has seen his value sink drastically over the past two seasons. After signing a two-year, $11 million deal with the Halos back in 2009 as a free agent, he went on to provide the team with just 17 saves in 28 chances and compile a 7-8 record. He is a career 22-38 with a nice bloated 4.29 ERA over parts of nine seasons with the Angels and Detroit Tigers and has notched 87 saves in the past decade. What an athlete.

At least he can look forward to competing with Kyle Farnsworth in Tampa for the closer's job, which should be no competition at all. Because if Farny gets a job before you do, you have absolutely no business in the big leagues, pal.

[ESPN]

David Price Gets Mildly Pissed at Stranger Urinating on his Car

(Terrible pun fully intended)

David Price got a nice surprise on Friday as he exited 717 South restaurant in Tampa, Fl. where he was serving as a guest bartender at a charity event when he found either a deranged individual or New York Yankees fan taking a whiz on his vehicle.

The man was also taken by surprise and actually took a swing at the Rays lefty when he was done peeing on the ace's car door. Luckily, Price ducked the punch and was unscathed in the disgusting event. He had this to say regarding the matter:

"I was relieved with how it turned out."

Ah, funny guy. But seriously, what the hell is wrong with people?

Speaking of the Rays and people doing stupid shit, former Tampa Bay outfielder Manny Ramirez has been officially reinstated by Major League Baseball. All he has to do now is find a team who wants to deal with his shenanigans, serve his reduced 50-game suspension, and play ball.

[The Heater]

We Love Matt Moore Almost as Much as the Tampa Bay Rays Do

Matt Moore is awesome and also happens to have alarmingly perfect teeth, making him a deadly combination that is downright irresistible.

After a brief but incredibly impressive big league debut last season, the Rays have decided he's worth keeping around for a guaranteed $14 million over the next five seasons with club options that could be valued at roughly $40 million over eight years.

The heat-throwing 22-year-old lefty kicked off his major league career back in September and finished the regular season going 1-0 with a 2.89 ERA in three appearances, including one start. He went on to start Game 1 of the ALDS, in which he was lights out over seven shutout innings to beat the Texas Rangers and become the youngest pitcher to ever start and win a team’s first game of the postseason.

Moore will join a strong rotation that already includes David Price, James Shields, Jeremy Hellickson, Wade Davis and Jeff Niemann. Not too shabby, and there's no doubt these guys will remain competitive in the ridiculous American League East.

Moore was pretty shocked when the Rays approached him about the long-term commitment:

Jose Molina May Be Joining the Tampa Bay Rays for Some Reason

Most definitely in the twilight of his career, Jose Molina is reportedly joining the Tampa Bay Rays for the 2012 season. Suckers.

Despite his age, the 36-year old catcher posted a career-best .281 batting average last season with the Toronto Blue Jays, but still did next to nothing with runners in scoring position. Meanwhile, Tampa Bay backstop Kelly Shoppach struggled offensively, to say the least. Actually he sucked ass, batting .176 with 11 homers and 22 RBI. Shoppach did step it up a bit in the playoffs, however, crushing two longballs and batting .400 over four ALDS games against the Texas Rangers before going home a loser with the rest of his team. Wonder why the team didn't exercise his 2012 option...

There's Always Next Year, Rays Fans

Here we go again, kicking off another postseason of "There's Always Next Year, Dot Dot Dot." We absolutely love this part.

The Tampa Bay Rays, who fought so damn hard to get into the playoffs in the first place, find themselves the very first team to be eliminated out of postseason contention after the insane bat of Adrian Beltre and the Texas Rangers knocked them back into the offseason Tuesday afternoon. We know.... we wish we could give Evan Longoria a hug too. Among other things.

Adrian Beltre Homers Three Times, Texas Rangers Headed to the ALCS

Thanks to three Adrian Beltre longballs during Game 4 of the ALDS, the Texas Rangers have sent the Tampa Bay Rays packing and are headed straight to the American League Championship Series for the second season in a row.

The slugging first baseman went yard in his first three at bats during the 4-3 victory Tuesday in St. Petersburg. He hit solo shots off starter Jeremy Hellickson in the second and fourth innings before adding another solo homer for good measure in the seventh off reliever Matt Moore. Unfortunately, he missed the opportunity to hit a fourth home run in the eighth when he flied out to shallow right field.

After getting just one hit in 11 playoff at bats so far this postseason, Beltre really turned things around to become the sixth player in the history of the game to hit three home runs in a single postseason performance, and the first to do it during a divisional series. So that's pretty sweet.

The Rangers will now watch and wait to see who will face them in the ALCS between the New York Yankees and Detroit Tigers, who play Tuesday evening at 8:30pm ET on TBS. The Tigers have the chance to send the Yankees home tonight, as they lead the best-of-five series 2-1.

[ESPN Dallas/Fort Worth]

David Price, Tampa Bay Rays Drop Game 3 to Texas Rangers

David Price was cruising through Game 3 against the Texas Rangers like nobody's business until suddenly, in the seventh inning, he coughed up the 1-0 shutout.

The All-Star lefty, who was winless in six starts last month, has still never beaten the Rangers. Counting two unfortunate losses during last year's ALDS, Price is a career 0-6 against Texas... which is so weird, cause he's pretty awesome against everyone else.

The sixth time the Rangers found themselves with runners in scoring position -- failing to record a hit the five times prior -- Mike Napoli made it count with a two-run bomb to kick off a four-run seventh.

Price left the game after allowing a Craig Gentry two-out single, but reliever Brandon Gomes walked two in a row to load the bases before Josh Hamilton crushed a two-run single off J.P. Howell that gave Texas a 4-1 lead. Howell knew he totally blew it:

"Disgust. I'm just really bad. That's it. It's a negative. All negative. But move on, the series isn't settles, so let's just roll on."

Tampa attempted a comeback with rookie Desmond Jennings hitting his second solo shot of the game in the eighth off reliever Mike Adams to make it a one-run game, but the scoring ended at 4-3.

Facing elimination, Rays rookie Jeremy Hellickson is scheduled to pitch Game 4 against lefty Matt Harrison Tuesday afternoon at 2:07pm ET on TBS. In fact, there are four ballgames today. You should probably just call in sick.

[Rotoworld]

Tampa Bay Rays Rookie Matt Moore Crushes Texas Rangers in ALDS

Matt Moore is a total stud. You know it, I know it. Joe Maddon definitely knows it, and now the entire baseball-watching world knows it.

The adorable 22-year-old rookie left-hander, who joined the Tampa Bay Rays just three weeks ago, had the game of his life Friday night in just his second big league start ever. Tossing two-hit ball, he struck out six Texas Rangers and walked two.

No pitcher in the history of the game had ever started a postseason opener with just one career start under his belt until Moore took the hill at Rangers Ballpark less than 24 hours after being informed he was pitching in the playoffs. Eight days earlier, he fanned eleven New York Yankees over five scoreless innings and surrendered just four hits and a walk... pretty impressive to say the least. Moore had this to say post-game:

"They didn’t give me a whole lot of time to get nervous and to think about it a lot. I didn’t want to be out of it before I was in it… I tried to be as normal, as normal and as calm as possible. And it was just a matter of getting comfortable, and there on it was throwing strikes."

Holy Crap, Wild Card Wednesday Was Nuts

What a finish to baseball's regular season, the greatest show on dirt. That was literally the most exciting night of baseball we have ever witnessed in our entire lives. Sincerely hope you got to see at least one of these games.

The Atlanta Braves and Boston Red Sox polished off their respective collapses while the Tampa Bay Rays made the most improbable comeback of their young franchise's history. Also, Chris Carpenter and the St. Louis Cardinals plowed through the Houston Astros like they had the worst record in baseball... oh, wait.

Guys like Nolan Reimold and Robert Andino, who forced Jonathan Papelbon's soon-to-be infamous blown save, are maybe the last two names you'd expect to hear today. Maybe, if you're living outside of Baltimore, you have no clue who the hell they are. They're spoilers. Season-enders. Game-changers for a day.

Many Red Sox fans, already disappointed with Carl Crawford's once-promising season in Beantown, may want to kick him in the nuts today after his disgraceful, missed catch on Andino's low liner to end the game. Pure laziness. David Ortiz summed it all up in his post-game interview:

"Umm....this is... this might be the worst situation that I have ever been involved in, in my whole career."

Then there's Evan Longoria, who enjoyed a two-home run evening -- one being quite possibly the biggest walkoff bomb of his career -- at Tropicana Field as his Rays rallied from a 7-0 deficit in the eighth inning. And Dan Johnson. Batting .183 on the year and the last guy you want at the plate when your team is down to their last strike of the season in the bottom of ninth, goes yard to tie it up and give Tampa a shot at October.

Red Sox and Rays Both Victorious, Wild Card Still Tied

If you watched any of the Boston Red Sox game against the Baltimore Orioles Tuesday night, we hope you caught the Adam Jones at bat in the bottom of the ninth inning with two out and a man on second. What an attention whore.

After ten agonizing pitches, Jonathan Papelbon eventually got Jones to ground out on a slider and end the game. The 8-7 victory, combined with the Tampa Bay Rays' 5-3 win over the New York Yankees, allowed the Red Sox to stay alive another day in the American League Wild Card hunt.

Boston went yard four times in the evening, including two homers off the bat of adorable rookie catcher Ryan Lavarnway. The Yale philosophy major who never even played a big league game before this August, nailed a three-run shot in the fourth before adding a solo shot for good measure to give his team an 8-4 lead in the eighth. The O's tried to rally late in the game, but Papelboner was having none of that.

The Red Sox will send workhorse Jon Lester to the mound on three days' rest to face Alfredo Simon in the season finale Wednesday night in an effort to punch their fourth ticket to the postseason in five years.

Rays Win, Red Sox Lose, AL Wild Card All Tied Up

With only two games remaining in the regular season, the American League Wild-Card is all knotted up between the Boston Red Sox and Tampa Bay Rays.

Boston found yet another way to lose a ballgame Monday evening, squandering their one-game lead over the Tampa Bay Rays with a 6-3 loss to the Baltimore Orioles. This marks their 17th failure in 22 games, creating a giant sucking sound out of Beantown.

Josh Beckett started for Boston and ended up surrendering seven runs on six hits over six innings, losing to the Orioles for the second time in less than a week. Ouch. An attempted rally in the eighth was thwarted when the Red Sox loaded the bases with one out, missing the opportunity when Pedro Strop struck out Jarrod Saltalamacchia (who was hit in the throat with a foul ball in the bottom half of the inning) and retired Marco Scutaro on a grounder to end the threat.

The Red Sox must win their final two games, and at worst, back into the postseason by winning a one-game playoff against the Rays. That would be the most exciting scenario, of course, but either way they control their own destiny. Former Oriole Erik Bedard will face his old team Tuesday night against rookie left-hander Zach Britton, who has a career 10.80 ERA against the Red Sox over two games this season. Looking good for Boston.

Boston Red Sox Cling to One-Game Wild Card Lead

The Boston Red Sox are hanging on for dear life to their one-game lead in the American League Wild Card race.

Thanks to a Jacoby Ellsbury three-run shot with two out in the 14th inning, his Red Sox managed to beat the AL East champion New York Yankees 7-4 during Sunday's doubleheader nightcap after dropping the opener. The outfielder is batting .322 on the season with 31 homers and 103 RBI with 38 stolen bases as well. God, that's sexy.

Manny Seeks Reinstatement After Ban from Winter Ball

Manny Ramirez will not be allowed to play winter ball over in the Dominican Republic this offseason.

The reason? Mr. Cheaterpants never did serve a suspension, nor did he contest his positive drug test earlier this year. And with Major League Baseball's agreement with the Dominican League, they have all the power to stop him.

This according to a person speaking anonymously since the news hasn't been announced publicly: The Cibao Eagles, a Dominican winter league team Ramirez played with in 1993-94, claimed this week he was expected to start training with the club soon. However, MLB and the Players Association have decided he's ineligible.

Yankees Clinch Yet Another Playoff Berth

As Mariano Rivera earned his 603rd career save a day after becoming Major League Baseball's all-time saves leader, his New York Yankees punched their third straight ticket to the playoffs with a 4-2 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays Wednesday. In fact, this marks their 16th playoff berth in 17 seasons.

If anything, the 94-60 Yankees are awfully consistent. The worst they could do at this point is become the American League Wild-Card, with their magic number to win the AL East for the 12th time in 16 years at two. It's not even a big deal anymore. No hip bumps on the field or champagne in the clubhouse. Just their targets set dead on a 28th World Championship.

Tampa Bay Rays Making AL Wild Card Race Interesting

After beating the Boston Red Sox 6-5 in 11 exciting innings Saturday night, the Tampa Bay Rays are pushing to make this an exciting September.

The Rays are sitting at a season-best 16 games over .500 at 80-64 heading into Sunday's series finale that pits Red Sox lefty Jon Lester against right-hander James Shields, who leads the majors with 11 complete games this season. Total workhorse.

David Price is a Strikeout Machine

David Price enjoyed a career high in strikeouts Sunday during his Tampa Bay Rays 12-0 rout of the Toronto Blue Jays.

Not only were his 14 K's over seven innings a career-best for the left-hander, it marked a franchise record for the Rays. Tampa Bay pitchers as a whole set a team mark by fanning 18 batters overall, with reliever Brandon Gomes adding two over 1.3 innings and Cesar Ramos fanning two more to end it.

Red Sox Turn a Triple Play, No One Notices

When the Milwaukee Brewers turned a triple play on Monday, it was pretty exciting stuff. Unfortunately, when the Boston Red Sox turned in three outs in a single play the following day, it was one of the most boring triple plays of all time.

It was the fourth inning with runners on first and second, and here's how it all went down: With Erik Bedard on the hill, Sean Rodriguez dribbled one up the third baseline. Jed Lowrie then stepped on the bag to start a 5-4-3 triple play right around the horn. Just like that, the inning was over and Bedard got out of all sorts of trouble.

Not quite as awesome as the Brewers' triple play from the day before, huh.


Hat tip to Baseball Nation for the animated gif, which I found after googling "Lame Red Sox triple play"