Rays Colored Glasses: Rays Recap

Date: April 6, 2011

v. LA Angels

Attendance: 11,836

W: Dan Haren (1-0) 1.23 ERA

L: Jeremy Hellickson (0-1) 4.76 ERA

Summary:

It’s a testament to how confident Joe Maddon is in this rotation that David Price didn’t get the ball today, even though he would be going on normal rest. Rays fans and management are high on Jeremy Hellickson and he showed some flashes of what he could do. In the fourth inning, he had already set a career high for strikeouts with eight. He ended up with ten strikeouts over five and two thirds innings. Hellickson allowed an RBI double to Bobby Abreu in the first an Alberto Callaspo homer in the fourth. When he was removed in the sixth, he was not happy and probably less so when one of the runners that Adam Russell inherited, scored.

It didn’t matter much how well Hellickson pitched because the Rays offense was again inept. All-Star Dan Haren completely shut down the Rays attack outside of another homer by B.J. Upton and a two-hit day by Sam Fuld.

Manny Ramirez did not start today, despite being 16 for 32 lifetime off of Haren. He pinch hit in the 8th, knocking Haren out of the game, and flied out, ending any hopes of a Rays comeback chance.

The 5-1 loss drops the Rays to 0-5. It’s time to get a win!

Player of the Game: Dan Haren. 7.2 IP, 4 hits, 1 ER