SATURDAY, MARCH 14, 2015 AT BALTIMORE ORIOLES RH Nathan Karns vs. LH Brian Matusz First Pitch: 1:05 p.m. | Location: Ed Smith Stadium, Sarasota, Fla. | TV: None | Radio: WDAE 620 AM Game No: 11 (3-6-1) | vs. AL: 3-3-0 | vs. NL: 0-3-1 | Home: 2-3-0 | Road: 1-3-1 Day 20 of Spring Training | 23 Days Until Opening Day—Monday, April 6 vs. BAL (3:10 p.m.) SLICE OF GRAPEFRUIT—At 3-6-1, the Rays have the third-worst record pct., 4th best among active catchers (min. TODAY’S STARTING LINEUP in the Grapefruit League; only the Braves (3-8) and Orioles (3-9) have 200 games), while the major league aver- 7 David DeJesus (L) RF worse records…today is the sixth of 16 road games this spring…the Rays age over that span is 24.1 pct. 11 Logan Forsythe (R) 3B also play 14 games at Charlotte Sports Park and one home game at Tropi- 13 Asdrubal Cabrera (S) SS cana Field (April 4 vs. DET)…this is the Rays 18th spring in the Grapefruit CLEAN SLATE—The Rays enter their first 28 John Jaso (L) DH League and seventh calling Charlotte Sports Park home…the 2014 Rays season under Manager Kevin Cash, and 44 Rene Rivera (R) C recorded the best spring record in the majors at 16-7-4 (.696), their third also with Matt Silverman at the head of 2 Nick Franklin (S) DH 39 Kevin Kiermaier (L) CF Grapefruit League title in a span of seven seasons (also 2008, 2010). the Baseball Operations department… 1 Tim Beckham (R) 2B Ê Since becoming the Rays in 2008, Silverman assumed his role of President, 83 Jake Elmore (R) 3B the team has recorded at least 15 BEST RECORDS, MLB, Baseball Operations on Oct 14, and he 51 Nathan Karns RHP wins in six out of seven spring train- SPRING TRAINING, 2008-15 hired Cash as the fifth manager in Rays ings—something they never did in 10 Kansas City 131-91 .590 history on Dec 5…they succeeded Joe RAYS IN springs as the Devil Rays…the Rays LA Angels 128-94 .577 Maddon and Andrew Friedman, whose SPRING TRAINING have compiled a 112-92 (.549) spring Detroit 128-97 .569 nine years together made them the lon- 2015 3-6-1 24,644 record during this span, 5th best in NY Yankees 120-98 .550 gest-tenured manager/GM pairing in base- 2014 16-7-4 78,264 Tampa Bay 112-92 .549 the majors (see chart). ball…Cash is the youngest current manag- 2013 15-17-2 90,935 2012 10-16-6 87,916 er or head coach in the major four sports; 2011 15-14-2 95,859 RUN PREVENTION—The Rays lead all major league teams with a 2.25 ERA Celtics head coach Brad Stevens (38) is 2010 20-8-2 97,971 (88-IP, 22-ER)—58 points better than the next lowest (Reds, 2.83) and 78 the runner-up…on Opening Day, Cash (at 2009 15-16-1 103,255 points better than any other Grapefruit League club (Yankees, 3.03)…they 37 years, 120 days) will be the youngest 2008 18-8-2 54,960 have yielded only 3 HR, 2nd fewest in baseball (Cardinals, 2). manager in MLB since ARI A.J. Hinch, 2007 10-19-2 79,044 Ê The Rays have not committed an error in their last 2 games, but their who debuted on May 8, 2009 (34y, 358d). 2006 13-16-1 70,756 16 errors this spring remain tied with the Giants and Mariners for 2005 13-16 61,261 most in the majors. 7 YEARS AS THE RAYS (2008-14)— 2004 11-8 43,916 Since changing their name to the Rays in 2003 8-19-3 51,324 2002 10-16-1 49,043 MARGINS ARE TIGHT—After yesterday’s 2-1 loss to the Phillies in Clear- 2008, the Rays are 627-508 (.552) in the 2001 12-15-1 57,081 water, 5 of the Rays 6 losses this spring have been by one run…the Rays regular season, fourth-best record in the 2000 14-17 67,089 find themselves at 3-6-1 despite outscoring their opponents, 32-30…the majors after the Yankees (.571), Angels 1999 14-14-1 59,230 Rays have allowed the fewest runs in the majors, while the offense has (.554) and Cardinals (.554)…the Rays 1998 12-18 66,781 scored the 3rd fewest, ahead of the Phillies (31) and Pirates (26). have won 90-plus games five times, most Total 229-250-29 1,239,689 Ê The Rays are batting .221 as a team, 2nd-lowest mark in the majors in the majors in this span…they have ad- (Phillies .215)…they also have the majors’ 2nd-lowest OBP (.273). vanced to the postseason four times; only Ê The Rays scored their lone run in the 1st inning yesterday, on an the Cardinals (five) have been more often. RBI single by Evan Longoria—the first time all spring the Rays had Ê The Rays pitching staff has allowed only 4,536 runs, fewest by an scored in the first 3 innings of a game…on a similar note, 30 of their AL team over a span of seven full seasons since 1974-80 (Orioles 32 total runs this spring have come in the 5th inning or later. 4,271; Yankees 4,353)…they have thrown 96 shutouts, most by an AL team over a seven-year span since the 1975-81 Yankees (also LEANING LEFT—LH Brian Matusz today is the fourth consecutive left- 96)…they achieved all this while starting a pitcher under the age of handed starter the Rays have faced…including him, the Rays have faced a 30 in 93.5 pct. of their games (1,062 of 1,135). southpaw starter in 7 of their first 11 games. RAYS ON THE RADIO—Today is the third of 9 games this spring airing on MINOR MATTERS—Tomorrow, a minor league intrasquad game will be the Rays Radio Network…10 additional games are airing on MLB.com… held at 11 a.m. …scheduled to pitch in that game are RH Kevin Jepsen, broadcasters Andy Freed and Dave Wills are entering their 11th season RH Ernesto Frieri, RH Brad Boxberger, RH Brandon Gomes and LH together in the Rays booth…among all 30 major league broadcast teams, Jeff Believeau, while Rene Rivera is scheduled to catch…on Monday, RH only three have a longer tenured radio broadcast duo: Jake Odorizzi will pitch in a minor league intrasquad game at 10 a.m. Ê Tigers—Dan Dickerson & Jim Price entering 13th season together Ê Orioles—Joe Angel & Fred Manfra entering 12th season together RAYS vs. ORIOLES—Today is the second of 5 games scheduled this Ê Giants—Jon Miller & Dave Flemming entering 12th season together spring between the AL East rivals, and first of 3 at Ed Smith Stadium… the Rays opened their Grapefruit League season against them at home on WELCOME TO PARADISE—In 2014, readers of USA Today voted Char- March 5, losing 3-2…in spring 2014, the Rays went 2-1-2 vs. Baltimore, but lotte Sports Park their favorite spring training destination in all of baseball… were 2-0 at Ed Smith Stadium…in fact, the Rays haven’t lost in this ballpark those visitors accounted for an economic impact value of nearly $21 million since March 1, 2011—they are 4-0-2 here since then. for Charlotte County in 2014, according to data supplied by the Charlotte Ê In the 2014 regular season, the Rays went 7-12 against the Orioles— Harbor Visitor and Convention Bureau. their worst mark since 2006 (6-13)…they lost their first 5 games, then went 7-7 after that…they were 3-6 at home, 4-6 at Camden Yards. RAYS PROSPECTS vs. CANADA—As part of the Fifth Annual St. Peters- Ê The Orioles come to Tropicana Field on Opening Day (April 6)…it will burg International Baseball Series, a team of Rays prospects will host the be the seventh time the clubs have met on Opening Day (2-4)—the Canadian Junior National Team at Tropicana Field on Sunday, March 22 at Rays most frequent opponent—and the sixth time in the past 10 years. 1:05 p.m. …priced at $10, tickets are available at the Tropicana Field box office and Ticketmaster outlets…parking will be $5…gates open at noon. YESTERDAY—The Rays fell to the Phillies, 2-1, in a crisp 2 hours, 22 min- utes…it was their first of 3 games in Clearwater this spring…RH Chris Ar- VIDEO ON A SILVER PLATTER—The Rays provide a daily postgame cher took the loss, with both runs scoring on a 1B Ryan Howard homer in video feed of all 16 non-televised spring training games…this will include the 4th inning…Archer totaled 3.1 IP, 4 H, 2 R/ER, 0 BB, 3 SO, 1 HR, 50 about two minutes of highlights plus two short interviews…video should be pitches, 35 strikes…3B Evan Longoria’s RBI single scored SS Asdrubal uploaded by 5:15 p.m. …to receive email updates or for more information, Cabrera in the 1st inning for the Rays lone run…Longoria recorded 2 of the contact Chris Tilley ([email protected] or 727-434-0497). club’s 4 hits, adding another single in the 6th…five Rays relievers combined for 4.2 scoreless frames behind Archer.