TUESDAY, MARCH 4, 2014 at BOSTON RED SOX RH Chris Archer vs. RH Clay Buchholz First Pitch: 1:05 p.m. | Location: JetBlue Park, Fort Myers, Fla. | TV: None | Radio: None Game No: 5 (2-1-1) | vs. AL: 1-1 | vs. NL: 1-0-1 | Home: 2-1 | Road: 0-0-1 Day 19 of Spring Training | 27 Days Until Opening Day—Monday, March 31 vs. TOR (4:10 p.m.) SLICE OF GRAPEFRUIT—The 2014 baseball season is underway as the 0—Errors committed by the Rays in TODAY’S STARTING LINEUP Rays begin their 17th spring training and sixth in Charlotte County…today is their first 4 spring training games. 7 David DeJesus (L) LF the fifth of 29 games on the Grapefruit League slate and second of 15 road 11 Yunel Escobar (R) SS games, plus a March 29 exhibition at Riverwalk Stadium in Montgomery, 95.0—Miles per hour, Chris Archer’s 21 James Loney (L) 1B Ala., home of the Rays Double-A affiliate. average fastball velocity last season… 9 Wil Myers (R) DH Ê Since becoming the Rays in 2008, the club is 95-80-16 (.543) in according to FanGraphs this made 20 Matt Joyce (L) RF Grapefruit League play and has won 15-plus games in 5 of 6 sea- him the hardest-throwing starter in the 10 Logan Forsythe (R) 3B sons, after having none in their first 10 springs as the Devil Rays. AL…TEX Derek Holland ranked 2nd 1 Sean Rodriguez (R) 2B at 93.6 mph. 28 Jose Molina (R) C RAYS vs. RED SOX—Today is the first of five Grapefruit League games be- 39 Kevin Kiermaier (L) CF tween these clubs, three at JetBlue Park (today, March 10 and March 23) and STRANGE BUT TRUE—Only three AL 22 Chris Archer RHP two at Charlotte Sports Park (March 16, March 25)…last spring, the Rays rookies since 1993 have thrown two went 2-4 vs. Boston, winning the first 2 games and losing the last 4. complete-game shutouts in a season… Rays IN Ê In 2013, the Rays went 7-12 against the Red Sox, the first time they all three were Rays: RH Rolando Ar- SPRING TRAINING posted a losing record vs. Boston since 2007 (5-13). rojo (1998), RH Jeff Niemann (2009) W-L-T Home Att. and RH Chris Archer (2013). 2014 2-1-1 14,794 LAST TIME THEY MET—The last time the Rays and Red Sox played was 2013 15-17-2 90,935 Game 4 of the ALDS at Tropicana Field as the Rays were eliminated…in the SIX YEARS AS THE RAYS—Since 2012 10-16-6 87,916 3-1 setback, Manager Joe Maddon used 9 pitchers, setting a major league changing their name to the Rays in 2011 15-14-2 95,859 postseason record for a 9-inning game. 2008, the Rays are 550-423 (.565), 2010 20-8-2 97,971 second-best record in the majors after 2009 15-16-1 103,255 YESTERDAY—The Rays defeated the Phillies, 6-1, overcoming a 1-0 defi- the Yankees (564-408)…Tampa Bay is 2008 18-8-2 54,960 cit with a 5-run 7th inning…in that frame, the Rays tied the game on a field- one of four teams to reach the postsea- 2007 10-19-2 79,044 er’s choice, took the lead on a 2-run single by SS Ray Olmedo and added son four times, along with the Phillies 2006 13-16-1 70,756 2 more runs on a double by 2B Cole Figueroa…RF Jeremy Moore hit an (four), Yankees (four) and Cardinals 2005 13-16-0 61,261 opposite-field homer in the 8th…LH Matt Moore started and totaled 1.2 IP, (four)…they have five seasons of 90- 2004 11-8-0 43,916 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 SO, 37 pitches, 23 strikes…RH Merrill Kelly earned the plus wins in this span, the only team to 2003 8-19-3 51,234 win with 2.0 scoreless frames, working the 7th and 8th. make that claim…the Rays and Rang- 2002 10-16-1 49,043 ers are the only teams with 90-plus 2001 12-15-1 57,081 RAYS SIGN U. OF TAMPA GRAD—The Rays have signed RH Sergio Per- wins in each of the past four seasons. 2000 14-17-0 67,089 ez, 29, to a minor league contract…has spent eight seasons in the minors Ê Since 2008 the Rays have won 1999 14-14-1 59,230 (2006-12 with Houston, 2013 with Oakland), including most of the past four six BBWAA awards, most in the 1998 12-18-0 66,781 seasons in Triple-A…drafted by Houston out of the University of Tampa in the majors over that span: Joe Mad- Total 212-238-25 1,151,015 second round of the 2006 June Draft, Perez was the closer for the Spartans don (2008 and 2011 AL Manager 2006 Division II national championship team. of the Year), David Price (2012 AL Cy Young), Evan Longoria (2008 AL ROY), Jeremy Hellickson THE BIG 2-1—SS Jake Hager was added to the travel roster from minor (2011 AL ROY) and Wil Myers (2013 AL ROY). league camp for today’s game, falling on his 21st birthday. STINGY STAFF RETURNS—In the six seasons since becoming the Rays COUNTDOWN TO OPENING DAY—Rays President Matt Silverman and (2008-13) the Rays pitching staff leads the AL in ERA (3.74), runs allowed RH Grant Balfour will be special guests on this week’s edition of the Count- (3,911), opponents’ avg. (.242) and opponents’ OPS (.698)…the last AL down to Opening Day radio show on WDAE 620 AM and other stations on club to post an ERA this low over a six-year span was the 1987-92 A’s (3.72) the Rays Radio Network…Thursday’s show will be held at Hooters in Port and Blue Jays (3.73)…no AL team has allowed so few runs over a six-year Charlotte (1360 Tamiami Trail) from 7–8 p.m. and hosted by Rays radio span since the 1975-80 Orioles (3,659) and Yankees (3,730). broadcasters Dave Wills, Andy Freed and Neil Solondz. INFIELD INTACT—The Rays opened spring training with all four of the in- ROLL CALL—So far, 62 of 64 players invited to camp have reported…RH field starters from Opening Day 2013, all of them Gold Glove Award finalists Juan Carlos Oviedo and INF Wilson Betemit are still dealing with visa is- last season: 1B James Loney, 2B Ben Zobrist, 3B Evan Longoria and sues…only once in the previous 8 seasons (since 2006) have the Rays invit- SS Yunel Escobar…on only two other occasions has the Rays Opening ed more players—in 2013 they invited 66 due to the World Baseball Classic. Day starting infield come to camp the following year: 1998-99 and 2008- Ê Major league camp includes players coming from eight different 09…Rays infielders committed only 36 errors, fewest in baseball, and only countries—the U.S., Australia, Canada, Cuba, the D.R., Mexico, 3 more than the major league record of 33 by the 1999 Mets (1B John South Korea and Venezuela—as well as Puerto Rico and Hawaii. Olerud, 2B Edgardo Alfonzo, 3B Robin Ventura, SS Rey Ordoñez). FORTUNE FAVORS THE BALD—On March 16 before the Rays host the SEASONED VETERANS—Of the 31 active catchers with at least 400 Red Sox at Charlotte Sports Park at 1:05 p.m., the Rays will once again games played, Ryan Hanigan and Jose Molina rank 3rd and 5th, respec- shave their heads to raise funds and awareness for the Pediatric Cancer tively, in career caught stealing pct. …Hanigan has caught 36.3 pct. of Foundation…it will be the third straight year the team has participated…for would-be thieves (90 of 248), and Molina has caught 34.5 pct. (185 of 537). more information visit pcfcutforacure.org. Ê Hanigan owns a career catcher’s ERA of 3.63, lowest of any active catcher, and his .995 fielding pct. ranks 2nd to Chris Snyder (.998). DEJESUS HELPS FIGHT PEDs—The Taylor Hooton Foundation, widely acknowledged as the leader in the advocacy against appearance and TANDEM WITH TENURE—Now entering their ninth season together, Ex- performance enhancing drug use by the youth of America, yesterday an- ecutive VP of Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman and Manager Joe nounced the formation of an advisory board made up exclusively of active Maddon are the longest-tenured GM/manager pairing in baseball. players from throughout Major League Baseball…charter members of the advisory board are David DeJesus, CIN Jay Bruce, LAD Clayton Ker- JOE-TATO HEAD AMONG 2014 GIVEAWAYS—In its Franchise issue last shaw, DET Max Scherzer, LAA C.J. Wilson and ARI Brad Ziegler. September, ESPN the Magazine rated the Rays promotional items as the best in all of sports…the Rays 2014 promotional schedule includes, among DREAM MAKERS—The Rays are being presented with the 2014 Dream- other items, the Joe Maddon Mr. Potato Head (Aug 2 vs. LAA), Wil Myers Maker Award by the Children’s Dream Fund at their annual DreamMaker Rookie of the Year Bobblehead (April 5 vs. Rangers), DJ Kitty Plush Hat Luncheon today at the Floridan Palace Hotel in Tampa…since the team (May 10 vs. CLE), Chris Archer Christmas Stocking (July 27 vs.