ST. PETERSBURG
http://www.patriotsauthorizedshop.com/authentic-jason-mccourty-jersey , Fla. — The Tampa Bay Rays were beaten by the slimmest of margins in the series
opener, and the Houston Astros‘ dominating starting pitching gets another chance
to showcase itself at Tropicana Field on Friday night.
On Thursday, it was Lance McCullers pitching a gem close to his hometown of Tampa, and on Friday, the Rays will try to create some offense against Gerrit
Cole, who has been stellar in his first season in Houston.
Cole is 9-1 with a 2.56 ERA, and his only start without a win in his last five appearances came against the Rays on June 18. He threw seven innings and
gave up four earned runs on three hits and five walks, and the Astros still won
in his only career outing against the Rays.
Houston (55-28) is 18-3 in its last 21 games
Trenton Cannon Color Rush Jersey , with pitching leading the way. The Astros got a solo home run in the seventh inning from Jake Marisnick on
Thursday, and that’s all they needed in a 1-0 victory that handed the Rays their
20th one-run loss of the season.
“It stinks when you lose 1-0. We won a ballgame 1-0 two days ago, so everything has to go right. … That’s the way it goes sometimes. Very, very
pleased with our pitching. It kept us in every inning to give us a chance to tie
it or take the lead.”
On Friday, the Rays will again turn to a converted reliever as the starter, though Wilmer Font (1-3, 6.46) has had the best success of any Rays “opener” at
stretching himself out into longer outings. He has managed to go a little longer
than his previous start in each of his four starts in June. That includes going
5 2/3 innings of scoreless baseball against the Yankees last time out.
In those four June starts, his ERA is 1.80
Michael Dickson Color Rush Jersey , allowing just three earned runs in his last 16 innings. That’s remarkable for a pitcher who came to the Rays four weeks
ago with a 11.37 ERA.
Friday’s start will be his first appearance against the Astros as a member of the Rays, but he has appeared in two other games against Houston this season —
one as a member of the Los Angeles Dodgers and one as a member of the Oakland
A’s.
With the Dodgers, he faced Houston in April, giving up three runs (on three solo home runs) in two innings. In May, Font faced the Astros while with
Oakland, this time allowing seven hits and five earned runs in 2 2/3 innings.
His season ERA against Houston is a whopping 15.43.
The Astros are leading their division and the defending World Series champions may still be picking up momentum. Marisnick, for instance, hit .143 in
April and .171 in May
Brian Allen Color Rush Jersey , but is hitting .286 in June and his on-base percentage is more than double what it was entering the month.
“He’s not carrying the negativity that came with the first part of the season with him, and it’s good to watch him play relaxed,” Astros manager A.J. Hinch
said. “He’s a tremendous athlete when he’s relaxed, and it’s translating into
some really good at-bats.”
Houston is already two games into the second half of its season, while the Rays will hit their midway point with Friday’s game, still trying to get back
above .500 for the season.
Former NHL coach Dave Tippett is expanding his responsibilities with the group looking to put an expansion team in Seattle.
The former coach of the Arizona Coyotes and Dallas Stars has signed on as senior adviser for Seattle Hockey Partners LLC. Tippett was already working
under President and CEO Tod Leiweke on infrastructure projects two-plus years
before a franchise could begin play. It’s his first job since mutually parting
ways with the Coyotes a year ago and taking last season off.
”You’re always trying to find new challenges in life,” Tippett said by phone Monday, when his new role was first reported by the Seattle Times. ”I’ve been
fortunate to be a player a long time
Authentic Justus Annunen Jersey , I was a coach and manager in the minors and head coach a long time in the NHL. Challenges are exciting. Everybody wants that
in their life to do something different sometimes, and this is one of those
times for me.”
Seattle is in the middle of the expansion process with the goal of renovating KeyArena and starting up for the 2020-21 season. NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman
says the league’s board of governors could vote to approve a 32nd franchise as
soon as this fall but has emphasized there is no specific timetable.
Tippett, who turns 57 in August, jumped at this opportunity when approached by Oak View Group CEO Tim Leiweke about the possibility of working for potential
owners David Bonderman and Jerry Bruckheimer. His eldest daughter, her husband
and Tippett’s three grandchildren live in nearby Bremerton, Washington.
That family connection to the Pacific Northwest helps, even if an office job is different for someone who has coached at some level for more than two
decades. He has a hand in helping with renovations, the design of a possible
practice facility
http://www.billsauthorizedshops.com/authentic-taron-johnson-jersey , the efforts to line up an affiliate in the American Hockey League and the
beginnings of what the front office might look like.
”There’s lots of things that go in before you start selecting players,” Tippett said. ”Just lots of little things from the hockey side that I’ll be
involved in, just helping to try to get the thing up and moving.”
Tippett knew Tim Leiweke during his time as a Los Angeles Kings assistant from 1999-2002. He coached the Stars for six seasons and then the Coyotes for
eight, taking each team to the Western Conference final.
While this job so far mirrors the one former NHL forward Murray Craven took with the expansion Vegas Golden Knights, Tippett could assume a bigger role at
some point for Seattle and could be in line to be its first coach.
”I’m not going to rule anything out,” Tippett said. ”But right now this is intriguing to me. ”Very few people get an opportunity to be involved with a
group to start a team from the ground up and when that opportunity kind of got
put in front of me, it was very exciting. So I’m looking forward to trying to
build something that could be a great franchise.”
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