The 2012 MLB regular season is finally underway. It will be a long road to October baseball but one every team and fan is excited to travel this season. The beginning of the year brings promise, as many memories will surely be created this season. At this point, anything can happen!

The highlight of the day will be when the Detroit Tigers host the Tampa Bay Rays.

The Tigers and Rays are two of the best teams in the American League. Even early on in the season, there is little doubt both of these teams will be battling it out in the post season for the opportunity to represent the AL in the World Series.

In the Opening Series, the Rays made quick work of the New York Yankees, sweeping them in a three-game series, while the Tigers did the same thing against the Boston Red Sox.

Check your local listings for game times and channel listings in your area. With MLB.TV all games are also available nationwide (local blackouts apply).

Note: All start times Eastern

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Chicago White Sox at Cleveland Indians, 12:05 p.m.

St. Louis Cardinals at Cincinnati Reds, 12:35 p.m.

Boston Red Sox at Toronto Blue Jays, 12:37 p.m.

Tampa Bay Rays at Detroit Tigers, 1:05 p.m.

Washington Nationals at New York Mets, 1:10 p.m.

Milwaukee Brewers at Chicago Cubs, 2:20 p.m.

Kansas City Royals at Oakland Athletics, 3:35 p.m.

Arizona Diamondbacks at San Diego Padres, 6:35 p.m.

Miami Marlins at Philadelphia Phillies, 7:05 p.m.

New York Yankees at Baltimore Orioles, 7:05 p.m.

Atlanta Braves at Houston Astros, 8:05 p.m.

Seattle Mariners at Texas Rangers, 8:05 p.m.

Los Angeles Angels at Minnesota Twins, 8:10 p.m.

San Francisco Giants at Colorado Rockies, 8:40 p.m.

Pittsburgh Pirates at Los Angeles Dodgers, 10:10 p.m.

Sources:

All data provided by MLB.com

Paul Rados is a Cleveland based freelance sportswriter and Featured Contributor for the Yahoo! Contributor Network. Follow him on Twitter @PSRados or leave him a message on Facebook.

The Texas Rangers have traded Mattoon’s Kyle Hudson to the Tampa Rays as the major-league baseball season gets started.

Hudson, who began last year in Class A and advanced to the majors with the Baltimore Orioles last September, was released by the Orioles over the winter.

He then signed with the Rangers, who cut sent him to the minors the past week.

On Saturday, the Rays obtained the outfielder.

See more in Monday’s JG-TC.

FORT MYERS —
Carlos Pena made headlines in the offseason when the slugger re-signed with the Tampa Bay Rays after playing for the Chicago Cubs in 2011.

It wasn’t Pena’s only notoriety. He also had a critical presence in the Oscar-nominated “Moneyball.” Pena, played by actor Adrian Bellani, is the guy Brad Pitt trades for a pitcher, cash and soda.

After signing for one year and $7.25 million with Tampa Bay, where he starred from 2007 to 2010, Pena is looking to help manager Joe Maddon’s crew write its own Hollywood script. One that is even more dramatic than the Rays’ late-season playoff run last year.

One that ends with a World Series title.

“I’m excited about my team,” said Pena, who was 0-for-2 on Thursday in the Rays’ 1-0 victory over the Minnesota Twins in Grapefruit League action at Hammond Stadium. “Even though we understand we have a very good ballclub, we understand what it takes to win and focusing on the small things will give us the best chance to get to the playoffs, as clichéd as that may sound.”

Pena is the Rays’ all-time home run leader with 144. A No. 1 draft pick by the Texas Rangers in 1998, Pena was with five different organizations, including the Oakland A’s as depicted in “Moneyball,” before catching on with Tampa Bay, where he became a star.

In his four seasons with the Rays, the first baseman averaged 36 home runs and 102 RBIs and won a Gold Glove in 2008, the year the Rays made it to the World Series, losing to the Philadelphia Phillies in five games.

Before the 2011 season, Pena signed a one-year, $10-million contract with the Cubs, leading the Northsiders with 28 home runs.

Now that he is back with Tampa Bay and wearing his old No. 23, Pena doesn’t know who is happier — himself or his teammates.

“It was like an avalanche,” Pena, 34, said about his Rays welcoming committee. “There were like 1,000 simultaneous text messages coming in. My teammates were as excited as me that I was back. (Ben) Zobrist, (Evan) Longoria, Maddon … I can’t even name all of them … guys in the clubhouse. These guys poured out and welcomed me back.

“It feels great to be back with my teammates and old friends. I appreciate them in many ways. It’s just good to be back.”

The feeling also is mutual with the Rays front office, which values Pena’s contributions on and off the field.

A spokesman for Big Brothers Big Sisters, Pena was an electrical engineering major while at Northeastern University, taking after his father, Felipe. His brother Pedro earned a doctoral degree in genetic research, while brother Omar and sister Femaris also have postgraduate degrees.

“(We signed Pena) in part because of who Carlos is — who we know he is, as a clubhouse presence, as a leader, as a fan favorite — but mostly about the play on the field,” Rays President Matt Silverman said at the press conference announcing Pena’s signing on Jan. 25.

“He adds a dimension of power to our lineup we were missing last year,” Silverman continued, “and is a big part of our focus for this year, and we don’t take a step back on defense. That combination, along with who he is, gave us the courage to extend ourselves.”

Thursday was only the second game in which Pena has seen action this spring training. For the spring, the career .239 hitter is 0-for-4.

At this point, it doesn’t matter.

“I’m just glad to be back home,” Pena said.

Maybe the Tampa Bay Rays should rename Tropicana Field to “Tropstock.”

The Rays announced the first post-game concert of the season, a three-act extravaganza that will feature ZZ Top, 3 Doors Down and Gretchen Wilson at Tropicana Field following the Sunday, June 17 game against the Marlins.

ZZ Top (2010) and 3 Doors Down (2009) are veterans of the Rays summer concert series, while this will be Wilson’s first appearance.

The Rays will announce the remaining acts and dates later this month.

Full season ticket holders who purchased all 81 games in the Avantair Home Plate Club, Hancock Bank Club, Fieldside Box, Lower Infield Box or Lower Box locations receive wristbands for special on-field access to this postgame event.

ZZ Top returns to Tropicana Field where the band played as part of the Rays Summer Concert Series in 2010.  Best known for their chest-length beards, black leather outfits and trademark sunglasses, ZZ Top embodies the spirit of blues rock in America. 

Formed in 1969 in Houston, Texas, ZZ Top became known to fans as “that little ol’ band from Texas.”  With hits such as “Cheap Sunglasses,” “Sharp Dressed Man” and “LaGrange,” ZZ Top has produced and released 14 records and sold more than 25 million albums in the United States. 

ZZ Top’s third album, Tres Hombres, become their first top-10 album.  ZZ Top’s eighth album, Eliminator featured two Top 40 singles, “Gimme All Your Lovin’” and “Legs.”  The album sold more than 10 million copies.  The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004.

Gretchen Wilson hit the country scene in 2004 when she became the first solo female singer to top the Billboard Country singles chart in more than two years with her debut single, “Redneck Woman,” which spent six weeks at No. 1.  Her debut album, Here For the Party , sold more than five million copies and earned her a Grammy Award.

Her second album, All Jacked Up went platinum and peaked at No. 1 on the Top 200 and Country album charts. 

In July 2009, Wilson launched her own record label, Redneck Records and co-wrote her first single release, “Work Hard, Play Harder.”  Her first album off her new label, I Got Your Country Right Here , hit stores in March 2010 and debuted at No. 6 on the U.S. Billboard Top Country Album Chart.

3 Doors Down performed at Tropicana Field as part of the Rays Summer Concert Series in May 2009.

Their first studio album, The Better Life was released in February of 2000 and was a big success.  The Better Life, which featured their hit single “Kryptonite,” was certified six times platinum.  3 Doors Down’s second album, Away from the Sun, was released in November 2002 and continued the band’s success debuting at No. 8 on the Billboard 200 chart and selling four million copies worldwide. 

Their next two albums, Seventeen Days and their self-entitled album 3 Doors Down both debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart and became the group’s third certified platinum album.  Their latest album, Time of My Life was released in July 2011 and debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP)—Matt Moore has parlayed a brief, impressive
major league debut into a long-term contract with the Tampa Bay Rays.

The young left-hander agreed Friday to a deal that guarantees him $14
million over five years. It includes club options that could more than double
the value over eight seasons.

The budget-minded Rays have made the playoffs three of the past four years
and are counting on Moore to be part of a talented pitching rotation that will
enable them to remain competitive with the big-spending New York Yankees and
Boston Red Sox in the AL East, arguably baseball’s toughest division.

The deal announced at Tropicana Field contains club options for the 2017,
2018 and 2019 seasons that could make it worth about $39.75 million over eight
years.

“Matt was signed and developed in this organization,” Rays executive vice
president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said. ” And as we’ve said many
times before, for us to have any chance of sustaining this level of success,
it’s very important for us to develop championship-caliber players and people
like Matt.”

The hard-throwing 22-year-old made his big league debut for the Rays in
mid-September, going 1-0 with a 2.89 ERA in three appearances, including one
start.

Moore started Game 1 of Tampa Bay’s AL Division Series against Texas,
working seven shutout innings to beat the Rangers and become the youngest
pitcher to start and win a team’s first game of the postseason. He began the
2010 season at Double-A Montgomery was a combined 12-3 with a 1.92 ERA in 27
starts with Montgomery and Triple-A Durham.

Friedman said the club began discussions on a contract “right at the end of
the season and really started ramping up in the last two or three weeks.”

Moore was a little surprised the Rays approached him about a long-term deal
at this stage in his career. In 2008, the Rays took a similar approach in giving
third baseman Evan Longoria a multi-year contract before he had spent much time
in the majors.

“There’s not very much of a case to be built except for what I’ve done in
the lower levels in the minor leagues,” said Moore, who allowed three earned
runs, struck out 15 and walked three in 9 1-3 innings over three regular-season
appearances.

“I understand the potential and all that is there, and the hype,” the
left-hander added. “I had a great time when I was here last year. And like
Andrew said, they drafted me in 2007 and this is the only place I’ve known. I’m
looking forward to calling it home for the next eight years. … I feel like the
risk is being shared on both ends. I’m happy where we are.”

Barring a trade, the Rays will enter spring training with six talented young
starters, with Moore joining a rotation currently comprised of David Price,
James Shields, Jeremy Hellickson, Wade Davis and Jeff Niemann.

Friedman said the team has no plans to begin next season with a six-man
rotation, but did not speculate on how the situation will play out, including
whether one member of last season’s rotation could wind up in the bullpen.

“This contract doesn’t specifically answer that question,” Friedman said.
“We’re fortunate in that we have more than five pitchers who are more than
capable of pitching in the American League East. There’s a lot more of the
winter to go. My guess is it’ll take until we get into spring to really answer
those questions.”

In the meantime, the Rays are excited to have Moore locked up long-term.

“We’ve already seen glimpses of his talent, but more than that he’s shown
he has the mettle to compete in the American League East,” Friedman said.
“It’s a difficult environment. … He’s gotten a lot of experience quickly, but
we’re all excited to see what Matt can do over the long term.”

The Tampa Bay Rays moved to lock up one of their prized young pitchers Friday, agreeing to terms on a long-term contract with lefty Matt Moore that could be worth nearly $40 million over the next eight years, the St. Petersburg Times reported.

The 22-year-old Moore is regarded as one of the top young pitching prospects in baseball. He made his major league debut in September and pitched seven scoreless innings to defeat the Texas Rangers in Game 1 of the ALDS.

The contract will reportedly guarantee Moore $14 million over the next five seasons. If the Rays exercise options in the following three years, the value of the deal would be $39.75 million.

According to ESPN, the contract would be the largest in baseball history for a player with less than two years of service time. Moore was drafted out of high school in the eighth round in 2007.

The financially savvy Rays have signed several young players to long-term deals to avoid losing them later to big-market clubs in free agency. In recent years, the team has made similar moves with Evan Longoria, Ben Zobrist, James Shields and Wade Davis.

By Brendan Porath

– Newsdesk contributor

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Nov 27, 2011 – The Tampa Bay Rays have traded catcher John Jaso to the Seattle Mariners for right handed reliever Josh Lueke. The reliever comes to Tampa from Seattle with a 6.06 ERA and 1-1 record in 25 games last year for the Mariners. Marc Topkin of the St. Petersburg Times first broke the news. Topkin also tweeted a quote from the Rays Executive Vice President of Baseball Operations, Andrew Friedman, who talked about what Lueke can bring to the club in 2012.

Rays Friedman on Lueke: “Josh has the stuff to get hitters out in the AL East and began to show that during 2nd half of last season.”

Lueke does have a criminal incident in his recent past revolving around a report that surfaced when he was traded to Seattle from Texas as part of the Cliff Lee deal. Lueke initially faced charges of rape but agreed to plead guilty to a reduced charge of false imprisonment with violence. Topkin also tweeted that Friedman stated the Rays were aware of the incident and had done their due diligence on his background and character.

“We’re satisfied that he is going to be the kind of person and teammate that we look for and we expect him to contribute positively to our group.”

For more on the Rays, visit SB Nation’s Rays blog, DRaysBay.

Read More: John Jaso (C – TAM), Josh Lueke (P – SEA), Tampa Bay Rays, Seattle Mariners

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Nov 14, 2011

| Orlando Sentinel

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AGENCIAS COMBINADAS

El ex lanzador de Grandes Ligas Roger Clemens podría jugar con los Indios de Mayagüez en la Liga de Béisbol Profesional de Puerto Rico, publicó el periódico El Nuevo Día.

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Patricia Shaughnessy was a devoted Boston Red Sox fan. In 1946, at age 12, she was glued to the radio listening to a baseball game, heart pounding, when she asked her mother: “If I say the rosary, will Ted Williams hit a home run?”

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Kirk Gibson and Joe Maddon won Manager of the Year awards Wednesday — one for overseeing a worst-to-first turnaround that lasted all season, the other after a frantic playoff push in the final month.

Gibson was a clear choice in the National League for guiding the Arizona Diamondbacks to the West title. A former MVP as a rough-and-tumble outfielder, Gibson was honoured in his first full season as a big league manager.

“I certainly had a vision,” Gibson said on a conference call during a vacation in northern Michigan, adding, “It’s certainly not all because of me.”

Maddon won the American League award for the second time. He was an easy pick after helping the Tampa Bay Rays overcame a nine-game deficit to beat out Boston for the wild-card spot on the last day. It was the biggest rally any team had made in September to claim a playoff berth.

“I like to think of it as a validation of the Rays’ way of doing things,” Maddon said on a conference call while visiting family and friends in Hazleton, Pa.

The results were announced by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. The NL Cy Young Award winner will be revealed Thursday, with Clayton Kershaw of the Los Angeles Dodgers the leading candidate.

Gibson and the Diamondbacks went 94-68, a year after he took over in midseason as Arizona went 65-97. Stressing fundamentals and details from the first day of spring training, the 54-year-old Gibson pushed his team into the playoffs, where it lost to Milwaukee in the 10th inning of the deciding Game 5 in the opening round.

Gibson drew 28 of the 32 first-place votes and got 152 points. He was the only manager in either league to be listed on every ballot.

Ron Roenicke of the NL Central champion Brewers was second with three first-place votes and 92 points. Tony La Russa of the World Series champion St. Louis Cardinals was third with the other first-place vote and 24 points. Voting was completed before the start of the playoffs.

The free-spirited Maddon added to the AL honour he won in 2008. The 57-year-old manager who likes to speak on a vast array of subjects beyond baseball never panicked, even when the Rays started out 0-6 this season after losing several players to free agency during the winter.

Tampa Bay won its final five games to earn its playoff spot on the final day of the regular season, then lost to Texas in the first round. The Rays reached the playoffs for the third time in four years.

“My goal has been to make the Rays into the next century’s Yankees, Red Sox, Cardinals,” he said.

Maddon drew 26 of 28 first-place votes and had 133 points. Jim Leyland of the AL Central champion Detroit Tigers got the other pair of first-place votes and 54 points and Ron Washington of the AL champion Rangers was third with 31.

Gibson was a two-time World Series champion, winning with Detroit and the Dodgers. He was the fourth former MVP to win the manager award, joining Joe Torre, Frank Robinson and Don Baylor.

As a player, Gibson acknowledged he sometimes was “a little emotional … a little stupid.”

“As a manager, you can’t lose your composure,” he said.

Gibson and Bob Melvin (2007) have won the manager award with Arizona.

Maddon is the seventh multiple winner of the AL award. La Russa won three times in the AL and once in the NL.

NEW YORK – If Joe Maddon didn’t win this award, we needed to do an investigation.

Maddon is the American League Manager of the Year and he was the obvious choice after he steered the Rays through this past season.

It’s the second time that Maddon has won this award. His Rays trailed Boston by nine games at the start of September and made the playoffs after pulling off the biggest September comeback in the history of baseball.

Maddon was almost the unanimous choice, getting 26 of the 28 first-place votes. The Tigers’ Jim Leyland got the other two first-place votes and Texas manager Ron Washington was third.

Kirk Gibson was named the National League Manager of the Year.
  

It was quite the ride for the Tampa Bay Rays in 2011. After pulling off a historic comeback in the month of September to earn a wild card berth, the Rays fizzled out in the American League Divisional Series against the Texas Rangers. As there is every year in Tampa, there will be significant turnover on the roster this winter. But before we learn the fate of the Rays squad for 2012 and beyond, there’s the possibility of several individuals receiving hardware for the fine work they did defensively this season.

On Monday, it was announced that three Rays players had been nominated for Gold Gloves at their respective positions: Evan Longoria (3B), Casey Kotchman (1B) and Sam Fuld (LF). Were Longoria to get the nod, it would mark the third consecutive year that the 26-year old has taken home the Gold Glove award at 3B. Kotchman and Fuld have never won the award previously.

The Rawlings Gold Glove Awards will be broadcast live from Bristol, CT for the first time ever on Tuesday, November 1st. Here’s the announcement from ESPN, as well as a full list of players up for consideration:

ESPN2 will televise the first-ever Rawlings Gold Glove Awards Show – emanating from ESPN’s Baseball Tonight studio in Bristol – Tuesday, Nov. 1, at 10 p.m. ET. The one-hour telecast, hosted by Baseball Tonight’s Karl Ravech with analysts John Kruk and Barry Larkin (a three-time Gold Glove winner – 1994, 1995, 1996), will include the announcement of the 2011 Gold Glove Award winners and extensive highlights and analysis of the best defensive performers and plays during the MLB regular season.

The Angels remain highly interested in Tampa Bay General Manager Andrew Friedman, but their chances of luring the 34-year-old executive away from the Rays are slim, according to people familiar with the team’s GM search who are not authorized to speak publicly on the topic.

Owner Arte Moreno and team president John Carpino met last week in Florida with Friedman, who has helped build the small-market Rays into perennial playoff contenders despite extremely limited resources — their $42-million payroll this season was less than one-third of the $142 million the Angels spent on players.

Friedman appears to be the favored candidate to replace Tony Reagins, who was fired as GM two days after the season.

But Friedman’s loyalty to Tampa Bay owner Stuart Sternberg, who has referred to Friedman as “a partner,” appears to be the biggest obstacle to the Angels luring him to Anaheim.

If the Angels are able to land Friedman, he would be offered a position as club president, with the team likely hiring one of its other finalists as GM, a hierarchy similar to the one the Chicago Cubs used to lure GM Theo Epstein from the Boston Red Sox.

In addition to Friedman, the Angels have formally interviewed Jerry Dipoto, Arizona’s senior vice president for scouting and player development; New York Yankees executives Damon Oppenheimer (vice president of amateur scouting) and Billy Eppler (director of professional scouting); Chicago White Sox assistant GM Rick Hahn; and former New York Mets GM Omar Minaya.

Former Dodgers assistant GM Kim Ng, who is now a senior vice president for baseball operations with Major League Baseball, will be interviewed this week.

The Angels hope to interview Texas assistant GM Thad Levine after the Rangers finish the World Series. Former Dodgers GM Dan Evans is being considered for the job but has not been formally interviewed.

The Angels sought permission to interview Detroit Tigers assistant GM Al Avila and Florida vice president of player personnel Dan Jennings but were denied.

The team did not seek permission to interview San Diego Manager Bud Black, the former Angels pitching coach who was on a front-office track with the Cleveland Indians before joining Manager Mike Scioscia’s staff in 2000.

The Angels are expected to narrow their list of finalists and conduct a second round of interviews this week, and they hope to have a GM in place by early next week.

The new GM will be given the authority to hire a new assistant GM, player personnel director and farm director.

mike.digiovanna@latimes.com

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ST. PETERSBURG, Fla., Oct. 5 (UPI) — Tampa Bay Rays owner Stuart Sternberg says he’s frustrated attendance and television viewership is declining for his overachieving team.

Despite winning the American League wild card race in a storybook comeback this season and reaching the post-season three times in the past four years, the Rays’ attendance ranked 29th in Major League Baseball, trailing only the Oakland Athletics.

Sternberg voiced his frustration after the Rays lost to the Texas Rangers in the AL Divisional Series for the second straight season, ESPN.com reported Wednesday.

“I am frustrated this year,” he told the Web site. “We’ve replicated last year [on the field] and our attendance numbers were down 15 percent and our ratings were down. The rubber has got to meet the road at some point here.”

He hinted the Rays’ inability to draw fans despite their winning ways would mean the team won’t be able to compete in Tampa-St. Petersburg.

“When you go through the season, you control your own destiny, if you win out,” Sternberg said. “We’re getting to the point where we don’t control our own destiny. This is untenable as a model going forward.”

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. —
The Tampa Bay Rays left the magic somewhere back in September. They couldn’t summon another miracle comeback Tuesday afternoon in their white-domed home, not even after getting a pair of base runners in the ninth and bringing the winning run to the plate. With their rookie hitting star in the batter’s box, and the crowd of 28,299 on its feet and chanting, “Let’s go Rays!” the Rays went, indeed.

They went right out of the playoffs.

Veteran Adrian Beltre set up the Texas Rangers’ 4-3 victory by hitting a trio of home runs, and hard-throwing reliever Neftali Feliz finished the job by shutting down the ninth-inning rally. With the tying run on first and two out, Desmond Jennings chopped a weak grounder to second base. Ian Kinsler snagged it with care and pitched it to shortstop Elvis Andrus, who recorded the final out. The two men danced like little children before springing into each others’ arms in a violent hug.

 Three straight victories against the Rays in this best-of-five American League Division Series gave the Rangers a date with either the Detroit Tigers or New York Yankees in the next round of the postseason as they try to return to the World Series for the second straight year – this time, to avenge last year’s loss to San Francisco in five games.

 “They’re on a mission from last year,” Texas Rangers team president Nolan Ryan said. “They didn’t get it done and finished.”

 That was Tampa Bay’s lament Tuesday. After improbably climbing back from nine games back in the race for the playoffs in the season’s last month, the Rays couldn’t get the lead in a close game they trailed from the second pitch. A leadoff home run by Kinsler and Beltre’s three provided just enough to ensure that the Rays’ historic run through the end of the regular season would be the season’s best memory for Tampa Bay’s players.

“Baseball’s hard, man,” said Rays right fielder Matt Joyce, who made the game’s second-to-last out with a pop fly caught by Beltre in foul territory. “We have an immense amount of talent on this team. We pulled out so many comebacks, had so many guys do a phenomenal job for us this year that it’s a little bit disappointing to finish this way… We couldn’t muster up any more.” 

The victory set off a wild celebration in the visitor’s locker room at Tropicana Field, where Rangers players donned swim goggles to administer and endure the spray of ginger ale, champagne and cans of soda. The most obvious target of the non-stop shower of beverages was Beltre, who couldn’t complete an interview without being doused until being whisked off to the interview room. 

Beltre, who has played 13 seasons for four teams, called the performance his best day as a pro besides getting his first major league hit back in 1998.

“Because,” he said, “my team needed every bit of it to win the game tonight, and that means something.” 

Beltre homered twice on fastballs thrown by rookie starter Jeremy Hellickson in the second and fourth innings, then got his third in the seventh off of reliever Matt Moore. Moore had been summoned in the fifth to pick up the pieces for Hellickson, who allowed just four hits — three of which were home runs. I