San Fransisco Chronicle (Free subscription) | 08/15/2008
And so ends the story of Brad Gregory Ziegler, The World's Greatest Pitcher Ever. A 3-1 fastball, more or less, grooved to Tampa Bay's B.J. Upton, a double ringing off the wall in the left field corner, Akinori Iwamura racing around from first to score the go-...
San Fransisco Chronicle (Free subscription) | 08/14/2008
And so ends the story of Brad Gregory Ziegler, The World's Greatest Pitcher Ever. A 3-1 fastball, more or less, grooved to Tampa Bay's B.J. Upton, a double ringing off the wall in the left field corner, Akinori Iwamura racing around from first to score the go-...
DRaysBay (Free subscription) | 07/29/2008
Lineup Tampa Bay Rays @ Toronto Blue Jays 07/28/08 7:07 PM EDT Tampa Bay Rays Toronto Blue Jays Akinori Iwamura - 2B Joe Inglett - 2B B.J. Upton - CF Marco Scutaro - SS Carl Crawford - LF Alex Rios - CF Evan Longoria - 3B Lyle Overbay - 1B Carlos Pena - 1B Rod Barajas - C Cliff Floyd - DH Matt Stairs - DH Dioner Navarro - C Scott Rolen - 3B Eric Hinske - RF Adam Lind - LF Jason Bartlett - SS Brad...
Rays Index (Free subscription) | 07/26/2008
THE GOOD: Even more important than Carlos Pena's 2-run home run in the top of the 9th with 2 outs that gave the Rays a 3-run cushion, was Akinori Iwamura handling the bad-hop ground ball in the 7th inning. With JP Howell relieving Grant Balfour with 1 on and 2 outs, Howell gave up a single, threw a wild pitch and walked a batter. He then ran the count to 2-2, before getting Esteban German hit a hard...
Rays Index (Free subscription) | 07/25/2008
THE GOOD: Akinori Iwamura's defense. We can't stop praising how seamlessly he has moved to his new position. If he does not win the gold glove, it would be a bigger injustice than Evan Longoria not winning the rookie of the year. Last night, the Rays turned 2 double-plays in the first two innings. Most teams would have only been able to get the lead out. Not with Aki. Aki's turns at second base are...
DRaysBay (Free subscription) | 07/06/2008
Lineup Kansas City Royals @ Tampa Bay Rays 07/06/08 1:40 PM EDT Kansas City Royals Tampa Bay Rays Joey Gathright - CF Akinori Iwamura - 2B Mark Grudzielanek - 2B Carl Crawford - LF David DeJesus - LF B.J. Upton - CF Jose Guillen - DH Carlos Pena - DH Mark Teahen - RF Evan Longoria - 3B Ross Gload - 1B Willy Aybar - 1B John Buck - C Ben Zobrist - SS Esteban German - 3B Gabe Gross - RF Tony Pena - SS...
Extra Bases (Free subscription) | 07/03/2008
It wasn't Hideki Okajima this time, but the bullpen built some trouble nonetheless. Between Manny Delcarmen and Craig Hansen, neither reliever retired a single batter in the seventh inning, before David Aardsma finally got a groundout from Cliff Floyd. Jason Bartlett doubled, Akinori Iwamura singled (infield, RBI), and Carl Crawford singled, at which point Delcarmen was taken out. But Hansen did no...
Business Wire (Free subscription) | 07/02/2008
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Tampa Bay Ray’s are finishing up the first half of the MLB season pinned as a major contender for the fall classic. In the July
Extra Bases (Free subscription) | 07/01/2008
Tito Francona had given some thought to playing Sean Casey tonight, until Manny Ramirez said he could use another night as DH. So Brandon Moss, who hit the catwalk shot Monday night that nearly triggered a comeback win, gets another start in left field. Akinori Iwamura, meanwhile, returns to the top of the Tampa Bay lineup after completing his three-game suspension. Iwamura is batting .421 (8 for...
kansascity.com (Free subscription) | 06/28/2008
Pittsburgh, PA (Sports Network) - Pittsburgh Pirates reliever Denny Bautista was hit in the right elbow on a comeback line drive from Tampa Bay Rays second baseman Akinori Iwamura in the fourth inning of Friday's game.
San Fransisco Chronicle (Free subscription) | 06/25/2008
Dioner Navarro and Eric Hinske drew bases-loaded walks in the eighth inning, Evan Longoria hit a two-run double in the ninth and the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Florida Marlins 6-4 on Tuesday night. Akinori Iwamura had three hits, including his fifth home run,...
Ballbug (Free subscription) | 06/23/2008
Brant James / St. Petersburg Times : Rays upset with Lee's slide into Iwamura — ST. PETERSBURG — Akinori Iwamura isn't sure if Carlos Lee is the largest man he has ever had bearing down on him at second base, but the Astros DH is the first to attempt to tackle him. — Lee's apparent tug at Iwamura's legs after being forced …
Bugs and Cranks (Free subscription) | 06/23/2008
First Shelley “Duvall” Duncan of the Yankees tried to spike Devil Rays star second baseman Akinori Iwamura in the junk. Then Coco Crisp of the Red Sox slid hard into Aki’s groin. And now look where Houston’s Carlos Lee’s hands are: The St. Pete Times has another photo of the incident and fun quotes from Aki and Manager [...]
Hot Foot (Free subscription) | 06/23/2008
In the Rays-Astros game Saturday night, OF Carlos Lee (45) went to extremes to break up a double play, hitting Rays 2B Akinori Iwamura below the belt. Lee successfully broke up the double play, allowing Lance Berkman to score. The two teams were wearing throw back uniforms. Confused how the Rays, a franchise established in 1997 has [...]
DRaysBay (Free subscription) | 06/20/2008
RAYS 8, Chicago 3 Tropicana Field St. Petersburg, FL 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E L Chicago 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 3 9 2 7 RAYS 0 1 0 0 0 0 7 0 X 8 10 1 8 Win Probability Table and Stats Courtesy of Fan Graphs Three Up Player WPA LF Carl Crawford .175 2B Akinori Iwamura .140 C Dioner Navarro .129 Three Down Player WPA RP Trever Miller -.117 CF B.J. Upton -.047 RP Grant Balfour .002 RAYS SWEEP!!!!!!!!! Poll...
