ST. PETERSBURG — Blake Snell has been putting on a show.
His Zoom interviews with reporters the day before he starts, and some of his postgame work, have become highly entertaining video, a combination of soliloquy and stand-up act.
Once the mute button goes off, Snell turns on.
The Rays pitcher roll calls the media members who are signed on (with special mention of pregame and postgame radio host Neil Solondz), starts out the session by answering the questions he expects to get asked, and weaves in enough humor to his replies to leave just about everybody laughing.
“I’m getting good with this media stuff,” the lefty said as Friday’s nearly 15-minute session ended. “I’m getting good. I’m quiet in person; this Zoom has brought something out of me. I don’t know what it is. I think I miss you guys.”
Snell also has been doing pretty good work on the mound, 2-0, 2.66 in his previous five games.
But Saturday night’s start against the Marlins didn’t go as well.
After zipping impressively through the first three innings, Snell gave up four runs in a messy fourth, including a two-run homer to ex-mate Corey Dickerson.
That put his Rays, who went into the game with an American League-best 27-12 record and a nine-game winning streak over the Marlins, in an early hole. Miami expanded the lead to 5-0 with an unearned run in the fifth.
That ended Snell’s night as he threw 92 pitches to get the 15 outs.
Snell has given up a few too many homers, six in his past three outings, and seven total in 33 2/3 innings over eight games. And he isn’t pitching as deep into games as he and the Rays had hoped, getting outs in the sixth only once, after a slow-by-design buildup in which he was limited to two, three and three innings.
But overall, he had been looking good.
And a bit like he did two years ago, when he had a dazzling 21-5, 1.89 season and won the American League Cy Young Award.
“Early on this season his outings were short and that was a meant-to-be type thing, but ever since then he’s slowly built up his last two-three starts,” centerfielder Kevin Kiermaier said before Saturday’s game.
“It reminds me of the Blake Snell from 2018, Cy Young form type of stuff.
“His swing-and-miss ability on all (four) pitches … he’s back to making people look pretty silly up there.”
Or, as rotation mate Tyler Glasnow said, “He looks like good ol’ Blake Snell.”
“He’s probably better than he was in ′18, I think just with two years of experience,” Glasnow said. " I guess you can consider last year maybe a down year. He’s very hungry, and he’s always looking to grow. So Blake will be good for a really long time.”
Last year was something of a down year as Snell had issues with inconsistency and with injuries, including July surgery removing bone chips from his elbow that kept him out until mid-September. He made only 23 starts during the season, posting a pedestrian 6-8, 4.29 record, though he did make three solid appearances (two in relief) in the division series against Houston.
The elbow was an issue again in the original spring training, but Snell has been healthy since teams reconvened in July, and it has shown.
Teammates have also noticed he seems more serious about his game-planning and pitch execution, and more critical in analyzing his own performance.
“He looks really focused when he’s out there,” Glasnow said. “He looks like he’s competing a lot more. Obviously any time Blake goes out there, he always has that kind of fire in him. He just looks locked in. He’s switching it up, changing his pitches up really well, game-planning against teams, going out there with a plan this year. From a lot of the stuff I’ve talked to him about, he seems really prepared.”
Kiermaier said that’s obvious from his view in centerfield.
“He has that confidence where he thinks he’s one of the best, if not the best, pitchers on the planet,” Kiermaier said. “Whether he believes that or not, you’re going to have to ask him. But he goes out there and takes the mound like that, and that’s what you want to see.”
Snell created some controversy with comments during the offseason, about the prospect the Rays got in trading Tommy Pham, and during negotiations about staging a season when discussing his financial and physical concerns of playing during the pandemic.
But since returning for Spring 2.0, Snell has been quite entertaining.
“That’s who he is,” Kiermaier said. “He’s a funny, goofy guy. But he puts his game face on when it’s bump day.”
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