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鈥?Ray Lewis arrived in Baltimore shortly after the transplanted Cleveland Browns P.J. Hall Raiders Jersey , who were attempting to start anew in a city that had gone 12 years without an NFL team.Selected 26th overall in the 1996 draft after establishing himself as a star at the University of Miami, Lewis had no idea what he was getting into.“We had no team. We had no logo. We had nothing,” Lewis recalled. “There was nothing to really respect.”Over the next 17 years, the Baltimore Ravens reached the postseason nine times, won two Super Bowls and built a hard-hitting and relentless defense in the image of Lewis, their unquestioned leader.A 13-time Pro Bowl selection and two-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year, Lewis helped make the Ravens far better than respectable while establishing himself as one of the best linebackers to play the game.His unparalleled play and unmatched leadership made him an obvious first-ballot entrant into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Lewis received the news last February, and still gets chills thinking about it.“That knock on the door was like the first time I got my first jersey,” Lewis said. “It was like when you ran home and you wanted to put on your pads. You weren’t playing no game, you just wanted to put on your pads because you were part of an elite team. You made it. So, it’s almost like the same feeling.”He will be enshrined Saturday, joining offensive tackle Jonathan Ogden as the second Ravens star to have a bust in Canton, Ohio.“It’s pretty clear Ray was the heart and soul of the Ravens for 17 years. If anyone is deserving of this honor, it’s Ray Lewis,” Ogden said. “He is a guy we all looked to 鈥?both on offense and defense 鈥?to lead our team.”There are many great linebackers in the Hall of Fame. Few of them combined skill and authority the way Lewis did.After delivering an emotional speech before the game , Lewis would continue to push his teammates in the huddle before taking ownership of the middle of the field, looking to punish anyone in a different jersey.“One of a kind. I think he’s the best that ever played,” Ravens coach John Harbaugh said. “It’s not just the on-field play; it’s the whole package.”Harbaugh acknowledged he carries the bias that comes with coaching Lewis for the final five years of his NFL career. Others Josh Gordon Jersey , however, back the assertion.“He’s the best I’ve seen,” said Mike Singletary, a Hall of Fame linebacker and former assistant coach in Baltimore. “If people thought I was good, I know that Ray was better.”It’s hard to determine Lewis’ most notable quality. His ferocity on the field? His teaching and leadership skills? Or was it his relentless drive to win?Hall of Fame defensive back Rod Woodson, a teammate of Lewis’ on the 2000 Super Bowl team, chooses all of the above.“What needs to be said about a guy who was, by far, the best leader I witnessed in my 17 years of play? His singular focus to be the best player and teammate he could be what separates him from other Hall of Famers,” Woodson said.“His play was off the charts. He was a virtual tackling machine 鈥?and a playmaker. He caused fumbles, recovered fumbles, interceptions, tipped passes. He did it all for longer than anyone who played his spot in the middle.”The 6-foot-1, 245-pound Lewis spent countless hours in the weight room and took an equal amount of pride in mastering the mental aspect of the game. He derived great pleasure from matching wits with great quarterbacks, most notably Peyton Manning and Tom Brady.“Those two guys were chess players,” Lewis said. “The game was one thing, but it was the preparation before the game that was a totally different thought process. And then, every time we walked off the field Cheap Nick Chubb Jersey , we gave each other mad respect.”Lewis wasn’t perfect. He was arrested and charged with two counts of murder in Atlanta in 2000. Those charges were dropped, and he pleaded to obstruction of justice, a misdemeanor.But questions about his role in the crime were an underlying theme before Baltimore faced the New York Giants one year later in the Super Bowl, a game which the Ravens won 34-7 and Lewis was voted MVP.“Ray Lewis is going to be Ray Lewis. He’s not going to apologize for who he is,” Harbaugh said. “But whenever he made a mistake, he was the first one to acknowledge it.”In his first season in Baltimore, the Ravens finished 4-12. In his final season, which he dubbed “my last ride” entering the playoffs, Baltimore beat San Francisco 34-31 in the Super Bowl.It was a whirlwind career filled with ups and downs, and Lewis promises that kind of speech at his enshrinement.“This moment for me is one you dream about your entire life,” he said. “Savor that moment. You don’t have to run a 40, you don’t have to do bench presses, you ain’t got to do none of that. All you have to do is deliver something I think a lot of people want to hear.“And so, whether it becomes my greatest (speech) or not, I’ll tell you this: it will have people and myself on a roller coaster that we will never forget.”
NEW YORK — A major theme of Friday’s pitching matchup at Yankee Stadium when the Tampa Bay Rays and the New York Yankees continue their four-game series will be the long road that Nathan Eovaldi and Jonathan Loaisiga took to reach the mound.

For Eovaldi, is it his fourth start with the Tampa Bay Rays after a second Tommy John surgery. For Loaisiga, it is his major league debut with the New York Yankees after a quick ascent through the minors following Tommy John surgery and missing two seasons.

The Yankees opened the series with a 4-3 victory Thursday when Gleyber Torres hit a three-run homer in the fifth inning off Blake Snell. Torres leads all rookies with 13 homers and 33 RBIs, and the Yankees are 11-3 in their last 14 games and 11-2 in their last 13 home games.

Matt Duffy homered for the Rays Breeland Speaks Youth Jersey , who are on a seven-game road losing streak after striking out 15 times. The Rays also are 4-10 in their last 14 games overall.

Eovaldi, who was 23-11 with a 4.45 ERA in 51 appearances (48 starts) in two seasons for the Yankees, is 1-1 with a 3.94 ERA in his first three starts for the Rays. Though he said his velocity is coming back, he is averaging 97 mph on his fastball, which is roughly the same he averaged on the pitch with the Yankees.

“For sure, the fact that I’ve been throwing the ball good as it is (is nice),” Eovaldi said Thursday. “So I’m going to try to keep doing that with my fastball command and really make sure I execute the off-speed pitches and get them down. Other than that, when you step between the lines, it’s about going out there and competing.”

“I know Nate really appreciated his time here, but, no, I’m not overly concerned,” Tampa Bay manager Kevin Cash said. “He’s been so focused on what he’s doing and kind of his surroundings, and he’s thrown the ball well for us since he’s gotten back. I think that focus won’t change, and it won’t change just because he’s facing a former team.”

Eovaldi last pitched Sunday in a 5-4 loss to the Seattle Mariners when he allowed three runs and four hits in five-plus innings. He allowed a solo homer to Nelson Cruz and a two-run homer to Mike Zunino while throwing 102 pitches, his most since Aug. 4, 2016, against the New York Mets.

“I feel like I’ve been throwing the ball well P.J. Hall Youth Jersey ,” Eovaldi said. “I’ve been recovering better now that we’ve been getting into kind of a five-day routine of things. I feel like my arm really hasn’t been as sore as when I first started from my rehab.”

Eovaldi is the 35th player to pitch after multiple Tommy John surgeries and the 13th to start a game.

He is facing the Yankees for the first time. He is 10-4 with a 3.73 ERA in 24 appearances (23 starts) at Yankee Stadium.

Eovaldi was one of those young low-cost pitchers the Yankees were hoping to develop. Now Loaisiga is one as he fills in for Masahiro Tanaka, who injured both hamstrings last Friday against the New York Mets.

Loaisiga is pitching above Double-A for the first time and is 6-1 with a 3.00 ERA in 10 combined starts with Double-A Trenton and Class A Tampa this season. He attended spring training with the Yankees after being added to the 40-man roster in November.

“I’m excited to see him pitch here,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “It’s a guy with a really good arm, really simple athletic delivery, and I think a big reason why he’s the guy we chose is that we feel like his stuff is excellent, but his delivery is low-maintenance enough that it should allow him to step up.”

The 23-year-old originally was signed by the San Francisco Giants in 2012, and the Yankees signed him in February 2016. He was 8-1 in the Dominican Summer League in 2013 but did not pitch again until 2016 because of Tommy John surgery.

“It’s been a tough road for me to get here, and now it’s about enjoying this moment and this opportunity and trying to help this team win,” Loaisiga said through an interpreter. “I’m focused on winning; it’s everything for us and I’m looking forward to it.”

Loaisiga is the 15th native of Nicaragua to appear in the majors and the 11th pitcher. He is the first native of Nicaragua to appear in a game for the Yankees.

The career leader in wins by a Nicaraguan is Dennis “El Presidente” Martinez. Martinez won 245 games from 1976 to 1998 with Baltimore, Montreal, Cleveland, Atlanta and Seattle, and Loaisiga is aware of his impact.

“He’s a baseball ambassador,” Loaisiga said. “You look up to him as a kid, because he’s proof you can make it to the big leagues. For us, it’s following in his footsteps, and hopefully doing well and representing Nicaragua well.”

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