Lance Carter #38

Lance David Carter...he and his wife, Amanda, have one daughter, Langley Ruth (2/8/05)...donated $50 to the Boys and Girls Clubs of Manatee County for each appearance he made in 2005...graduated from Manatee High School in Bradenton, FL in 1993 and attended Manatee Junior College...his father, Zeb, stars for the Florida Legends 60-plus slow-pitch softball team...originally signed by Kansas City scout Herb Rayburn.

2006

Was acquired with Danys Baez on Jan. 14 in exchange for Chuck Tiffany and Edwin Jackson...Had two stints with the Dodgers in 2006, making 10 appearances and posting an 0-1 record and 8.49 ERA (11 ER/11.2 IP)...Tossed 2.0 hitless innings of relief on April 25 at Houston...Optioned to Triple-A Las Vegas on May 1...Recalled from Triple-A Las Vegas on May 19 after going 1-1 with a 1.08 ERA (1 ER/8.1 IP) in eight games for the 51s...Posted a 1.29 ERA (2 ER/14.0 IP) in nine games during Spring Training while striking out 13 batters in 14.0 innings.

2005

Was 1-2 with a save and a 5.16 ERA (IP-45.1, ER-26) before he was optioned to Triple-A Durham on July 22...his 35 appearances at the time tied Danys Baez and Trever Miller for most on the staff ... Made four appearances following his Sept. 1 return ... In his first outing after rejoining the club on Sept. 9 vs. Toronto, worked a career-high 4.2 innings ... Was suspended three games (reduced from five) from June 7-9 for his actions April 24 vs. Boston...in that game he allowed a seventh-inning home run to Manny Ramirez and was ejected when his next pitch nearly hit David Ortiz...was one of six players/managers thrown out of the game ... Before the suspension, 14 of his previous 15 appearances were scoreless, lowering his ERA to a season-low 3.72 ... Recorded his lone save on April 23 vs. Boston with a scoreless inning...was his first save since Sep 28, 2003 also over the Red Sox during his rookie season when he saved 26 games ... Got the win May 9 vs. Chicago with 3.0 scoreless innings, ending the White Sox eight-game win streak ... Appeared in eight games with Durham, making seven starts...was 1-5 with a 5.14 ERA striking out 30 batters in 35.0 innings.

2004

Appeared in 56 games, compiling a 3-3 record with a 3.47 ERA, lowest among qualifying Rays relievers Stranded 20 of the 31 runners he inherited ... Tossed 2.0 scoreless innings in relief of Victor Zambrano on Opening Day as the Rays defeated the Yankees 8-3 in Tokyo ... Threw a then-career-high 4.1 innings on Sept. 19 in a 9-7 loss at Toronto in which he allowed just an unearned run ... Posted a 2.82 ERA (44.2 IP/14 ER) against the AL East compared to a 4.29 mark (35.2 IP/17-ER) against the rest of the league ... Had a 1.57 ERA (23.0 IP/4 ER) from July 15-Aug. 27, lowering his ERA to 2.80 ... Blew his lone save opportunity on May 1 vs. Oakland allowing a game-tying solo home run to Eric Chavez ... Allowed just 11.3 runners per 9.0 innings, 10th best among AL relievers.

2003

Earned American League All-Star honors, as his 26 saves ranked eighth best all-time by a Major League rookie and fifth among AL rookies (since saves became an official statistic in 1969) ... Was second among Major League rookies in saves, one behind Kansas City's Mike MacDougal ... Ranked seventh overall in the AL in saves...shattered the previous Rays' rookie saves mark by 20 (previous mark of 5 held by Travis Phelps in 2001) ... His 7 wins were second on the club and tied the Rays' record for most relief victories in a season...only Anaheim's Francisco Rodriguez (8) had more wins as a rookie reliever in the AL ... Had a save or win in 52.3% of the Rays' 63 wins (26 saves, 7 wins)...only one rookie had been involved in a greater percentage of his team's wins - St. Louis' Todd Worrell in 1986 (saved or won 45 of the Cards' 79 wins-56.9%) ... His combination of wins and saves (33) tied for third most all-time by a rookie Converted 26 of 33 save chances including 13 of his last 14 beginning July 5 ... His 62 appearances led the club and were fourth among AL rookies...was two appearances shy of the club rookie record of 64 by Esteban Yan (1998) ... Lefties batted only .222 (36-for-162) off him...righties hit .265 (36-for-136) Finished sixth in the American League Rolaids Relief Man Standings with 70 points...that tied as the fifth-best finish ever by a rookie from either league in the Rolaids Relief Man Standings...Todd Worrell of St. Louis won the NL title in 1986, Butch Metzger of San Diego finished fourth in 1976 as did Seattle's Kazuhiro Sasaki in 2000...Baltimore's Gregg Olson finished fifth in 1989 and Atlanta's Kerry Ligtenberg tied for sixth in 1998 ... Had 15 saves at the break...only three rookies have had more saves at the All-Star break (including MacDougal).

2002

Was recalled on Aug. 31 from Triple-A Durham and pitched eight times, posting a 2-0 record with two saves and a 1.33 ERA...held opposing hitters to a .203 average ... Allowed only three runs: a solo home run to Texas' Mike Lamb on Sept. 1 and a two-run homer to Nomar Garciaparra on Sept. 28 at Boston ... Made his season debut on Sept. 1 at Texas and pitched the final 3.0 innings of an 8-3 victory for his first career save ... Was one of three AL rookies to post a sub-1.00 ERA in September with a 0.52 (17.1 IP/1 ER)...the others were Anaheim's Scot Shields (0.00) and Toronto's Mark Hendrickson (0.91) ... Followed his first season outing with 16.1 scoreless innings until his final season appearance on Sept. 28 at Boston when he pitched the final 3.0 innings of a 9-6 win for his second save, but allowed a ninth-inning, two-run home run to Garciaparra to end the streak ... The scoreless streak was the longest by a Rays pitcher on the year and just 0.1 shy of club record by a reliever, held by Victor Zambrano (16.2 in 2001) ... Worked the final 2.2 innings on Sept. 15 vs. New York (AL), striking out a career-high five batters to earn his first Major League win ... Named Devil Rays' Minor League Pitcher of the Year at Triple-A Durham, leading the organization in wins and finishing third in ERA ... Went 12-2 with a 2.80 ERA in 33 games (18 starts) for Bulls, marking a career high in wins...won his last seven starts, including a 6-0 mark and 1.91 ERA in August ... Was tied for fourth in the International League in wins and fourth in the IL in ERA...had as many walks (12) as he had wins in 132.0 IP ... Named by Baseball America as having the organization's best control.

2001

Missed the entire season following "Tommy John" surgery on his right elbow after the 2000 season...it was his second of two such surgeries, as he had the same procedure in 1996.

2000

Pitched the entire season for Triple-A Omaha of the Kansas City organization, going 2-8 with 5 saves and a 4.95 ERA in 34 games (five starts).

1999

Posted an 0.78 ERA in 44 games with a 5-2 record and a team-leading 13 saves for Double-A Wichita, helping the Wranglers to the Texas League championship...represented Wichita at the Double-A All-Star Game ... Had his contract purchased by Kansas City on Sept. 14...suffered the loss in his first Major League appearance on Sept. 15, surrendering a ninth-inning, game-winning home run to Anaheim's Darin Erstad for the 1-0 defeat ... Concluded his first big league stint with a 5.06 ERA in six outings...four of his six outings were scoreless Pitched for San Juan in the Puerto Rican Winter League following the season, going 0-4 with four saves and a 3.00 ERA in 21 games.

1998

Selected to play in the Midwest League All-Star Game after going 3-1 with a 0.67 ERA in 15 games for Single-A Lansing...promoted to Single-A Wilmington for the remainder of the season ... Named to the Maryland Fall League All-Star team.