We love Mock Drafts. We love them because they make us laugh. So called experts spend countless hours sifting through scouting reports and game film and try to match these kids with team needs. They are immensely popular in football and basketball but have recently began to gain steam in baseball and now that MLB’s entry draft is going to be televised it will only get worse. The best part, and by “best” we mean “funny”, is that fans read these mock drafts like they are scripture and yet . Mel Kiper, the socalled draft guru, correctly picked 10 of the 32 first round picks this year for the NFL draft and he had one of the better marks. Peter King only got 3 correct. And this is the NFL draft which features players that fans and experts have actually seen perform and teams whose needs are usually fairly obvious. On the other hand, in the baseball draft, there is not a single player in the draft that we have ever seen play and we have no idea what other team’s minor league systems look like and whether Team X needs a catcher or a third baseman. Still things are a bit easier if we try to predict who the Tampa Bay Devil Rays will select with the first pick of this year’s draft. The Rays scouting director R.J. Harrison even helped us out by announcing that the team has . So let’s take a look at the three prospects and then we will give you our first ever Mock Draft! David Price (LHP, Vanderbilt Univ.) [From ] To summarize, Price is polished, smart, throws hard, throws strikes, changes speeds well, is confident, is athletic,[THE HANGOVER] The One Where We Discuss Shifting To Wins, Flash’s Knee, And Cutting Hellboy Rays Index, and has good mechanics. Sounds like a great pitching prospect to me. Frankly he has no major weakness that I can see, aside from the usual worries about workload leading to injury eventually. But there is nothing here indicating that his injury risk would be any higher than average for a pitcher in his cohort, and his athleticism and repeatable delivery may lower the risk to some extent. Most people think that Price is the obvious choice, and that the Rays are just keeping their options open for negotiating purposes. Even we referred to the race for the #1 pick last season as “” While Friedman talks about team needs in 23 years, Price may be the most polished player in the draft and could be in the majors as early as the second half of 2008. There is always some risk in taking a pitcher,Carolina Panthers Jerseys, but the success of Evan Longoria may give the Rays front office a little bit of leeway to take a risk at the top of the draft in 2007. Matt Wieters (C, Georgia Tech) [] One national crosschecker said recently, ” I would make a case for Wieters over Price at 1. With the switchhitting, the power and he catches so easy, I think he’s the best (amateur) catcher I’ve seen outside of Joe Mauer.” Keep in mind that everybody assumed the Devil Rays would take a pitcher with the 3rd pick in 2006 because of the lack of pitching at the major league level. Andrew Friedman has stated, and smartly, that nobody knows what the teams needs will look like in 24 years when these players are ready to contribute at the major league level. Rather the team would prefer to take the best player available and there are some that believe that Wieters is that player, much like Evan Longoria proved to be that player in 2006. The other argument for Wieters is that the top position player is a safer pick than the top pitcher. In 2001, the Twins were faced with this exact dilemma when they were forced to choose between Joe Mauer and Mark Prior. In the end the Twins made the correct choice, because pitchers are fragile. Still, winning in baseball is about three things. Pitching, pitching, pitching. In order for the Rays to pick Wieters he needs to be considerably better than Price. If he is, this will be the Rays selection. If there is any doubt, then Price will be the pick. Josh Vitters (3B, some high school in Calif.) [From ] Ranked as the top high school hitter in the class this year by Baseball America…I like his size at 63, 195 pounds: not too small, but not so large that his strike zone gets unmanageable. He has plus power to all fields,cheap north carolina jerseys, and scouts expect he’ll be able to hit for average as well. No one questions his bat; about the only doubt is if he’s a 20 homer guy or a 30+ homer guy in the long run…Physically, his speed is just average. He has a strong arm but has to keep working on his defense at third base; it should be OK in the long run as long as his legs don’t get thick. He could end up as a right fielder if hot corner defense becomes an issue,Buffalo Bills Nike Jerseys. Ummmm…No. The last time a team picked a high school position player with the first pick of the draft, it did not turn out so well. In 2004 the Padres selected Matt Bush and three years later he is still in singleA and is no longer even considered a prospect with a career that includes a batting average of .221 and 2 home runs. And while we applaud the team for not drafting for need, third base is one position the Rays have zero need,cheap Skelton Jersey 365djerseys.com M7. In addition to Iwamura at the major league level, the team has several top prospects climbing the charts in the minors including last season’s #3 overall pick. So unless the Rays project Vitters as a first baseman, this is a longshot at best. And now we present you with the first ever Rays Index MLB Mock Draft, which we guarantee will be at least 93.3% correct… 2007 Rays Index Mock Draft: 1. David Price, Tampa Bay Devil Rays. A team can never have too much pitching and the Devil Rays, despite a number of top pitching prospects, are still far from having too much pitching. 230. Twentynine other guys, including 34 that we will cringe about in 23 years when we realize the Rays could have had soandso.

The RI Confidence Graph will appear every Monday and is a look at how much confidence we have in the Tampa Bay Rays at this moment,cheap chiefs nike jerseys 365djerseys.com K0,wholesale matt ryan jersey. The graph is designed to give us a look at how our emotional bias as Rays fans fluctuates through time,cheap dolphins nike jerseys 365djerseys.com U4. The “,cheap ray rice jersey;confidence” in the team is an inexact measure of how we feel about the team’s current strength as well as how much confidence we have in the Tampa Bay Rays in the nearfuture. You can think of a “;confidence” rating of 10 as an indication that we believe the team is “;playoffcaliber”,cheap superbowl ravens jerseys;. A rating of 0 is a strong indication that we need to start reevaluating the process that led to us becoming Rays fans…

Stop Joe if you heard this before:,Wholesale J.J. Watt Jersey 365djerseys.com J0 * James “No Game” Shields gives up a long ball (damned near two). * The Rays offense is slightly less productive than Father Dungy’s putrid offense with the Bucs. * With runners in scoring position,SuperBowl NaVorro Bowman Jersey 365djerseys.com G3, the Rays wilt like an ice cream cone on an August Florida afternoon. * The Rays stunk the Fruitdome up on a Friday night (but hey, the Village People are here!) Of course Joe watched the game tonight, a threehitter by Baltimore,cheap milwaukee bucks jerseys, with the immortal Jeremy Guthrie holding the Rays to two hits — TWO! But given this was a Friday night Joe had a strong hunch what would happen and the Rays didn’t disappoint. Even when Felix Pie tried to play matador with a routine can of corn to left giving the Rays runners at the corners, the Rays couldn’t take advantage,panthers nike jerseys. Joe doesn’t know what is more frustrating: the fact scrub pitchers tie the Rays’ bats up in knots,arian foster jersey, or that the team is simply allergic to Friday nights. Maybe these guys need a collective slumpbuster prior to Friday night games?

Joe is back with his postgame thoughts…. You want to give every ounce of credit to Felix Hernandez today after dropping a perfect game on the Rays, but with it being a 10 loss on the heels of this morning’,jaguars jerseys;s walkoff debacle,wholesale arian foster jersey 365djerseys.com H8, Joe’;s having hard time happily tipping the cap. These last 17 hours should leave every Rays fans feeling like they got kicked in groin. Damn, losing consecutive series to the Mariners —,Philadelphia Eagles Jerseys; and backtoback onerun games —; is brutal. The Rays have been shutout for 17 straight innings. Poor Hellboy, who scattered five hits over seven innings. Not to set the bar low,49ers Gore Jersey 365djerseys.com K0,Indianapolis Colts Jerseys, but the Rays desperately need a split of the upcoming fourgame series against the Angels.

THE GOOD: Evan Longoria’s walk in the 2nd. Dirtbag is struggling and Joe Maddon always said he wanted to see how he would handle a slump. Even if the hits aren’t coming right now, you want to see that he still has a mastery of the strike zone and is not getting himself out. If the that continues, the hits are likely to return sooner rather than later…Edwin Jackson. Yes Nuke. Why? Because if the Rays were going to lose one game in the series, it was this one. Now he is out of the way and we can move on to James Shields and Scott Kazmir,eagles jerseys 365djerseys.com K0. THE BAD: Akinori Iwamura is bailing out on everything. I have no idea why a pitcher would throw him anything but a fastball on the outside part of the plate right now. When he swings, his front foot lands in the first base dugout…The 3rd inning. After getting the first two batters on, the next three struck out…Carl Crawford’,browns jerseys 365djerseys.com W8;s arm. We have seen some bad throws from CC in our day, but that was one of the worst, and while the wet field may have been a problem, it did not seem to bother the Sox when they were throwing out two different runners at home…Did we mention that the Rays had 2 runners thrown out at home. It is starting to seem as if the Rays get out more on the basepaths than they do at the plate. You know what they say about errors in the field and not “giving the other team extra outs”. Works the same on the base paths. You can’t give the other team free outs. THE TELLING: Were we the only ones praying for a rainout? Just knew this would not end well with Jackson. He is capable of great starts. But not in Boston on a rainy night after the Rays had swept the Sox just a week prior….Jonny Gomes batted 3rd versus a righthanded pitcher. Huhwha? He couldn’t even get a start against a righty two weeks ago and now he is batting third,milwaukee bucks jerseys? DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA… I was skeptical about [8889 win projections for the Rays], for the simple reason that the Rays finished last season with a 5.53 ERA, worst in the league. How do you get from there (I wondered) to 87 wins simply by adding ? You don’t. But when you add Garza,manning nike jersey, and get and out of the infield, and Dukes and Young out of the outfield, maybe that does get you partway there. Maybe all the way. The Rays are in first place, with the best run differential in their division, having gotten one win from Garza and none from Kazmir. I’m still skeptical. I still think the Rays are more likely to win 82 games than 88. But if they do win 88 games and we’re shocked,Watt Jersey, it’s because we weren’t paying attention. “For me, sometimes when you hear a guy is touted like this, sometimes they don’t live up to expectations or they’re just not as good, in my opinion, and when I saw him, he lived up to all of it and more,” said Longoria’s teammate and former Red Sox Eric Hinske. “He’s better than I thought he would be, for sure. He does everything right, he’s fundamentally sound, on defense as well – he’s got good footwork, a good arm.”

. Mitch Talbot evened his record at 77 with his best performance of the season. Talbot threw 8 shutout innings allowing only 2 hits, while striking out 6 and walking none. A 2out single in the 2nd and a leadoff single in the 5th were the only hits off of Talbot. Justin Ruggiano was 35 with his 18th double and his 13th home run. He drove in 2. Chris Richard was 35 with 3 doubles. Ben Zobrist was also 35 and Jason Pridie was 24 to raise his average to .325. . James Houser gave up 3 runs in 5 innings, dropping to 43 on the year,cheap rams jerseys. Reid Brignac collected 3 of the Biscuits 5 hits with his 19th double. Evan Longoria was 04. ,49ers Bowman Jersey 365djerseys.com V9. Josh Butler has struggled since his promotion to Vero Beach. After allowing 4 runs in 5 innings, he is now 23 with a 6.90 ERA. Sergio Pedroza hit his 13th home run, a solo shot in the first inning. . Woods Fines gave up 4 hits and walked 4 in 5 innings. He held GReenville scoreless until the 5th inning when he gave up a grand slam. He falls to 66 with the loss,Cheap Minnesota Vikings Jerseys. Cesar Suarez was 02 but stole his 21st base. Desmond Jennings and Ryan Royster were each 03. . (gm 1). (gm 2). NOTES FROM DOWN ON THE FARM… Right now the Biscuits are winning so everything’s alright in my corner of the universe,orakpo jersey. Admittedly,cheap matt ryan jersey 365djerseys.com I3, I can’t help but feel somewhat affected by the way I’ve been playing myself. That isn’t too crazy, I don’t think. This is an individual game that is just organized in a team concept. Besides, at some level you ought to consider your play, because your job stability is predicated not by the team’s record, but by your record in contributing to the team. The team’s success colors the workplace. Your own colors you.

No need to jam your finger down your throat after this loss,cheap texans nike jerseys, just turn on BSPN in the wee hours and watch the JeterFest repeat itself over and over and over.? Sure, Derek Jeter deserves the accolades for reaching the 3K mark, but it’,cheap Arizona Cardinals Jerseys;s hard to stomach that he essentially beat the Rays Saturday with a 5for5 performance and the gamewinning hit. If only Kelly Sloppach’;s ninthinning flyout went another two feet. Anyone else see Mariano Rivera hang his head after contact? And where was the pinchhitter for Justin Ruggiano? It probably wouldn’;t have mattered, but Sam Fuld sure seemed like a slightly better option there. Longball from Matt Joyce and B.J. Upton,cheap colts nike jerseys 365djerseys.com T4, but collars for Evan Longoria and Casey Kotchman. Five hits and four runs and plenty of lost opportunities,Indianapolis Colts Jerseys. So David Price marches into the AllStar break with a 3.70 ERA,cleveland cavaliers jerseys 365djerseys.com H0. Nice.

If you want the latest news and rumors, keep checking back here throughout the day. As we hear trade rumors, we will add them below. We will keep the most recent on top. If something really juicy comes along, we will give that its own post. But all the other stuff will go here. Also, if you see or hear something that we haven’t reported yet, feel free to leave it in the comments and we will check it out. Let’s go… [6:30pm] that the Cardinals insisted on either James Shields or Jeremy Hellickson for Colby Rasmus. [3:57pm] Even though we heard yesterday that the , that the Reds are “targeting” Shields. Rosenthal that the Rays are still unlikely to move Shields, but that the Reds have a deep minor league system, suggesting they are one team that might be able to change the Rays’ mind. [1:50pm] that the Giants are close to landing Carlos Beltran. That means there is one less team interested in acquiring BJ Upton. By our count, that leaves the Nationals,49ers Smith Jersey 365djerseys.com C2, Royals, Indians, Pirates, Reds, and to a lesser extent,Wholesale J.J. Watt Jersey, the Braves. We have also heard conflicting reports that the Phillies might be interested. [7:30am] This is . Just about everybody thinks it is a lock that BJ will be traded by Sunday’,mercilus jersey 365djerseys.com X0;s deadline. And most of those people feel that the Nationals are the frontrunner. The Rays were even scouting the Nationals tripleA team the other day,Houston Texans Jerseys. It looks like the Nationals are holding on tight to their top pitching prospects. However,wholesale julio jones jersey, . As far as James Shields goes, it looks like for now and for the foreseeable future.

The GBT – The Good, The Bad and The Telling sandwich, where The Bad is nice and lean and the The Telling is ripe. RAYS (offday) The New York Times ,manning jersey. The piece talks a lot about how the Rays use the shift in unconventional ways against players and in situations that are not necessarily a typical threat. But the best part might be this stat: Last year the Rays saved 85 runs with their defense, and that was a lot. But according to John Dewan, coauthor of “The Fielding Bible,”,cheap packers nike jerseys 365djerseys.com R7; the Rays have already saved 28 runs in 29 games this season. At this rate,panthers jerseys, the Rays would save about 156 runs with their defense. That would be worth 1516 (!) wins in the standings. In other words, if the Rays had the pitching staff and the hitters of an 8181 team, this defense, along with the defensive shifts would turn that team into a 96 or 97win team. Wow. THE JUNKYARD DOGS WEBTOPIA… DOWN ON THE FARM… DURHAM Syracuse. (postponed) . Jake Thompson allowed 5 runs in 5 innings, but did strike out 7 and walk just 2…,Buffalo Bills Jerseys;LF Omar Luna went 23 with 2 walks. He is now hitting .294 and also added his 10th stolen base…SS HakJu Lee was 14 with a walk and 2 strikeouts. . Wilking Rodriguez struck out 6 and walked 2 in 4.2 innings. He allowed 5 runs…RF Mikie Mahtook went 24…LF Cody Rogers hit his first home run of the year, and C Mayo Acosta added his 3rd. . Jake Floethe gave up just 1 hits and 3 walks in 6 scoreless innings. He struck out 3…,flacco jersey 365djerseys.com F9;Drew Vettleson went 14 with a double and 2 RBI. He also threw out a runner at home…Josh Sale went 23 with a double and his first stolen base.

nugget buried at the bottom of his most recent column… The Rays are looking or a DH and seem to like Vladimir Guerrero best, followed by Manny Ramirez. This is interesting because Manny is represented by Scott Boras and it is wellknown that Heyman is Boras’ voice to the public. So this doesn’t appear to be a case where an agent is artificially pumping up interest in their client. Also, Jim Thome , agreeing to a oneyear, $3 million deal with the Twins. While we would have loved to have seen Thome swinging the lumber for the Rays in 2011,indiana pacers jerseys, it seemed clear that?the Rays were waiting to let Thome and the Twins set the market for,Chris Wells Jersey,redskins jerseys 365djerseys.com Q7?DHtypes,wholesale julio jones jersey 365djerseys.com E6. At $3 million, the Rays can now afford their pick of the litter. And if Heyman is right,Cheap San Francisco 49ers Jerseys, that means Vlad will be the Rays’ DH in 2011.

The GBT – The Good,wholesale joe flacco jersey, The Bad and The Telling sandwich, where The Bad is nice and lean and the The Telling is ripe. THE GOOD: Andy Sonnanstine. After tossing 4.2 scoreless innings Friday and then after Lance Cormier nearly blew a 4run 11th inning lead, The Duke came in with the tying run on ?third and no outs. He promptly struck out the next two batters (including a pitcher) and got Dan Uggla to fly out to right to end the game…Vuvuzelas. Or whatever those things were, may have been annoying, but they helped the Rays in the end.??The noise may have led to a miscommunication of a lineup change and when Brian Barden led off the 9th with a walk, he was called out for batting out of order…Joe Maddon,ray rice jersey. JoeMa does some strange things and we usually only comment when they don’t work. So we need to tip our cap to his moves last night. First he brought Rafael Soriano in with no outs in the 8th with the tying run on third and no outs. Sure he blew his first save of the year (thanks to an Evan Longoria throwing error),cheap 49ers jerseys 365djerseys.com Q6, but he didn’t give up a hit and gave Maddon 2 scoreless innings. Then Maddon went to James Shields in the 10th. Yes James Shields,milwaukee bucks jerseys 365djerseys.com X6, who pitched a scoreless 10th. And of course, Maddon proved he has a huge pair of Vuvuzelas when he turned to Andy Sonnanstine with the tying run on third in the 11th. THE BAD: Lance Cormier. After being spotted a 4run lead in the tophalf of the 11th, Cormier was called upon to close out the game in a “don’t screw this up role.” He almost did, allowing all 5 batters he faced to reach base…Wheeler/Choate. What Cormier did in the 11th, Dan Wheeler and Choate had already accomplished in the 8th. A 3run lead was quickly erased when those two couldn’t retire any of the 4 batters they faced. THE TELLING: Joe Maddon continues to platoon BJ Upton and John Jaso at the leadoff spot. WHERE THEY STAND: The Rays are 4226, tied with the Yankees in the East and 1 game ahead of the Red Sox in the Wild Card. After 68 games in 2008, the Rays were 4028. THE JUNKYARD DOGS WEBTOPIA… DOWN ON THE FARM…,cheap cardinals jerseys;

While the Yankees ended up signing Rafael Soriano,atlanta hawks jerseys, Brian Cashman first had his eyes set on Grant Balfour. But Cashman made it clear in the aftermath of signing Soriano, that he didn’t want to give up the Yankees first round pick. And as a Type A free agent,Cheap Miami Dolphins Jerseys 365djerseys.com R3, Balfour would have cost the Yankees their top pick. To get round this, with the Diamondbacks. Arizona would sign Balfour, and then trade him to the Yankees. Since the DBacks have the no. 3 pick overall, their first round pick is protected. If the Yankees had signed Balfour, the Rays would have received the no. 31 pick (which they ultimately picked up anyway),cardinals jerseys. But by going through the Diamondbacks,cheap ryan kerrigan jersey,Houston Texans Jerseys 365djerseys.com K1, the Rays compensation would have been the no. 63 pick. Balfour eventually signed with the A’s and the Rays received their second round pick, no. 75 overall. THE JUNKYARD DOGS WEBTOPIA…

Major League Baseball today announced that Evan Longoria and Carl Crawford heave each won a Gold Glove,Colts Nike Jerseys 365djerseys.com K9. The award is Longoria’,cheap chargers jerseys;s second. He also won the award last season. Crawford is a firsttime winner. Here is the full list of American League Gold Glove winners… PositionPLAYERGold Gloves C Joe Mauer, Twins31BMark Teixeira,Cheap Buffalo Bills Jerseys, Yankees22BRobinson Cano, Yankees13BEvan Longoria,Cheap NaVorro Bowman Jersey 365djerseys.com Y8, Rays2SSDerek Jeter, Yankees5OFIchiro Suzuki, Mariners10OFCarl Crawford, Rays1OFFranklin Gutierrez, Mariners1PMark Buehrle, White Sox 2 Kinda hard for us to get excited about Longoria and Crawford when Derek Jeter also gets one,Indianapolis Colts Jerseys.

Two weeks ago I wrote a post called “.” The conclusion was that Shields was throwing too many offspeed pitches,Cheap Zach Thomas Jersey 365djerseys.com S2,chiefs jerseys. And despite not having a great one, Shields needed to throw his fastball more. Since then,cheap chargers jerseys, Shields has made his two best starts of the year (based on Game Score) and lowered his ERA from 4.52 to 4.08. And what did Shields do differently? He threw more fastballs. Here’s a look at how his last two starts compare to the first 20 starts of the season as well as his 2011 season… The changeup usage is down a little bit, but the number of fastballs is way up. And the results were 17 innings having allowed just 5 hits and one run. Shields’ fastball is never going to be a great pitch,wholesale matt ryan jersey 365djerseys.com E6. And he needs to be careful that teams don’t sit on it too much,Indianapolis Colts Jerseys. But if he is going to be at his best, he needs his changeup to be most effective. And that is not going to happen unless he throws the fastball and keeps hitters offbalance.

The GBT –,cheap miami heat jerseys; The Good, The Bad and The Telling sandwich,wholesale 2013 SuperBowl Jerseys, where The Bad is nice and lean and the The Telling is ripe. RAYS (offday) The New York Times . The piece talks a lot about how the Rays use the shift in unconventional ways against players and in situations that are not necessarily a typical threat. But the best part might be this stat: Last year the Rays saved 85 runs with their defense, and that was a lot. But according to John Dewan,Rocca, 39, hopes to return to Redskins CSN Washington, coauthor of “The Fielding Bible,” the Rays have already saved 28 runs in 29 games this season. At this rate, the Rays would save about 156 runs with their defense. That would be worth 1516 (,cheap denver nuggets jerseys!) wins in the standings. In other words, if the Rays had the pitching staff and the hitters of an 8181 team, this defense, along with the defensive shifts would turn that team into a 96 or 97win team. Wow. THE JUNKYARD DOGS WEBTOPIA… DOWN ON THE FARM… DURHAM Syracuse. (postponed) . Jake Thompson allowed 5 runs in 5 innings, but did strike out 7 and walk just 2…LF Omar Luna went 23 with 2 walks. He is now hitting .294 and also added his 10th stolen base…SS HakJu Lee was 14 with a walk and 2 strikeouts. . Wilking Rodriguez struck out 6 and walked 2 in 4.2 innings,Bills fire Gailey after 3 straight losing seasons CSN Washington. He allowed 5 runs…RF Mikie Mahtook went 24…LF Cody Rogers hit his first home run of the year, and C Mayo Acosta added his 3rd. . Jake Floethe gave up just 1 hits and 3 walks in 6 scoreless innings. He struck out 3…Drew Vettleson went 14 with a double and 2 RBI. He also threw out a runner at home…Josh Sale went 23 with a double and his first stolen base.

Playing A Little Pepper… After seeing the Rays stadium proposal earlier today, what are the chances it actually gets built? It’s a nice looking stadium. The price is about right. But there are still some major issues. The biggest one that immediately jumps out is the parking,cheap lions jerseys. They claim there are 14,000 spots already on site. But those are owned by local businesses who will want to be compensated. And even then, they are not giving up access to all 14,Postgame Shot Of Joe Singles Parade Grabs The Broom Rays Index,cheap lions nike jerseys,cheap utah jazz jerseys 365djerseys.com W4,000. And what happens during weekday afternoon games (approx 1 of every 67 home games)? And then there is trying to figure out who will pay for it. But that will be a question with any proposal. Still, this one just doesn’t feel like anything that is going anywhere…5% Game Graph… [Will be up at game time] Source: Lineup…,cheap falcons nike jerseys; Song to get you pumped up…

This post, which will appear before every game, will include starting lineups (when we learn them) and during the game will include a Game Graph that will constantly update the percent chance the Rays have of winning this particular game. Game Graph…,raiders jerseys; Source: Playing A Little Pepper…; Carlos Pena has been huge so far, but he will eventually hit a cold streak,bengals jerseys. If he is so hot and cold, why is he so important to the Rays? All hitters are streaky to some extent, even Evan Longoria. And that is why Pena is so important. When Longoria was the Rays’ only big hitter, if he went cold,cheap anquan boldin jersey 365djerseys.com B9, the entire offense went cold. Now the Rays have two big bats. Both are capable of carrying a team. And the chances that both will go cold for an extended period at the same are slim. The Rays offense still isn’t great,Ultimate Texans Johnathan Joseph Loss of home-field advantage no excuse. But the Rays shouldn’t have any long periods of sucktitude either…;Another Big Bat Option When Longo Goes Cold Lineup…; Song to get you pumped up…,whitney mercilus jersey; The Red Sox can bully if they want. But let’s face it, the Rays are simply the better team right now…;

Joe is back with his postgame thoughts… Joe hates to be a broken record,Cheap Aldon Smith Jersey, but Joe’,cheap los angeles lakers jerseys;s had enough of this manufactured nonsense?by Derek Shelton of playingforawalk and Andrew Friedman being borderline irresponsible in not going out and getting a bat when the parent club has enough pitchers to fill out two teams’; starting rotations. No, Hellboy didn’,Chicago Bears Jerseys 365djerseys.com J2;t have a good night. But giving up four runs shouldn’;t mean the end of the world… until you look in the Rays dugout and see Shelton. As great —,griffin iii jersey; yes, Joe does mean “great” —; as Friedman is at overseeing an organization that is filthy with pitchers, it is equally inexcusable why he couldn’;t have traded for a bat (or two). Yes, the Rays are still in contention for a wild card thanks to vault full of pitching. But really, if the Rays do get a wild card berth, does anyone truly believe that some genie will come by and spread pixie dust on the Rays bats and suddenly they will have an offense? Please. Sam Fuld trying to steal third down four runs,wholesale terrell suggs jersey 365djerseys.com K9? Why, exactly? And people actually wonder why 33 percent more local sports fans Saturday night decided to sweat in the heat and brave a thunderstorm to watch the Bucs practice instead of sitting in a comfy dome watching a team still in the playoff hunt. A thundering tackle in a makebelieve game sure beats (a)nother Karlos Pena strikeout.

The GBT – The Good, The Bad and The Telling sandwich, where The Bad is nice and lean and the The Telling is ripe. RAYS 8, A’s 0 () THE GOOD: James the Greater,Cheap Kolb Jersey. After having 11 complete games and 4 shutouts in 2011. And just hours after the trade deadline passed. James Shields went out and tossed his first shutout of the year, and had easily his best start of the year. In fact, with a Game Score of 92 (measures how strong a pitcher’s performance was),Cheap Chris Wells Jersey, Shields had the 10th best pitching performance in all baseball this year. Yeah, I bet there are teams have second thoughts on the trade deadline…BJ Upton. One night after posting the first 07 game in Rays history, Upton rebounded with 2 hits, and drove in the first run of the night. THE BAD: Carlos Pena. Hitless in 3 at bats and is now hitting .195. And yes, he draws a lot of walks. But considering he doesn’t get hits, his OBP is still only .320 which is below average,boldin jersey 365djerseys.com Q1. THE TELLING: Brooks Conrad was optioned to Durham and replaced by Josh Lueke. After the 15inning marathon, the Rays needed an extra bullpen arm…The Rays are 5450, 2.5 games behind the A’s in the Wild Card race, 1 game behind the Orioles, and tied with the Tigers. THE JUNKYARD DOGS WEBTOPIA… DOWN ON THE FARM… . Cesar Ramos is taking nicely to his new role as a starting pitcher, throwing 5.2 shutout innings, giving up just 2 hits and 2 walks. He struck out 3…C Chris Gimenez had a double and drove in the only run with a single. He also had a walk in 4 plate appearances. . SS HakJu Lee went 13 with 2 walks. He also committed 2 errors and has 23 for the year…2B Derek Dietrich went 24 and RF Mikie Mahtook had a single and a walk. . 3B Riccio Torrez hit his 7th home run. . Parker Markel tossed 7 shutout innings, striking out 8 and walking none…Ryan Brett stole 3 bases, giving him 39 for the year,wholesale tom brady jersey 365djerseys.com T3. HUDSON VALLEY. no game scheduled ,Carolina Panthers Nike Jerseys. Lefty Kevin Brandt struck out 6 and walked 1 in 4 shutout innings…Andrew Toles went 24 with a double and is now hitting .370.

The GBT – The Good, The Bad and The Telling sandwich, where The Bad is nice and lean and the The Telling is ripe. Rangers 6, RAYS 5 () THE GOOD: Longo’,cheap ravens jerseys;s Mojo. After being openly concerned about his lack of power coming off the disabled list,2013 superbowl 49ers jerseys 365djerseys.com W0, Evan Longoria hit a home run last night on a sinker that he actually got fooled on. It was an ugly swing. You could see he was geared up for the fastball and got caught out on his front foot a bit. But the bat speed was there. And even though he had to reach a little for the pitch, and he was a little early,cheap ed reed jersey 365djerseys.com B6, he was strong enough to keep the ball fair and hit a home run off the foul pole. That’;s a good sign that Longoria still has good pop in his bat even though he is not 100%…BJ Upton. This is the roller coaster we ride with the Rays. When Upton tripled in the 5th, a hit that essentially tied the game (since Upton was on 3rd with no outs and was pretty close to a guaranteed run), I am sure I wasn’;t alone in thinking there was no way the Rays were losing this game. THE BAD: David Price. King David didn’;t do anything to help his Cy Young chances, and maybe we can blame the ballpark. In four career starts in Rangers Ballpark, Price now has allowed 19 runs in 16.2 innings (10.26 ERA). And while he may have been the favorite for the Cy Young yesterday, Price might only be the 3rd pick now, behind Felix Hernandez and Justin Verlander. But that also tells us that this race is far from over, and how each pitcher performs in September will ultimately decide the award. THE TELLING: Alex Cobb will start tomorrow after some thought to bumping him back a day…Don’;t look now, but the Rays are not only 4 games behind the Yankees,cheap atlanta hawks jerseys, but they are behind both the O’;s and A’;s in the Wild Card, trailing both by a halfgame (1 in the loss column). THE JUNKYARD DOGS WEBTOPIA… DOWN ON THE FARM… DURHAM. no game scheduled. . Matt Buschmann went 123 in 7 of the 8 innings he pitched. Unfortunately, in the other inning, he walked 2 and then gave up a 2out single and lost 10…LF Omar Luna was 34 with a triple and is hitting .305…RF Mikie Mahtook was 04 with 2 strikeouts and is hitting .250. Palm Beach CHARLOTTE. postponed ,cheap los angeles lakers jerseys. Jake Floethe was knocked out before the end of the second inning, giving up 4 runs on 4 hits and 3 walks. His ERA is now 3.31…C Alejandro Segovia went 35 with a double and drove in 3…RF Taylor Motter hit his 5th home run. . DH Richie Shaffer went 04 and is now hitting .300 in his first 25 pro games. . SS Brandon Martin went 04 with a walk.