It’s hard for Joe to get all depressed and worked up over this extrainnings loss to the Twins the way the Rays have been playing so well in this homestand. Still, only scratching out one run on five hits in 13 innings is a bit troubling despite Merlot Joe (finally) getting the idea to keep Matt Joyce in right field. ?Was David Price dominant? No, but he was still damned good and certainly gave the Rays ample chance to win. Any time you hold your opponent to one run you should win,cheap titans jerseys 365djerseys.com P3,broncos jerseys. ?It wasn’,raiders jerseys;t like the Rays didn’t have chances with the leadoff doubles they cracked,cheap buccaneers nike jerseys 365djerseys.com Z1. If you lead off an inning with a double and can’t score that’s not good. ?At any rate, Joe’s not going to cry in his beer too much tonight. The Rays are still in first place,suggs jersey.

The GBT – The Good, The Bad and The Telling sandwich, where The Bad is nice and lean and the The Telling is ripe. THE GOOD: Comeback For The Ages. Wow. Just wow,chicago bulls jerseys. 9th innings don’t get anymore exciting than that. When the 9th inning started, the Rays had a 1.5% chance of winning the game. But like any great comeback from a big deficit, the players need to remember there are no 5run home runs. And the Rays singled and doubled the Royals to death. When Evan Longoria doubled home the first run we sat up a little straighter. But then two infield groundballs scored the next two runs, the second by Casey Kotchman who hasn’t run that fast since he was 18, and all of a sudden we were getting exciting. Still only 1 out, we were skeptical with BJ Upton and Sam Fuld due up. Upton was either going to hit a walkoff home run or strikeout,cowboys jerseys. He did the latter. That left Fuld and we’ll admit, we were just praying for a walk. With Elliot Johnson on first base, typically you would want the runner stealing second with 2 outs to get into scoring position. But with that canon behind the plate, Johnson might as well have been wearing cement shoes. So he was stuck at first. And that meant our best hope for Fuld was just to get Johnson into scoring position and prolong the inning. He went several steps further, driving a ball into the rightcenter gap which you knew would tie the game. What you didn’t know was that the throw to third would get by the bag, and Fuld, running slower than we have ever seen, found enough gas to scamper home and dive in ahead of the tag. That, that was fun. THE BAD: Sam Fuld. Yes. Super Sammy. Before he won the game in the 9th, he represented the tying run on third base in the 8th and got picked off by the catcher. Sometimes these things happen, but it can’t happen then. And it can’t happen after the same catcher had already demonstrated his lethal arm several times in the game…Jake McGee. McGee faced three batters striking out 1, walking 1, and giving up a 3run home run which seemed to seal the Rays fate. So, of course he would get the win. THE TELLING: Justin Ruggiano was placed on the DL and Reid Brignac was recalled from Durham. Interesting. So a player who has made one start in 3 weeks and who is out of minor league options, suddenly goes on the DL with knee bursitis? Of course he does…Tim Beckham was promoted to tripleA and HakJu Lee was promoted to doubleA. Interestingly, Derek Dietrich was not promoted to Charlotte to replace Lee. RANDOM THOUGHTS: If you get a chance to watch the replay of the pile at home plate, look for Robinson Chirinos. During the entire scrum he is circling the pile looking for a way in, the whole time doing it with a big ole smile on his face. It’,ravens jerseys 365djerseys.com G3;s adorable,Tate Jersey. Like a little kid that wants to play with the big boys…If the Rays sweep the Yankees this weekend,Cheap Kansas City Chiefs Jerseys 365djerseys.com G0, things could start to get interesting. But anything less than a sweep will just be status quo…Look for Tim Beckham to get a nice long look in spring training next year. But we would still be surprised if we see him in the big leagues before August. THE JUNKYARD DOGS WEBTOPIA… DOWN ON THE FARM… Sam Fuld (via TampaBay.com)

Just when you thought the Elijah Dukes story had run its course and was finally under the radar…,Indianapolis Colts Jerseys;Along comes the 2007 Sportshuman of the Year (SHOTY) Tournament. For the second consecutive year, Deadspin is featuring 16 of the most entertaining sports personalities of 2007. In an ironic twist, Barbaro was named the . OK, folks …; it’s time for the voting to begin,Cheap Watt Jersey. Let’s all give bigup to the genius that is for his official SHOTY graphic. The 2007 SHOTY voting will run every Tuesday and Thursday until, well, 2008 probably. We love Kige there. Voting will remain open until the end of the first round …; so let’s get started. It’,Bills Jerseys From china;s No. 4 seed Elijah Dukes vs. No. 13 Jeff Reed. A look at the nominees: Elijah Dukes garners a #4 seed based on such accomplishments as with a picture of a gun including a foster child, and was accused in court of using drugs and steroids. Jeff Reed, on the other hand, is the #13 seed because he…;ummm…;he likes to…;well…;how do we put this gently?…;He likes to take “pictures” of himself. Dukes is heavily favored because nobody wants to see naked pictures of kickers. Quarterbacks? That’s a different story. In April we envisioned Mr. Dukes making a run at Rookie of the Year. By the end of May we wondered if he would ever play for the Rays again,Texans Jerseys On Sale 365djerseys.com M8. In November we get a chance to honor the 2007 accomplishments of the Mischievous Little Badger. So let’s ! And show Elijah how much we love him. SHOTY First Round: Elijah Dukes Vs,cheap boston celtics jerseys 365djerseys.com P5. Jeff Reed [] Your 2006 SHOTY Winner: Barbaro [] An Open Letter To Elijah Dukes [] Another Open Letter To Elijah Dukes []

So there,saints jerseys?passed another Spring Training with Joe bored to tears by the fourth inning of these games. Thank the Lord the real Rays season graces us tonight. Yeah, it was nice to study Manny’s dedicatedlooking pregame rituals, sit behind the dugout under real sun for a reasonable price and, of course,raiders jerseys, marvel at the quality talent that yearns for Evan Longoria’s bedroom yet never even gets his autograph. But the Spring is a joke that gets more stale every year. MFIKY pitching a perfect eighth for the Yankees last night? Now that got Joe’s blood pumping! Joe takes great pride in taking the real Rays games way to seriously. It’s the beauty of the massive rollercoaster of the baseball season. The ride is always wild, especially the last four years,Texans Jerseys On Sale,CHARLOTTE Carolina Panthers' new GM is Giants' Dave Gettleman Carolina Panthers Rock Hill Heral. Is tonight’s soldout opener at the Trop a huge game? Absolutely! Lots of guys with lots to prove, plus a fan base that needs a good wow in the ass. The mere thought of David Price planting a 20win flag on the mound tonight has Joe bouncing off the walls. Good thing the is doing the driving,cheap eagles jerseys 365djerseys.com G4.

David Price began the season in the minor leagues for a couple of reasons. At the time, the team spoke about the need to improve his changeup and increase his command of the strike zone,cheap chicago bulls jerseys. Just as important was the need to limit the number of pitches Price throws this season. Some call it “The Verducci Effect” after Tom Verducci of Sports Illustrated, who first wrote about the risk of young pitchers (under 25) throwing more than 30 innings over their previous careerhigh. The Rays use ,new york knicks jerseys, in that they try to limit their pitchers to a 20% increase over the previous season,cheap cowboys jerseys 365djerseys.com J2. Last season, Price logged 129.1 innings between the minors and the Rays (including the postseason). A 20% increase would allow Price to throw 155160 innings in 2009. After last night’,Ravens Nike Jerseys;s season debut, Price has now thrown 37.2 innings. If Price remains in the rotation for the rest of the season, he will make 2223 additional starts for which he will be limited to about 120 innings or about 5.5 innings per start. In other words, expect Price to be limited to 90100 pitches per start and on most nights he will be out of the game after 5 or 6 innings. Of course, none of this considers any postseason play. If the Rays are true to their word…and this is an organization that rarely deviates from the script…Price may not be part of the rotation for any potential postseason action. If Price has already thrown 155160 innings by the end of the regular season,cheap redskins jerseys 365djerseys.com P0, expect him to be moved to the bullpen should the Rays make the postseason. The Rays just aren’;t an organization that is willing to risk too much of the future for the chance to win in the present.

. We admit we took a doubletake when we saw the Bulls were playing Columbus. We momentarily forgot about the Columbus Clippers the former AAA affiliate of the Yankees,Buffalo Bills Nike Jerseys,boldin jersey 365djerseys.com H2. They are now the AAA affiliate of the Washington Nationals and not the lowA affiliate of the Devil Rays…the Columbus Catfish. Jeff Niemann was not his usual dominating self. He worked 5 innings and gave up 4 hits and 2 walks that led to 3 runs,milwaukee bucks jerseys. He struck out 4. His ERA is now 3.00 on the season. No Bulls had more than one hit and Justin Ruggiano had the only extrabase hit, a double. . Derek Feldkamp’s line looked an awful lot like Niemann’s. 5 innings, 5 hits, 3 walks, 3 runs. But the bullpen had a meltdown and gave up 7 runs over the last 3 innings. Reid Brignac returned to action after missing two games and went 14. Evan Longoria was 02 with 2 walks. . Jake McGee posted his best start of the young season. In 5.2 scoreless innings he struck out 9 and gave up only 2 hits and 1 walk. On the season he has 19 strikeouts in 14.2 innings and a 0,bears jerseys 365djerseys.com C5,cheap buccaneers nike jerseys.61 ERA. The left hander will not be in Vero Beach all season. He probably shouldn’t be there now. . Another lefty, Ryan Morse, is making the Devil Rays look like geniuses for selecting him in the 13th round of the 2005 draft. Last night he worked 6 innings and gave up only his 2 earned run in three starts. On the season he has given up only 11 hits and 2 walks in 18 innings. In 16 career starts, over three levels, he is 85 with a 2.44 ERA. NOTES FROM DOWN ON THE FARM…

that the Angels have have met with Scott Boras about several of his clients and that Rafael Soriano may be on top of their wishlist…,cheap raiders jerseys 365djerseys.com M7,Texans Jerseys On Sale; Soriano appears to be the Angels’,denver nuggets jerseys; top target among the Boras clients. They’;re looking for a reliable closer so they can use Fernando Rodney, Kevin Jepsen and Jordan Walden as a trio of hardthrowing setup men. Rodney struggled in the ninth inning after the Angels traded closer Brian Fuentes. Keep in mind, the Angels are not the Rays friend right now,wholesale ed reed jersey. They are among the leading candidates to sign both Soriano and Carl Crawford. While moving both out of the division will be nice, it also hurts the Rays 2011 draft,cheap colts jerseys 365djerseys.com X9. The Angels firstround pick is protected. If the Angels were to sign both Crawford and Soriano, the Rays would only receive the Angels second and thirdround picks (in addition to the MLB picks between the first and secondround) as compensation.

Could the Rays have played with any less urgency? Joe gets that this was a double rain delay, shortened mess of a game with the Rays on the wrong side of a onehitter. It’s one of those nights, but still the Rays looked flat as can be in the 31 loss. Aside from the dead bats, John Jaso’s throwing error was catchable by Jason Bartlett. Ben Zobrist’s illadvised flying leap in right field was way off the mark. And the communication while Carlos Pena and Jeff Niemann covered first base wasn’t good, not to mention Niemann being visibly winded for a while after making that loooong run from the mound to first.? The streak hit 18 straight duds in Cleveland. But no worries, though. B.J,49ers Gore Jersey. Upton says it’s not so bad,ravens jerseys. “You can’t really count tonight,cheap chargers nike jerseys 365djerseys.com E4,” Upton told MLB.com after the game. “There was still two innings of baseball left.” Thanks, Bossman, but the game is over and your team lost a game to the Sox and Yanks,cheap andre johnson jersey. Joe really hopes you take that attitude to ,Maybe B. J. Upton Should Make All His Throws While Sitting Down Rays Index.

that the Rays have signed relief pitcher Lance Cormier to a oneyear,The Hangover No Answer For Rays Recent Struggles Rays Index, $675K contract. To make room on the 40man roster, the Rays designated Dewon Day for assignment,Wholesale Kevin Kolb Jersey, whom was just claimed off of waivers last week. We have updated the to reflect this signing. This move means one of two things: Cormier appeared in 45 games (1 start) for the Orioles last season, posting a 4.02 ERA while striking out 46 and walking 34 in 71.2 innings. He also posted a careerhigh 56.8% ground balls in 2008 which could go a long ways towards a solid season with the Rays solid infield defense,sacramento kings jerseys. And for the last three seasons,cheap philadelphia 76ers jerseys, Cormier, a righthander, has actually been harder on lefties. In 2008, his OPS against lefties was .667,Wholesale Ben Tate Jersey 365djerseys.com F3, 95 points better than his mark against righties (.772).

. Scott “Kid K” Kazmir did not have his best stuff for the second straight start. He walked the first batter he faced,No place like home in playoffs Not necessarily in Packers case Packersnews packersnews.com. He then gave up a run in the first followed by 2 more in the 2nd. With the Rays trailing 32 at the end of two innings, a rain shower caused a delay of over an hour. Manager Joe Maddon made the correct decision and decided to not bring Kazmir back after the delay. The decision we have to question is starting Kazmir in the first place. Every forecast seemed to indicate that a rain delay for this game was inevitable and most likely they knew that it would be early in the game. With that in mind, why start your young ace if you know you probably won’t bring him back after a lengthy delay? You want and need your staff ace to work late into ballgames. So why not hold him back a day and start him on Friday? You give his arm an extra day of rest and the team is more likely to get 7+ innings. On the other hand, Maddon is a big believer of staying on exactly 4 days of rest for his top starters. On more than one occasion this season,49ers Bowman Jersey 365djerseys.com M9, Maddon has skipped a starter so that Kazmir can stay on his regular 4 days rest. In addition, the team came in to the game riding a 6 game losing streak. The job of ace is the “stopper”. It is Kid K’s duty to stop losing streaks, so maybe Maddon felt a little pressure to get Kazmir in the game last night. There was a scary moment in the top of the 4th. With the Rays up 53,brady jersey, and two runners on, Carl Crawford hit a ball over left fielder Jeff Conine’s head. Conine then had trouble picking the ball up. Julio Lugo and Joey Gathright scored. Crawford tried for an insidethepark home run, only to be thrown out at the plate. Oriole catcher Ramon Hernandez blocked the plate with his foot. Still,Chicago Bears Jerseys, on replays it appeared that Crawford still skipped over the foot after being initially blocked, and touched the plate before Hernandez applied the tag. When he was called out, Crawford slammed his helmet and then jumped up in disgust. When he landed, his foot slid out from under him awkwardly, and he appeared to hyperextend his knee. Luckily, after a few tense commercial break moments, Crawford stayed in the game for one inning, but was pulled in the 5th. He is listed as daytoday with a strained knee. Crawford finished the game 23 raising his average to .300,cardinals jerseys. Jonny Gomes hit his first home run since May 17th against the White Sox at the Trop, his 15th. . Detroit ended the Spankees 5 game winning streak and avoided getting swept in the process. Down 65 entering the 9th, Les Tigres scored two runs off their former closer, Kyle Farnsworth. Mariano Rivera was not available due to back spasms. Joe Torre has made a lot of smart decisions in his day, but pitching Rivera 3 innings on Tuesday night was not one of them. He only threw 25 pitches in those 3 innings, so maybe it is just a coincidence.

Almost exactly one year after being traded together from the Twins to the Rays,cheap packers nike jerseys 365djerseys.com Y1, and a couple of weeks after Joe Maddon did the same,Texans Nike Jerseys, Matt Garza and Jason Bartlett got married…Not to each other, that would be illegal in most states. Bartlett (picture of the couple below). This came a little more than one year after Bartlett proposed to Kelly while . Garza married Serina Ortiz on November 29. of Garza talking about the wedding. When asked if he was as nervous during game 7 of the ALCS, Garza responded “hell nah!” Matt and Serina have dated since high school and have two children together. In the same video we learn that Garza is conducting a baseball clinic later this month with some former Fresno State teammates. We hope this doesn’t violate Jim Hickey’,Cheap Cleveland Browns Jerseys;s orders that the pitchers are . On a side note, Garza’s dad, Rudy Garza, is a member of the Army National Guard and . Cangratulations to Matt and Jason, and a heartfelt ‘thank you’ to Rudy,bills jerseys. KELLY CHEVEZ &,cheap north carolina jerseys 365djerseys.com P8; JASON BARTLETT [] Being Prepared Is Jason Bartlett’s Motto [] Up Close and Personal with Matt Garza [] Rays pitchers told to take it easy this offseason [] Success hasn’t spoiled Garzas []

Time to bring back the GBT – The Good, The Bad and The Telling sandwich, where The Bad is nice and lean and the The Telling is ripe. THE GOOD: James Shields. Shields came up with a Big Game when the team really needed one. He retired the first 8 batters he faced. He repeated the feat in innings 456. In the first 6 innings he allowed only one runner on base with less than 2 outs, a lead off double in the 4th. That runner was also the only base runner Shields allowed past first base…Evan Longoria. Three more hits, including his 4th double and his leagueleading 5th home run. Last fall I did a radio interview for ESPN Radio on a New England radio station. They asked how good Longoria can be,cheap saints jerseys 365djerseys.com X4. I responded, “,Cheap patrick peterson jersey;multiple MVPs,” and I sensed that they thought it was just homerism. Wonder what they think now…Carl Crawford. A 3run triple and later he was robbed of an RBI for the second time in a week when Gabe Gross got fakedout by the center fielder on CC’s single and was thrown out at home…The Middle Infielders. Jason Bartlett and Aki Iwamura were a combined 610 with a double and a home run. Bartlett scored 3. THE BAD: Grant Balfour. The Mad Australian was The Bad Australian. Balfour faced 5 batters and all 5 reached base, including 2 hits and 3 walks…El Gato,chicago bulls jerseys. It does seem strange putting Carlos Pena here on the day he hit his 2nd home run. But he was 04 with 3 strike outs in his other at bats and right now Pena is very much feast or famine, with a lot more famine. We would love to see a little more consistency from the cat. THE TELLING: Matt Joyce, in his last game in the big leagues for now, spent the day on the bench despite earlier reports that he would start…Ben Zobrist started in center and later replaced Gabe Gross in right…Dan Wheeler was given the ball in the 8th. Of course,Texans Nike Jerseys, the score was 110 at the time…If a player has a single,Patrick Willis Jersey 365djerseys.com D5, double and home run, as Evan Longoria has now done twice this season, he did NOT “;just miss the cycle.” Triples are rare. If Longo only needed a single, then he just missed a cycle. SUNBURST PLAYER OF THE GAME: James Shields. We really wanted to put Carl Crawford here. Man, that triple was vintage CC and he looks an awful lot like 2007 Crawford. In a sense, Crawford is playing for his 2009 contract and it is going to be a fun summer watching him every day. And Evan Longoria had a great day, but the home run came when it was 90. But what Shields did was more impressive and much more important. The Rays needed that performance and he delivered. DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA…

Listen to Tampa Bay?sports radio all day and you’ll hear everyone completely writing off the Rays season. Hosts have even?been saying?they’re?so happy they don’t have to talk Rays?anymore and can just settle into football,cheap sacramento kings jerseys. Hell, the?esteemed curator of this site called the team’s “time of death” many games ago. But there were the Rays jumping up and down in a swarming celebration in the outfield after today’s series win and extrainning, walkoff against Toronto. What were they so happy about? After all, the team has no shot to make up 9 1/2 games on the Yankees to grab a Wild Card spot.?A cerebral Joe Maddon team must realize that,cheap los angeles lakers jerseys 365djerseys.com W. Sure, it’s probably wise to expect nothing from the Rays the rest of the way, other than the usual diet of great starting pitching, anemic hitting and the occasional stretch that makes you wonder what could have been if there was more pop in the lineup,patriots jerseys 365djerseys.com D5. But maybe that’s part of the problem with the fanbase and the market. Everyone’s collectively given up when baseball history is littered with playoff drives far more impressive than what the Rays have to pull off, especially after not selling off at the trade deadline. It’s August 4. This is probably what happens when you get used to winning, but it’s also evidence of fans way to eager to throw in the towel, which is sadly very contagious?for a town and a team?that can’t afford that. As for today’s win, Joe still is somewhat?stunned that the Jays walked Johnny Damon in the 11th to pitch to Evan Longoria.?What a slap in the face. How far he’s fallen. The legend of Desmond Jennings rolls on, and it was great to see Bossman motor around the bases to set up the win. But don’,Cheap Aldon Smith Jersey;t get too excited. The season’s over,miami heat jerseys.

The GBT – The Good, The Bad and The Telling sandwich, where The Bad is nice and lean and the The Telling is ripe. THE GOOD: 1,256. That is the number of regular season and postseason games Carl Crawford played in a Rays uniform. Last night sucked, but today we stand and applaud the greatest Ray ever. Thank you Carl. We’ll miss you. THE BAD: Not How It Was Supposed To End. This team was not perfect, but there are certain things they are supposed to do well. They usually play smart baseball. They usually play good defense,Cheap Patrick Willis Jersey 365djerseys.com V2. And they usually shut the opposition down late in games. These are the things that a low or midpayroll team must do to win. And this Rays team excels in these areas. Usually. But last night, two runners scored from second on groundballs. Another scored on a throwing error. And the last two scored off of Rafael Soriano. This team wasn’,golden state warriors jerseys;t perfect,brian orakpo jersey, but this is not how they were supposed to lose a game…Cliff Lee. Let’s face it. All the mental and physical errors were just window dressing. This team was not going to beat Cliff Lee last night. Take the 4th inning. After overcoming the first ugly run, the Rays had just tied the game in the previous inning and were starting to gain a little confidence. Then the throwing error gave the Rangers the lead again. And how did the Rays respond? Rather than build on the previous inning, Carlos Pena, BJ Upton and Dan Johnson went strikeout, strikeout, strikeout. Game over. THE TELLING: Rocco Baldelli threw out the first pitch…The Rays lost their last 6 games in which the opponent started a lefthanded pitcher. WHERE THEY STAND: On a golf course,sacramento kings jerseys 365djerseys.com V1,Cheap Ben Tate Jersey. THE JUNKYARD DOGS WEBTOPIA…

The GBT – The Good, The Bad and The Telling sandwich, where The Bad is nice and lean and the The Telling is ripe. THE GOOD: The Offense,Cheap patrick peterson jersey. If you asked us before the game if we would take 4 runs in a game that both CC Sabathia and Mariano Rivera would pitch, we would have taken that in a heartbeat. 9 hits and 4 walks is always a good night against those two…Grant Balfour. The Mad Australian had a little extra giddyup on his fastball last night. His fastball was consistently 9394, even hitting 95 once. THE BAD: One Of Those Nights. As soon as the Rays took the lead, we just had a bad feeling about the dramatic tone that was being sent over the entire evening…BJ Upton. Earlier in the game, Bossman made a great slide into 3rd base on a basehit by Carl Crawford. He would score the goahead run later in the inning. But any “good” was erased by what happened in the 9th. With the score tied in the 9th, Upton got a leadoff single off of Mo Rivera. He then proceeded to get pickedoff. Of course. We wish we could say we were surprised…James Shields. Well, it wasn’t a hanging changeup and the bases were empty. But “Big Game” James (ironic, huh?) did hang a slider and a fastball for backtoback home runs that tied the game in the 6th. His 21 home runs allowed lead the AL…Joe Maddon. As the visiting team in a tie game, it is not unusual for a manager to save his closer in case his team takes a lead at some point in extra innings. Of course, the risk is losing the game with one of JoeMa’s biggest weapons never being used. And last night, Maddon went with Choate, Wheeler and Cormier in the 9th and not Rafael Soriano…,cheap dolphins jerseys;Sean Rodriguez. Rodzilla missed last night’s game because there was a sprinkler mishap at his condo causing it to flood. Was there nobody else that could move the furniture or lay down some towels? Was anybody’s life in immediate danger? Couldn’t the Rays have sent over a couple of interns to help out? There will only be 18 opportunities to beat the Yankees during the regular season. And Rodriguez left the Rays shorthanded during one… THE TELLING: About a week ago we noted that several of the Rays appeared to have switched from striped stirrups to striped socks. In actuality, they are still wearing stirrups, but for some reason several players (e,cheap utah jazz jerseys 365djerseys.com M6.g. Jason Bartlett) are wearing navy socks under the navy stirrups,wholesale andre johnson jersey, giving the impression that they are solid socks… WHERE THEY STAND: The Rays are 5435, 3 games behind the Yankees and 3.5 games ahead of the Red Sox in the Wild Card,Cheap Texans Jerseys 365djerseys.com G0. After 89 games in 2008, the Rays were 5534. THE JUNKYARD DOGS WEBTOPIA… DOWN ON THE FARM…

THE GOOD: Andy Sonnanstine was the hardluck loser,texans jerseys, shutting out the M’s for 7 innings before allowing a run in the 8th,cheap matt schaub jersey 365djerseys.com A3. At one point he retired 17straight batters, a team record…Rays batters that ledoff an inning were on base 4 times in a row at one point. THE BAD: Dan Wheeler. After throwing 3 straight fastballs,cheap jaguars nike jerseys 365djerseys.com M0, Wheeler tried to sneak a 12 slider past a redhot Raul Ibanez. Ibanez had 7 home runs in the 21 games prior to last night. Throwing a slider there is loselose for Wheeler. Ibanez is a lefty, pullhitter with an open stance. Even if the slider bites and is downandin, it will be right in Ibanez’ powerzone. For those familiar with Ted Williams’ “The Science of Hitting”, that is where the red balls would be for Ibanez and he would likely fire that down the rightfield line for a double. And if the slider hangs as it did last night? Well, we like to call those 400foot strikes,browns jerseys. Game over…Despite the success of the batters leading off innings, only 1 of those runners scored and the team was 08 with runners in scoring position and grounded into 2 doubleplays. The biggest blow was the 9th inning with the score tied 11 and Evan Longoria on 3rd with only 1 out. Cliff Floyd and Dioner Navarro struck out to end the threat. THE TELLING: The Rays magic number to make the playoffs is 44,Cheap New York Jets Jerseys. DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

As we near the halfway point of the season,atlanta hawks jerseys,ravens jerseys 365djerseys.com W2, the Rays appear to have one lock for the American League AllStar squad, James Shields. There is just one small problem. Shields won’t be able to pitch in the game. Based on how the rotation is set right now, Shields’ last start before the AllStar break would come on Sunday, the final day of the first half. And if that happens, by rule, Shields can’t pitch in the AllStar game. That’s a tough break. But it happens. What is interesting is that the Rays don’t even seem to want to concede that things could change (. “[Sunday] appears to be his day as of right now,” Maddon said…”The Rays are much more important…We have set this thing up for a while.” Hey, Maddon is absolutely right. We don’t want the Rays messing with the rotation just so Shields can pitch 12 innings in the midsummer classic. But since when have the Rays ever had anything set this far in advance? If this team has a Modus Operandi, it is that they never make decisions on anything until they absolutely have to,ryan jersey. So it seems a little weird that they would have the rotation set in stone more than two weeks in advance. Would the Rays be upset if their ace couldn’t pitch in the game? No. Would the Rays make a subtle tweak to the rotation to make sure Shields doesn’,cheap haloti ngata jersey;t add to his season pitch total in a meaningless game? Would you be shocked if they did,terrell suggs jersey 365djerseys.com F3?

The GBT – The Good, The Bad and The Telling sandwich, where The Bad is nice and lean and the The Telling is ripe. Indians 3, RAYS 2 () THE GOOD: Help Is On The Way. Matt Joyce sent out a tweet last night saying he would be back in the Rays lineup tonight. The Rays say they have not made a decision, but Joyce seems to have his mind made up. THE BAD: Alex Cobb. Since the start without a bullpen, in which Cobb had to throw 8 innings despite giving up 8 runs, he has pitched just 14.2 innings in 3 starts with an ERA of 5.52. And last night he was lucky he only gave up 3 runs (2 earned). Of the 18 batters he faced, he gave up 5 hits and 5 walks…Not So Sweet Swingin. The Rays struck out 10 times. It was the 7th straight game in which they have struck out at least 9 times…Not Shelton’s Fault. Out of 316 hitters with 110 ABs (prior to last night), Will Rhymes ranks 284th with a .601 OPS,Down On The Farm Talbot Sees First Action Since May Rays Index. And he was hitting leadoff for the Rays last night. It’,brian orakpo jersey;s not Derek Shelton’s fault that Rhymes is not a good hitter. And it’s not Shelton’s fault that Rhymes is hitting leadoff. He went 03, but did walk twice. Meanwhile, the Rays regular leadoff hitter, Desmond Jennings, did hit a home run. THE TELLING: Last night’,rams jerseys;s game actually took the same amount of time (3:36) as the Josh Beckett game on Sunday…The Rays are now one game behind the Detroit Tigers for the 2nd Wild Card spot, one of 7 teams within 2 games of each other. THE JUNKYARD DOGS WEBTOPIA… DOWN ON THE FARM… . C Chris Gimenez went 23 with a walk and a double. He’s hitting .338…SS Reid Brignac went 14 and is hitting .231…DH Stephen Vogt drove in 2, had 2 singles, and a walk. . SS HakJu Lee had a single and 2 walks in 6 plate appearances. He also stole a base, his 32nd,cardinals jerseys. . SS Derek Dietrich was 15 and RF Mikie Mahtook went 14 with a triple and a walk. . In an odd boxscore, the Hot Rods had 9 hits,chargers jerseys 365djerseys.com W7, 1 be every batter in the lineup. 2B Ryan Brett also walked twice and stole his 33rd base. . 2011 first round pick Jeff Ames struck out 7 and walked 2 in 4 innings. He allowed 1 unearned run and now has an ERA of 0.96. . 3B Leonardo Reginatto had 2 hits (4 in the doubleheader) and is now hitting .313. . SS Brandon Martin went 15 with a double.

THE GOOD: After Friday and Saturday wins, the Rays were playing with housemoney. Winning series is the key, especially on the road and that is what the Rays did,Cheap Greg Lloyd Jersey 365djerseys.com E9. THE BAD: Matt Garza AND Dioner Navarro. Garza was removed from the game after the 4th inning when he and Navi got into a shoving match in the dugout after an inning in which Garza gave up a 2run home run to the #9 hitter. The dugout incident was preceded by a heated exchange on the mound between Navi and Garza. Although most reports laid all the blame on the usually feisty Garza, it seemed clear to us that Navi was the instigator on the mound. Navi came to the mound, with his mask still on and was clearly getting in the face and screaming at Garza. Garza wouldn’t look at Navi and kept repeating “I got you”. Prior to the meeting on the mound, Garza had shaken off several pitches from Navi, including the pitch that was hit for a home run,Indianapolis Colts Nike Jerseys. However, it did appear that Navi called for Garza to shake him off on that particular pitch. It is not unusual for a catcher to want his pitcher to shake off a sign as a means to confuse the batter. Just before the home run pitch, Navi shook his head ever so slightly and Garza then shook his head,miami heat jerseys. Whatever the problem Navarro had, the mound was not the place to embarass his pitcher. He should have waited until the dugout. It seems that the altercation in the dugout was about Navi screaming at Garza on the mound. Garza is a hothead, but Navarro also lost his cool…The defense let the Rays down yesterday. An error by Jason Bartlett was followed by miscommunication in the outfield between BJ Upton and Gabe Gross. After a stolen base in the 7th, a run scored on a ground ball single up the middle that probably should have been stopped by Aki Iwamura as the ball appeared to go under his glove. THE TELLING: Cliff Floyd was out of the lineup for the 2nd straight game…,portland trail blazers jerseys 365djerseys.com C6;The Rays have a 3 game lead in the AL Wild Card over the Oakland A’,cheap dolphins jerseys;s with a magic number of 97… DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

Joe is back with his postgame thoughts…. Forget about tonight’s incredibly satisfying 43 win against the hated Yankees for a moment, for Joe it was truly special when Hideki Matsui was yanked with a bad hamstring just before his first atbat and Jeff Keppinger popped off the bench and drilled a firstpitch fastball for a base hit. What a pro Keppinger is,toronto raptors jerseys 365djerseys.com V7. Can we please actually play him,?our best hitter, every day? Is that too much to ask? That written, it was a glorious night for Matt Moore, whose growing,cheap haloti ngata jersey?maturity is obvious. Earlier in the season teams were getting to him late in games, now it’s been more the other way around. Clearly Moore is adjusting.?And it had to be a great confidence booster for the kid when he walked a guy in the seventh inning with his 100th pitch of the night but wasn’t pulled. Every TV viewer saw Moore looking around for the hook, but it didn’t come and he finished the inning and got the win. Huge?tying and winning,panthers jerseys?runs,atlanta hawks jerseys 365djerseys.com D8,?courtesy of crappy defense, went in the Rays’ favor in the bottom of the seventh before Joel Peralta and Crooked Cap closed it out. The Rays keep chugging along playing?good baseball?against the AL East,Cheap Carolina Panthers Jerseys. Maybe that will continue and save the season. As July wins go, this one was huge.