. Carlos Hernandez pitched 7 scoreless innings,2013 superbowl 49ers jerseys,Cheap Cincinnati Bengals Jerseys 365djerseys.com A2, allowing only 2 hits and 2 walks, while striking out 4…,cheap lions jerseys;Matt Joyce was 34 with a double, a walk and 3 RBI…;Justin Ruggiano was 24 with a double and a walk…;Reid Brignac finished 02 with 2 walks and Ray Sadler hit his 5th home run. . Jason Cromer allowed 6 runs in 5 innings…;Another 3hit game for Desmond Jennings who was 34 with a walk to get his average back up to .400. He also has a .457 OBP and a 1.077 OPS. Charlotte vs St. Lucie (gm 1 susp. rain). Charlotte vs St. Lucie (gm 2 ppd. rain). Bowling Green (no game scheduled),cheap packers nike jerseys,cheap colts jerseys 365djerseys.com G8. Notes from Down on the Farm…;

Tampa Bay Rays (21 days until pitchers and catchers report) Yesterday the Tampa Bay Rays announced that they had on a contract that could be for as long as seven years and worth just under $38 million. With incentives the deal could reach as much as $44 million. The last three years of the deal are team options which gives the team a fair amount of insurance in case of an injury or an unexpected drop in performance. This is a great deal for the Rays. They get a young proven pitcher for a belowmarket price and do not have to worry about going to arbitration with him in two years. But,wholesale ray lewis jersey 365djerseys.com R2, despite what many are saying this is not a deal about retaining the young talent. Shields was going to be here for the next five years without a new deal. And projecting Shields and the team ahead to the 2013 and 2014 seasons is a crapshoot at best. What kind of pitcher will he be six years from now? What will the team look like six years from now,cheap colts jerseys? Nobody knows the answers to those questions. No. This is not about retaining the young talent. Marc Lancaster is the only writer, whether it be professional, blogger or message board specialist, we have seen yet that “gets it”. The Rays didn’t have to do this deal, which guarantees Shields at least $11.25 million during the next four seasons and could max out at $44 million with options and incentives. Shields would have been under Tampa Bay’s control through 2012 anyway, and the cost to keep him wasn’t likely to reach outrageous levels even if he continued to improve once he entered his arbitration years. But the Rays saw an opportunity to make a statement after Shields had his agent contact them last fall to gauge their interest in a longterm deal, even though he had just pitched his first full season in the majors. Here was the rare player with enough faith in the organization that he was willing to surrender his first two years of free agency. Rays executive vice president Andrew Friedman said he liked the message that rewarding Shields with a longterm deal so early in his career would send to Tampa Bay’s young players. The Rays certainly wouldn’t mind if some of the team’s more established players, the rest of baseball and their fan base picked up on it, too. This deal does send a message. Not a message to the fans that the Rays will do whatever it takes to keep the young talent. If that was the case why isn’t Scott Kazmir under a longterm contract yet? He is due to be a free agent before Shields. Or what about Carl Crawford, who is set to become a free agent in three years, two years sooner than Shields would have hit the market,cheap miami heat jerseys 365djerseys.com N1. No. The real message is about rewarding the younger players that perform well. Yesterday in ““, and the day before in , we speculated that the new contract would most likely only give Shields a slight bump in salary in 2008 and 2009, the two seasons prior to when he would be arbitration eligible. Teams do not have to open the wallets in a players first three seasons, no matter how well they perform on the field. The Rays showed they are willing to reward the younger players. A move that will be noticed by other players within the Rays organization and hopefully by players in other organizations. The Rays did not have to give Shields much more than $0.50,Cheap Oakland Raiders Jerseys.7 for the next two seasons. Players that sign longterm deals prior to their arbitration years almost never make more than that in those seasons. Shields, however, will make $2.5 million combined the next two years. To us that is the biggest surprise of the contract. In the grand scheme of things, it does not seem like much to us, but to a player like Shields, who was not a “,NaVorro Bowman Jersey;bonus baby” firstround draft pick, a raise of more than 150% is a big deal. A big deal that the team hopes won’t go unnoticed by the other players. Perform well and we will reward you. Shields’ deal could be worth $44 million. [] Shields deal sends message [] DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

Up until first pitch, use the comments section to predict who you think will be the Sunburst Player of the Game,cheap Arizona Cardinals Jerseys 365djerseys.com Q0. (be sure to use a valid email address while leaving the comment),raiders jerseys. The commenter that correctly predicts who we will name the Sunburst Player of the Game the most times prior to the allstar game,panthers nike jerseys 365djerseys.com H7, will win two tickets to a secondhalf game. Runnersup get their choice of a tshirt. [] Check for the starting lineups. Players that have been named Sunburst Pimp Daddy PoG and leaderboard after the jump… Evan Longoria15,cheap Jacksonville Jaguars Jersey.5Ben Zobrist12,cheap miami heat jerseys.5Carlos Pena9Carl Crawford8BJ Upton8Willy Aybar6David Price6James Shields5Jeff Niemann5Gabe Kapler4.5Jason Bartlett4Dioner Navarro4Scott Kazmir4Gabe Gross2.5Andy Sonnanstine2Matt Joyce2Pat Burrell2Matt Garza1.5Lance Cormier1.5Gregg Zaun1Aki Iwamura1Grant Balfour1Winston Abreu0.5

The Rays had two picks in the secondround and picked up a college pitcher and a college shortstop. 66. Jacob Thompson,lions jerseys, RHP?(info via ):,chicago bulls jerseys 365djerseys.com M6??Thompson’s college career has been a mixed bag, with bursts of brilliance interspersed with wildness and control problems. Relying heavily on his fastball, Thompson is an aggressive hurler who resembles, in frame and style, former big leaguer Troy Percival,patrick peterson jersey. His 9294 mph fastball peaks at 95, and Thompson adds an excellent changeup which he mixes in sparingly. Thompson’s primary weakness is his curveball, a pitch he shortarms and doesn’t finish off cleanly. Scouts think that Thompson’,cheap colts jerseys 365djerseys.com Y3;s results don’t match his talent because of his unusual arm stroke, which will need to be cleaned up, and a weak delivery finish in which he circles away from the plate. He has the arm and raw stuff to be a midrotation starter, but he will more likely end up in the bullpen. 79. Derek Dietrich, SS (info ): Tech’s shorstop Derek Dietrich has had a monster season with the metal bat and will probably go in the top two rounds as a major college performer who isn’t stuck at first base or DH…He’s very strong with good bat speed and he recognizes pitches very well from righthanders. He struggled against lefties with the wood bat on the Cape last summer, although I think that’s a function of his raw strength and the metal bat allowing him to catch up to a pitch he didn’t recognize early enough…In the field, Dietrich can’t play shortstop in pro ball, and I’m not sure he has the feet to handle second or third; he’s not unathletic but is a belowaverage runner with slow feet,Pittsburgh Steelers Jerseys, which would put him in an outfield corner long term, although the team that drafts him has to exhaust those other options first…and he is just 20 years old.

We are not sure why we never ran it (we blame DRG) as it has been sitting on the for quite some time. But somebody put together a video in which they examine the history of the “Fist Bump”. Several members of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays make appearances in the clip, including Stuart Sternberg, Joe Maddon, Jonny Gomes and Carl Crawford who claims he wouldn’,wholesale joe flacco jersey,Colts Jerseys On Sale 365djerseys.com E9;t be where he is today without the fist bump. Also, Papa Joe explains to us how it went down the first time somebody tried to fist bump him…,suggs jersey;a story that we are sure most of us can relate to. “Well the first time I was introduced to the fist bump, I didn’;t really know what to do. He stuck his hand out to me and I didn’;t know if he was going to hit me or if I was supposed to grab it or latch on to it,Cheap Houston Texans Jerseys 365djerseys.com P1.”,portland trail blazers jerseys; In Joe’;s defense, they weren’;t even doing the highfive when he was in school. Back then it was the kissoneachcheek.

that Milton Bradley got off a plane in Las Vegas at the Winter Meetings and went straight to lunch with Rays officials. that the Rays may be considering several of the top right field/DH free agents including Milton Bradley,Cheap Pittsburgh Steelers Jerseys, Pat Burrell, Bobby Abreu, Jason Giambi, and Raul Ibanez,49ers Bowman Jersey 365djerseys.com T8. Ibanez is the only member of that group that would cost the Rays a first round draft pick as a Type A free agent. Heyman also mentions that Ken Griffey Jr would “,Cheap Philadelphia Eagles Jerseys;love to play near his Orlando hometown.”,Cheap Ben Tate Jersey; that with the Rays already , Griffey at $34 million might be more realistic than the other names,robert griffin iii jersey 365djerseys.com X2, even if the market pushes their salaries down. Then again, if the Rays can move salary in other areas (Edwin Jackson), that might be enough to justify adding one of the players listed above at $810 million for one season. Rays Take Milton Bradley To Lunch [] Griffey could be good fit for Rays [] Griffey Could Be Good Fit For Rays []

Needless to say, many people are having a laugh at David Price’s expense after he injured his neck by toweling off “too vigorously” (you can see Price talking about the injury HERE. Well, here’s one example from the guys at “Mike and Mike in the Morning”,Cheap NaVorro Bowman Jersey; on ESPN Radio…,cheap titans nike jerseys 365djerseys.com A7; In defense of King David, this is EXACTLY why Joe Maddon is such a great manager,Carolina Panthers seek $125 million from Charlotte for Bank of America Stadium renovation Carolina. Bear with us…;Maddon has created a culture in that locker room that encourages players to be themselves and not to care what people outside the locker room think. He is a parent that has raised an entire locker room of those cool kids that can always do or say anything without fear,cheap sacramento kings jerseys, when the rest of us are too scared to be ourselves,Chicago Bears Jerseys. THIS is Maddon’s greatest trait as a manager.

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.