[THE HANGOVER] The One Where We Discuss Running Skills, Joe’s Magic Button, And Super Sammy

The GBT – The Good, The Bad and The Telling sandwich, where The Bad is nice and lean and the The Telling is ripe.

RAYS 5, Blue Jays 4 (boxscore)

THE GOOD: James Shields. James the Greater deserved a better fate. He worked 7.1 innings, striking out 10 and walking just 1 batter. And he had his plus-plus-changeup also. He only threw it 37 times, but the Blue Jays swung-and-missed a whopping 14 times on that pitch alone…Rich Thompson. When you spend more than a decade in the minor leagues, you learn a thing or two about fundamentals and playing the game the right way. So when Thompson was on first base in the 11 inning, and BJ Upton drove a ball into the left field corner (a ball that would have resulted in second and third for most base runners), Thompson scored easily as a result of his blazing speed and absolutely textbook baserunning around each bag. It was a thing of beauty…BJ Upton. And just like that, Bossman is again swinging the bat with confidence. Let’s enjoy the ride while it lasts…Bullpen. Fernando Rodney and Jake McGee combined for 3 shutout innings to keep the Rays in the game, striking out 3…Joe Magic Rides Again. Drew Sutton, who was playing in triple-A for the Braves a week ago, hit cleanup for the Rays. Cleanup! And all he did was pick up 2 hits including a 2-run double in the first inning to give the Rays an early lead.

THE BAD: Missed Opportunities. The Rays were lucky they won this game in extra innings after blowing the lead in the 8th inning and leaving 7 baserunners on base in innings 7-10.

THE TELLING: The Rays are 1 game behind the Orioles, and 3 games ahead of the Blue Jays…Carlos Pena batted leadoff for the second straight game.

THE JUNKYARD DOGS WEBTOPIA…

• BJ Upton’s epic game-winning celebration as well as a video of a funny exchange between BA and Staatsy is below.
  
• Sam Fuld now thinks he can be back in June. [TBO.com]
  
• Reid Brignac is not on this list, but some of the names might surprise you. [BI Sports]
• Did the Bucs get screwed when they traded Kellen Winslow? [JoeBucsFan]

DOWN ON THE FARM…

DURHAM. no game scheduled

MONTGOMERY 2, Jackson 1 (12). 1B Michael Sheridan homered to lead-off the bottom of the 12th inning, giving the Biscuits the win…Joe Cruz struck out 8 and allowed just 1 hit and 2 walks in 6 shutout innings…SS Hak-Ju Lee went 1-4 with a walk and 3 Ks. He did steal his 13th base.

Brevard County 12, CHARLOTTE 1. After allowing just 3 earned runs in his first 38.1 innings, CJ Riefenhauser was pounded for 8 runs in just 3.2 innings yesterday. His ERA is now 2.36…LF Brandon Allen went 0-4 with 2 Ks…CF Mikie Mahtook went 2-4 and is hitting .285.

Great Lakes 6, BOWLING GREEN 5. Jake Floethe struck out 6 and didn’t walk a batter, giving up 4 runs (2 earned) in 7 innings on 7 hits. His ERA is now 3.04…RF Drew Vettleson went 1-3 with a double and 2 walks. He is hitting .291…1B Cameron Seitzer was 3-5 with a double…DH Tyler Goeddel hit his 4th home run of the season.

Here’s BJ Upton’s epic celebration at second base after his game-winner…

This exchange epitomizes the dynamic between Dewayne Staats and Brian Anderson. On the one had you’ve got BA referring to a goofball movie and then egging Staatsy to finish the quote. Then you’ve got the uncomfortable Staats doing the equivalent of saying “gosh darn it.”…

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