Click on above images to be taken to full standings, box scores or schedule…

THE GOOD: Andy Sonnanstine. Sonny versus Edwin Jackson? Game, Set, Match. Is there any doubt that Sonnanstine will be in rotation in ’09 now? In the last month, The Duke has faced 3 crucial starts, 2 against the Red Sox and yesterday’s ALDS game 4 versus the White Sox. In those 3 starts Sonny has gone 18.2 innings and given up 10 hits, 3 walks, 16 strike outs and 2 earned runs. This just in: That’s pretty good. We have so much confidence in Sonny right now that we are disappointed that he won’t pitch in the ALCS until game 4…The Bullpen. 11.2 innings, 1 run in the series…BJ Upton. Yeah. He is feeling it…Boston winning ALDS. Early in the series we were openly rooting for the Angels. But now? We are glad the Sox are in the ALCS. If the Rays are going to the World Series, it is only fitting that they beat the Sox (again) on the way.

THE BAD: How many times this season has the MLBiverse started doubting the Rays after a single loss? And every time the Rays rise to the occasion and WIN. Apparently the respect and the benefit of the doubt won’t come until the Rays win the World Series and Stuart Sternberg raises the trophy…Having to wait three days for the ALCS…Carl Crawford was hit in the face with a bat swung by Dioner Navarro prior to the game. Crawford was OK and allowed to play…Evan Longoria is now 1-12 with 6 Ks since starting the series 3-3 with 2 home runs.

THE TELLING: During our Blog-A-Baloo (Lite) last night we had Bobby Fenton of 1010 Sports in one ear. He was supposed to be hosting a Bucs show, but he had the Rays game in front of him on a TV. Every time he tried to talk about the Bucs, the poor guy sounded like an executive trying to lead a budget meeting in Mons Venus…The Rays now have 100 wins on the season…Today is Evan Longoria’s 23rd birthday…The Heater has the ALCS schedule. Game 1 is 8pm on Friday and game 2 is Saturday at 7:30pm…According to CoolStandings.com the Rays have a 48.7% chance of winning the ALCS, with the most likely outcome being a Red Sox win in 6 games.

DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA…

• Finally somebody gets it! Ken Rosenthal says: “Anyone who thinks the Rays are merely a product of high draft picks isn’t paying attention.” [Fox Sports]
• Scott Merkin says Andy Sonnanstine pitched to the White Sox weakness. [MLB]
• Joe Smith says that all Andy Sonnanstine does, is win. [St. Pete Times]
• Mike Lowell was removed from the Red Sox roster prior to game 4. He will not be available for the ALCS. [Sox & Dawgs]
• Joey Johnston says the Rays are one step closer to being the best story…Ever. [Tampa Tribune]
• Rob Quinn grades the Rays’ performance in the ALDS. [Examiner.com]
• Brittany Ghiroli breaks down some Rays facts and figures. [MLB]
• Before the game, BJ Upton told Cliff Floyd he could “taste it” and that he felt “good”. Floyd says Upton could be a hall of famer. [St. Pete Times]
• Nathan Haynes who played 20 games for the Rays early in the season has been granted free agency. [Baseball America]
• Dan Shaughnessy says this generation of Red Sox fans think of the postseason as a birthright, a far cry from where this franchise came from. [Boston Globe]
• Grant Balfour is getting some love down under. [Melbourne Herald-Sun]
• The Chicago Tribune says the Rays clubhouse looked like a frat party and Cliff Floyd promises that the Rays are not done. [Chicago Tribune]
• The National Post of Canada says Andrew Friedman is part of the “new generation of savvy execs.”…We can’t help but think that Friedman is in a class of his own. [National Post]
• Hmm? Yet another article breaking down how the Rays were built. [MLB]

Click on above images to be taken to full standings, box scores or schedule…

THE GOOD: According to CoolStandings.com the Rays now have a 88.5% chance of winning the ALDS. The Red Sox have a 90.6% chance of winning their series. The Red Sox have the best chance to win the World Series at 27.7% and the Rays are second at 23.9%. The Dodgers are only 20.7% to win it all even though they have already advanced to the second round. No matter who wins the ALCS and NLCS, the AL team will be a heavy favorite.

THE BAD: Dome teams are 11-27 all-time in outdoor postseason games.

THE TELLING: Game time temperatures should be around 64 with a 50% chance of showers. The good news about the weather is that there is 15 mph wind blowing in from left field which could help negate the Sox power.

DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA…

• Carlos Pena is expected back in the lineup today. [Tampa Tribune]
• We brought this up before, but expect the White Sox to try and slow the Rays down today and tomorrow with a wet track. [St. Pete Times]
• Brittany Ghiroli takes a look at how the Rays speed is giving them an advantage over the White Sox. [MLB]
• The New York Times has a nice feature story on Fernando Perez. [New York Times]
• Rob Quinn breaks down 5 areas that are key to the Rays winning in Chicago. [The Examiner]
• Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune breaks down what the White Sox need to do to win 3 in a row. [Chicago Tribune]
• According to at least one oddsmaker in Vegas, the Rays are now the favorites to win the World Series at 2-1. Not bad considering it was 100-1 in Spring Training (thanks John).
• From the 4-letter that until recently thought blogging was akin to taking a dump in the middle of the street, ESPN now has celebrity “bloggers“. Of those, is Lil’ Wayne and his prediction for World Series champs? The Rays. (Thanks Rex) [ESPN]
• Marc Lancaster spoke with Cliff Floyd. [Tampa Tribune]
• John Romano says, don’t forget about Carl Crawford. [St. Pete Times]
• Tony Fabrizio takes a look back at the turning point in Matt Garza’s season when he and Dioner Navarro came to blows in the dugout. [Tampa Tribune]
• Brant James takes a look at the controlled chaos that is Ozzie Guillen. [St. Pete Times]

Online Surveys & Market Research

THE GOOD: The White Sox this season are 5-17 in dome games, batting .233/.295/.369 in those games.

THE BAD: Having to wait until Thursday for game 1. The Rays have a strong pitching matchup in Game 1, but if that game was this afternoon, it would be a near-guaranteed win.

THE TELLING: The Rays could get lucky with the weather in games 3 and 4 (if necessary) in Chicago. Game time temps should be in the mid-60′s or even low 70s depending on start times. Certainly weather in Chicago this time of year could be much worse…According to CoolStandings.com the Rays have a 59.9% chance of winning the ALDS.

DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA…

• In case you missed it yesterday afternoon, we ran a bunch of “Webtopia” links in the evening “Happy Hour” feature. [Rays Index]
• For those that have been asking, we will bring you a Rays Index Live Blog-A-Baloo tomorrow afternoon for Game 1 of the ALDS
• The Rays still haven’t announced the rest of their postseason roster. [Tampa Tribune]
• My Fox Tampa Bay has more images of the postseason banners that went up at the Trop yesterday (thanks Rumpy). [My Fox Tampa Bay]
• Ken Rosenthal says there is no reason to start doubting the Rays, noting that the Rays offense may be peaking at the right time. He predicts Rays in 4. [Fox Sports]
• Tim Kurkjian takes a look at several questions heading into the ALDS and predicts the Rays to win in 5. [ESPN]
• Marc Topkin looks at 10 moves that turned around the Rays season. [St. Pete Times]
• Not content with just one list, Marc Topkin brings us the top 10 wins. [St. Pete Times]
• Home Run Derby says the White Sox MVP this season was the coin that won them home field advantage in the one-game playoff.
• The Phillies “Ain’t S#!t” compared to the Rays. [Bugs and Cranks]
• A Chicago sports blog breaks down the White Sox and Rays position-by-position and predicts a White Sox win in 4 games. [Top Ten Chicago Sports]
• Steven Girardi takes a look at the delicate balance between the search for civic pride in St. Pete for those that are offended by references to Tampa and the “Tampa Rays” and the need for the team to incorporate a more regional identity. [The Suncoast News]
• Of course, even though we grew up in Tampa, the headline “On To Tampa” even annoys us. It just reeks of ignorance. [The Heater]
• Joe Henderson says Cliff Floyd’s experience will be invaluable. [Tampa Tribune]

Click on above images to be taken to full standings, boxscores or schedule…

THE GOOD: The Rays have now won 4 of their last 5 versus the Red Sox…Joe Maddon. With the Rays up 8-3 in the 5th with 2 on and David Ortiz due up, Papa Joe treated the situation like it was the 8th inning, calling on Grant Balfour. Balfour got Big Papi to fly out to end the threat…Before the series we predicted that Papa Joe would find a start for Willy Aybar in this series and that it would likely be in the final game. We also figured Aybar would bat right handed as many switch-hitters prefer against a knuckle-baller. Sure enough Aybar started and homered in the bottom of the first to give the Rays lead. Fernando Perez also batted right handed and homered. Speaking of which. Perez needs to slow down his home run trot. When the camera came back to Perez after watching the ball land in the stands, Perez was already rounding third…Joe Magrane. Magrane predicted a “big night” for Gross against Tim Wakefield only moments before Gross homered…Two wins in this series against the Twins and the Rays will clinch a playoff spot.

THE BAD: David Ortiz. First home run. Fine. Second home run? We have never seen a ball hit farther at the Trop. Hit Tracker Online is a website that uses mathematical models to project how far a ball would have travelled had the path not been impeded by things like Catwalks and human bodies. They project that Ortiz’ second ball would have only travelled 428 feet. No way. That ball was 475 at least. They claim it wouldn’t have travelled as far as the Gabe Gross shot back on August 6 that did hit the back wall and was measured at 463 feet…Grant Balfour worked in parts of 3 innings, and likely will not be available for the first two games of the Twins series…Wade Boggs threw out the first pitch. Tell us again why his number is retired?

THE TELLING: The Rays have now won the season series and will have the tie-breaker should the two teams tie for the division lead at the end of the season. Last night’s win essentially knocked 3 off of the magic number to win the division which is now 9…The Rays are only 1 game behind the Angels in the loss column for the best record in the AL and home field advantage throughout the playoffs…According to Baseball Prospectus the odds of making the playoffs is now 99.99% percent, and 80.2% to win the AL East…Last night’s game was the Rays’ 6th sellout of the season…Tonight marks the return of Delmon Young to the Trop.

DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA…

• BREAKING NEWS! The Cowbell Kid called a local radio station to announce his retirement…Wow. In the middle of a pennant race? Just before the playoffs? Do you know the kind of air time that guy would have gotten on Fox during the playoffs? Color us shocked. Of course we never sat behind the Cowbell Kid during a game. If that had happened maybe our feelings would be different. [97xonline]
• Troy Percival was unavailable last night after receiving a shot for his back. Percival will require off-season back surgery, but will be available Thursday for the opening game of the Twins series. [MLB]
• Justin Ruggiano got the start last night and Brittany Ghiroli reports that Joe Maddon was rewarding the rookie for his improved approach recently. [MLB]
• Cliff Floyd says he still hasn’t decided whether or not to retire after the season, noting that at the beginning of the season he was sure 2008 would be his last season. He credits this roster with making baseball fun again and feels he does have “something left in the tank.” [Tampa Tribune]
• Wait. What is going to fly? [Tampa Tribune]
• A fan got arrested last night trying to jump over the Rays dugout and possibly onto the field (he never made it to the field). We have mixed reports as to whether or not the fan was tasered. The police say no. And surprise, surprise, it was a Red Sox fan. [The Heater]
• Gary Shelton says that Joe Maddon is “either smarter than most, luckier than most or a guy who is having the combination platter.” [St. Pete Times]
• It happens a lot. Somebody in the national media refers to the “Tampa Rays” or when referencing a home game or the Trop, they mistakenly say one or both are “in Tampa”. But the crossword puzzle editor for the St. Pete Times, an official sponsor of the Rays? Yikes. [St. Pete Times]
  
• Jayson Stark notes that dramatic wins are becoming the norm for the Rays. [ESPN]
• The Rays released their ’09 schedule. The season begins on April 6 in Boston and the home opener is April 13 against the Yankees…How sweet would it be to hand out World Series rings to all the players in front of the Yankees and their local bandwagon fans. [MLB]
• Even if the Rays want to play a series in Orlando in ’09 (and there is little indication that they do) they may not be able to unless changes are made to the schedule. [Orlando Sentinel]
• Everybody thinks they have a sense of humor…Even Red Sox fans. [Boston Score]
• There is something amusing about the idea that Tony Massarotti of the Boston Globe feels he needs 400 words to explain how tie-breakers work to Red Sox fans. [Boston Globe]

Click on above images to be taken to full standings, boxscores or schedule…

THE GOOD: The Rays still lead the Red Sox by 1 game in the loss column and the Twins by 8 games in the loss column…That translates to a 99.9% chance of making the playoffs.

THE BAD: Do people not understand that the Rays still lead the Sox by 1 in the loss column and the Twins by 8 in the loss column for the Wild Card? They must not, or we would not see headlines with the words “Collapse“, or references to the Rays’ season as “Gloomy“, or as “striking midnight“. THERE ARE ONLY 14 GAMES REMAINING! And the Twins only have 12 left. If the Twins go 12-0, the Rays still only need to finish 5-9 to force a 1-game playoff. That is because the Twins and the White Sox play each other 3 times. So even if the Twins win all three, the White Sox will have at least 69 losses (they have 60 now). 5-9 GUARANTEES AT LEAST A 1-GAME PLAYOFF.

THE TELLING: After walking the first two batters on 8 pitches Scott Kazmir gave up his first home run to a left-handed batter since 2007. Game Over.

DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA…

• BJ Upton still does not know when he will be able to return noting that when he suffered the same injury last season he was out 36 days even though he thought it would only be 5. [Tampa Tribune]
• Carl Crawford still is not close to being able to swing a bat but says his surgically repaired finger is progressing well and he hopes to be back in two weeks.” [Bradenton Herald]
• Gary Shelton says Scott Kazmir sure didn’t look like an Ace last night. [St. Pete Times]
• One of our commenters from the Blog-A-Baloo last night (Scot), was quoted today in the Providence Journal. [Providence Journal]
• Her Rays tries to divert our attention from the car wreck that is the Rays, with a picture…She is cute. [Her Rays]
• Jeff Niemann and Mitch Talbot will only be used if the Rays are beset by unforeseen circumstances, such as a starter getting knocked out early due to incompetency or injury. [St. Pete Times]
• Brittany Ghiroli reports that the Rays are still maintaining a loose atmosphere despite the recent struggles. [MLB]
• Jayson Stark says the Rays played “like a team that looked exhausted” and feels that not winning the division would be a “gigantic letdown” let down for the Rays. [ESPN]
• Stuart Sternberg is confident that attendance will pick up in 2009 noting that season ticket sales will help fill the park next coming off the winning season and business partnerships will increase during the off-season. [MLB]
• Steve Buckley of the Boston Herald wonders if Rays’ payoff games should be moved to “a place where fans actually care about the product.” [Boston Herald]
• We previously heard that Cliff Floyd was contemplating retirement after the season. Now he sounds like he has already decided to come back next season. [SI.com]

Only a few months ago, Floyd was sure that he was going to retire. Now he wants to return as a Ray. “I’m going to play,” Floyd said. “I don’t think you can break this unit up.”

• Outs Per Swing breaks down how everybody has performed since the all-star break…The are some surprising numbers. [Outs Per Swing]

THE GOOD: Something good? Something good? Guess we could say the Rays chances of making the playoffs are now 99.4% according to Baseball Prospectus and 98.4% according to CoolStandings…That’s good, right?

THE BAD: Of course what the hell does it matter if the team makes the playoffs if they are just going to be swept in 3 games when they face the Angels in the first round? Huh? Is that what we want? To go into the playoffs and just prove on the friggin’ national stage that the Rays are still the Devil Rays and shouldn’t be playing with the “Big Boys”. If this doesn’t turn around, this is going to get ugly…We picked a bad week to quit drinking whiskey…BJ Upton left the game in the 5th after straining his left quad while running (hard) to first base…The home run Edwin Jackson gave up in the first inning landed an hour earlier than the time it left the bat…With Jonathan Papalbon called on with 2 men on base and 2 outs in the 8th, Joe Maddon decided not to pinch hit for Rocco Baldelli. It was not like he was calling on Ben Zobrist or John Jaso. He had Cliff Floyd on the bench. We haven’t gone through the at bats, but how many times has Rocco faced a 98-mph heater in the last 2 years? Once? None? And Rocco hadn’t touched a pitch all night, and Papa Joe “felt good” about Rocco in that situation? Floyd would have been better prepared. And he had the match-up advantage being a lefty. $#%@#!!!!

THE TELLING: The Rays haven’t scored a run since the Truman administration.

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

• Juan Salas suffered an epileptic seizure prior to last night’s game and was taken to a Boston hosptal. This is apparently not the first time this has happened to Salas and the Rays say he should be fine. [Rays Report]
• Evan Longoria was available to pinch-hit last night, and we assume that will be the same tonight and tomorrow. [St. Pete Times]
• Marc Lancaster says BJ Upton actually injured his quad while running (hard) after a flyball in the first inning, and won’t be back until the weekend series. Joe Maddon said he will talk to Andrew Friedman about adding a player from Durham, possibly Jonny Gomes or Elliot Johnson…Did we mention that Upton was injured while running hard? It’s true. [Rays Report]
• Cliff Floyd called a players-only team meeting prior to the game yesterday. Marc Lancaster says the meeting was “productive”…How productive could it have been. The Rays scored ZERO RUNS. [Tampa Tribune]
• John Romano is preaching to the choir, but at least somebody isn’t afraid to say it…Translation: the Rays are pissing away the division. [St. Pete Times]

But there is considerable shame in the way the Rays are allowing this to happen…No matter how you frame it, the Rays are giving the division away. For five months, they were the best team in baseball, and they have allowed much of that prestige to unravel in eight September days…Trust me, this is not a question of semantics. It matters whether the Red Sox take the division, or the Rays surrender it. And, as of this morning, the white flag is halfway up the pole.

• Peter Gammons reports that Jeff Niemann has been so impressive recently that he “will definitely fit into the Tampa bullpen this month.” Also, Andrew Friedman makes it sound like the Rays will not promote David Price…This would not surprise us at all. Also, we will reiterate what we have said before: If the Rays can clinch early, Niemann will make at least one start and possibly two, to give the regular starters a chance for a couple of extra days rest. [ESPN]

“We don’t want people getting ahead of themselves, anointing [David Price] a savior and putting undo pressure on a kid in his first full professional season.”–Andrew Friedman

• Matt Wieters was named the “Minor League Player of Year” by Baseball America. This is different from the USA Today player of the year award, for which David Price is a finalist. [Baseball America]

THE GOOD: Andy Sonnanstine. All The Duke does is win, improving to 13-6 on the season. Show of hands: Who thought Sonny would be leading the Rays in wins in the middle of August? Put your damn hands down. Of course, Duke did his best Scott Kazmir impersonation last night, lasting only one out into the 6th inning and needing 104 pitches to get there…Joe Maddon’s use of Trever Miller. Miller was signed to be 1 or 2 batter per game lefty specialist. In his first 52 appearances this season, Miller faced more than 2 batters 26 times. That is not necessarily Papa Joe’s fault. Injuries have forced him to alter his ideal bullpen. But in the last two games, Miller has faced 3 batters, including his 1 out performance last night, coming on getting the all-important leadoff hitter in the 8th inning…With Jason Hammel doing his best job trying to give us a heart attack, Jason Bartlett started a georgeous double-play, going up the middle behind the bag and back-handing the ball to Aki Iwamura who stepped back out of the path of the runner and fired a one-hopper to Carlos Pena who made a slick scoop to end the inning and the threat, preserving a 5-4 lead…Sac Bunts and ignoring signs. The Rays are last in baseball in sac bunts, yet, with a 5-4 lead in the 8th and Justin Ruggiano on first and no outs, Dioner Navarro bunted Ruggy to second. Gabe Gross followed with a single in which Ruggiano ran through Tom Foley’s stop sign to score the Rays’ 6th run and give the Rays a little breathing room.

THE BAD: There was a big difference between BJ Upton’s baserunning gaffe last night and the incidents that led to his benching this past weekend. Upton who hit what should have been an easy double, got caught jogging into an uncovered second base, when Mark Teixeira came from behind to field a throw and tag Upton out. According to Joe Maddon (and we agree), this was “not a lack of effort.” Rather it was “a mental mistake.” That doesn’t make it OK, but does explain why Upton will not be disciplined…Our stress level. Jason Hammel relieved Trever Miller with 1 out and nobody on in the 8th inning with the Rays nursing a 5-4 lead. Hammel walked the first batter and then settled down to retire the next 2 to get out of the inning. But, just seeing Hammel in that situation gives us agida. And he needed the double-play to survive. It has been a while since we needed to take Papa Joe Behind the woodshed, but if Hammel blows that lead…

THE TELLING: With 4 teams still in contention for 3 playoff spots, the Rays now have a 6-game cushion over the 4th team, the Twins. The Rays magic number for the playoffs is 33. The Rays are also now only 1 game back in the loss column behind the Angels for the best record in baseball.

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

• As of last night, the Rays are planning on playing tonight’s game, but are obviously monitoring the situation with Tropical Storm Fay very closely. [The Heater]
• Cliff Floyd said that BJ Upton’s baserunning brainfart made “his heart hurt,” and added that Joe Maddon doesn’t need to address the situation because the players will take care of it. [MLB]

“You’ve got a guy who, in my opinion, is going to be different,” Floyd said. “I’m going to put my butt on the line by saying that. I’m going to do everything possible, and I think everybody in here is going to do everything possible to make sure it don’t happen again. It’s not in Joe’s hands anymore. It’s not in anybody else’s hands but ours as players.”

• Troy Percival will not need arthroscopic surgery on his knee. Even without the surgery, he is still scheduled to be out 2-4 weeks. [Rays Report]
• Tony Massarotti of the Boston Herald calls the Red Sox a “mystery”, saying that “suddenly, [the postseason] doesn’t seem so certain,” and that we “don’t know a thing about these Red Sox yet.” [Boston Herald]
• Brittany Ghiroli reports that Evan Longoria is progressing well and is still on schedule to return to the Rays on or around Sept. 1. [MLB]
• Al Reyes has cleared waivers and declined a minor league assignment. He is now a free agent. [The Heater]
• Rocco Baldelli who played the field in 2 of his first 3 games, said it was not easy on his body. [MLB]

“It was something I hadn’t done yet. It was difficult, not going to say it was easy, but I came out of it feeling good.”

• The Rays make a return appearance at The Dugout with Barry Bonds trying to convince Joe Maddon to give him a job, any job. [Fanhouse]
  
• Her Rays thinks Grant Balfour may need to visit the same psychologist that helped Matt Garza. [Her Rays]
• The odds of the Rays winning the World Series has dropped from 65:1 in the spring to 3:1 now. [Gambling911]

THE GOOD: Cliff Floyd’s knees. Somehow Floyd’s legs were still intact after the game, despite having to run the bases a whopping 5 times. Twice Floyd had to score all the way from first base on extra-base hits by Willy Aybar. Floyd scored 4 runs in total.

THE BAD: James Shields. Shields walked a season-high 5 batters in only 5 innings…The Bullpen. No they were actually pretty good yesterday. Even though Grant Balfour blew the save after relieving the injured Troy Percival, as a group they only allowed 2 runs (1 earned) in 7 innings. However, Joe Maddon had to use his entire bullpen, all 7 relief pitchers, to get through the extra-inning affair. And while they performed well, some will be tired tonight in Texas and some may be unavailable. That puts a lot of pressure on Matt Garza tonight to work deep into the game…BJ Upton’s absolute lack of any baseball instincts on the basepaths. In the first inning, with Upton on first, Carlos Pena flied out to deep right-center. Upton thought the ball would drop and took off, rounding second on his way to third. When he realized the ball was caught, he ran straight back to first base without even pretending to touch second base on the way. Upton was doubled-up on the appeal.

THE TELLING: Paul Byrd will make his Red Sox debut tonight. They might score 19 runs and win, but it won’t be because of Byrd.

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

• Troy Percival was once again injured during a play. This time he fielded a sac bunt and rather than flip it first base for the out, he instead chased the runner into foul territory, spraining his knee. Marc Topkin reported Percival was on crutches last night and is likely headed to the DL after further evaluation today. [The Heater]
• Carl Crawford had sugery on his injured finger yesterday and it “went well”. [MLB]
• MLBTradeRumors takes a look at some of the waiver-wire possibilities for the Rays. Does Rich Aurelia get anybody excited? [MLBTradeRumors]
• Looks like the Pirates might not be able to sign Pedro Alvarez prior to Friday’s deadline. If that happens, there won’t be any second-guessing on the Rays’ selection of Tim Beckham. The sticking point appears to be a spot on the 40-man roster, which of course would move Alvarez closer to the majors and free agency. [MLBTradeRumors]
• This should about seal the Mets fate…And by fate we of course mean death. [MetsBlog]
• Bob Nightengale agrees with us that the Yankees are roadkill…OK. Not the word he used, but close enough. [USA Today]

Oakland 2, Tampa Bay Rays 1. (Sorry. The standings/schedule widget called in sick today. Should be back tomorrow)

THE GOOD: Scott Kazmir. We really don’t want to put Kaz here, but we are trying to find something positive from last night. Anything. And Kid K has been so bad, that last night actually seemed pretty good. But SWEET FANCY MOSES! How in the H-E-DOUBLE HOCKEY STICKS does a “good” starting pitcher last only 5 innings when he only gave up 2 hits and 2 walks? He actually had three 1-2-3 innings, allowing only 5 baserunners, and yet he still needed 97 pitches. That doesn’t even make sense.

THE BAD: That was as pathetic a loss as we have seen all year. Did the Rays play a throwback game without telling anybody? Give those guys some green unis and we’d swear that was the ’02 Devil Rays. The Rays absolutely looked and played like a little league team last night. Exhibit A: Top of the 5th, the Rays have runners on first and second with no outs, down 2-1. Ben Zobrist makes the first out on what we assume was a safety squeeze. It was difficult to tell for sure. If it was a suicide squeeze, he took off too late. If it was a safety squeeze he took off too soon. If it was neither, Akinori Iwamura is an idiot. With Jason Bartlett now on second base, he was picked off for the second out. Mercilessly killing the rally. Exhibit B: Top of the 8th, 1 out, Willy Aybar on first base. Eric Hinske hits a lazy flyball to left field. Not good, but not terrible. Ahhh, but Aybar, who is now apparently so paranoid about not running hard, took off sprinting, rounding second and on his way to third. He was easily doubled-up, forgetting the number of outs. Exhibit C: The Rays were 2-11 with runners in scoring position, with 3 Ks.

THE TELLING: Gary Sheffield and Barry Bonds. Now that Carl Crawford will likely miss the rest of the regular season, we are more luke-warm to the idea of Bonds playing for the Rays, but we still put the chances of actually happening somewhere south of 1%. The other name making the circles now is Sheffield, who was placed on waivers by the Tigers. It would be very unlikely for the Rays to put in a claim on Sheffield, even if they would like to work out a trade. The risk for the Rays is for the Tigers to not pull Sheffield back from waivers. There is a good chance the Tigers would just let the Rays take Sheffield and his ’09 salary of $14MM without asking for anything in return. If we were still in July, the Rays could work a trade in which the Tigers pay a good chunk of that salary….The Red Sox traded for veteran Paul Byrd, adding to an already deep pitching staff…

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

• Carl Crawford has elected to have surgery on his finger and will be sidelined 6-8 weeks. There are 6.5 weeks remaining in the regular season. Andrew Friedman said if everything went well, he could play again in the regular season…It sounds like there is a good chance CC would be available should the Rays make the playoffs. [Tampa Tribune]
• The Rays are now hoping that Jason Bartlett, one of the weakest hitting DH’s in baseball history, will be able to play SS this Friday. The Rays are also hoping that Evan Longoria, who did not have a broken wrist, but actually did, will be back in the lineup on Sept 1. [MLB]

When asked if Sept. 1 seemed like a reasonable projection for Longoria’s return, Friedman answered: “Yeah, that seems reasonable. We’ll re-X-ray it and go through that process again. I think it’s very reasonable as we’re sitting here today. But as everybody knows, bones heal at different paces, and it’s too hard to say definitively at this point.”

• Joe Maddon plans to use Justin Ruggiano (LF) and Rocco Baldelli (RF) against lefties while Eric Hinske and Gabe Gross will play against righties. Papa Joe also said Willy Aybar will be at 3B most days, but we can also expect to see Ben Zobrist and/or Eric Hinske at the hot corner. [St. Pete Times]
• Cliff Floyd says the biggest concern with all the injuries is the danger of the rest of the players trying to do too much. [Tampa Tribune]

“I just hope we don’t all try to jump on that ship and go, ‘It’s me – let me be the man to take over,’” said Floyd. “No. Let’s just stay within ourselves like we are and just keep it chill on the field…We all know how important those guys were. I mean, hell, you ain’t going to replace them, no matter who you bring up or who you get, unless you go out and get one of the best players of the game. And you’re still not replacing them because those guys are part of this team.”

• Andy Sonnanstine, who grew a beard in support of Rocco Baldelli, is now clean-shaven, as is Rocco, now that Rocco has finally returned to the roster…While Rocco’s “Lumberjack” look will be missed, The Duke’s fuzz will not. [Bradenton Herald]
• Marc Lancaster agrees that Gary Sheffield does not seem like a good fit for the Rays. [Rays Report]

THE GOOD: The loss of Carl Crawford and Evan Longoria to the DL was relieved a little on Sunday when Rocco Baldelli was activated from the DL and made the start in right field. He played the first 5 innings, before being replaced by Gabe Gross. It was Rocco’s first game since May of ’07 and he drove in a run, going 1-4…The Rays now have a 95.9% chance of making the playoffs. That is a big number folks. At the other end of the spectrum, the Yankees now have a 6.0% chance at a playoff slot. They have dropped 13.7% in the past week. We love a world in which the Rays are in the playoffs and the Yankees are not.

THE BAD: A Monday without “The Hangover”. You can file your complaints at JetBlue.com.

THE TELLING: Willy Aybar will be the starting third baseman tonight and Justin Ruggiano will get the start in left…Sunday’s win, the Rays’ 71st of the season, set the franchise record for wins in a season…The Rays magic number to clinch a playoff berth is 40.

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

• Carl Crawford, placed on the DL this weekend with an injured finger, had his finger examined by a hand-specialist. The Rays are expected to know more today. There are some concerns that he could be lost for the rest of the season. [MLB]
• Evan Longoria was placed on the DL with a broken wrist after being hit bay a pitch last week. Initial x-rays were negative. A second-opinion revealed the break. He is expected to be out 2-3 weeks. [MLB]
• Scott Kazmir made an adjustment to his mechanics that he hopes will help with his delivery tonight. [St. Pete Times]
• The injuries to Carl Crawford and Evan Longoria certainly pose a challenge for the Rays, but trips to the DL are nothing knew for this squad and Andrew Friedman notes that the Rays did not get where they are this season because of any one player. [Bradenton Herald]
• Martin Fennelly has a column about how tough the loss of Carl Crawford and Evan Longoria is going to be on the Rays…Does anybody else have a tough time reading Fennelly when he writes a column with 25 1-sentence paragraphs? We always get flashbacks to 9th grade English and bad poetry. [Tampa Tribune]
• Last month David Ortiz predicted that the Rays lack of experience would catch up to them. This month he is singing a different tune. [Boston Herald]
• Marc Topkin feels that a decision has already been made for David Price to be promoted to the Rays at some point this season. The question now is only whether he will be a starter or a reliever. Topkin notes that if Price is used as a starter (Price’s preference) it could anger players in the clubhouse if Edwin Jackson or Andy Sonnanstine need to be bumped from the rotation. [St. Pete Times]
• Larry Stone of the Seattle Times compares the ’08 Rays to several other teams that enjoyed sudden success after years of losing. [Seattle Times]
• Chad Bradford finally arrived to the Rays clubhouse in Seattle on Saturday afternoon after a whirlwind few days of cross-country flights. [Tampa Tribune]
• Joe Maddon speaks about altering his approach this season to how he handles his players both behind the scenes and in the public eye. He notes that this year the team is in a position where he can make a difference with a more critical, disciplined approach. [Tampa Tribune]
• A blogger interviews Cliff Floyd. [Eli's MLB Rumors]
• Baseball Digest Daily calls the Rays one of “10 Things To Watch for the Remainder of the 2008 MLB Season.” They are the only team on the list. [Baseball Digest Daily]
• Marc Topkin has some notes about the ’09 schedule (opening day, interleague, etc.). [St. Pete Times]
• Mike Francesa of “Mike and the Mad Dog” in New York City, has been dismissive of the Rays all season, saying that he wouldn’t acknowledge the Rays until August. One blogger wonders why Mike is still not talking about the Rays. [Mike and the Mad Blog]
• Brittany Ghiroli tells how Grant Balfour only stumbled upon baseball as a child in Australia and says his fire and emotion come from his homeland and his father. [MLB]