THE GOOD: Carlos Pena continues his torrid pace, hitting another home run, his 25th and 10th in last 22 games…BJ Upton returned to the lineup and took out his frustrations on the Rangers, hitting a line drive double down the left field line and following later with a home run to right-center. It was only his 2nd HR since the All-Star break. He drove in 3…Winning series. After getting shutout on Saturday by the worst pitching staff in baseball, the Rays bounced back to take the rubber-match. The Rays are now 8-0-1 in series since the All-Star break and have stretched their lead in the East to 5 games in the all-important loss column. Remember, the Rays were a half-game behind the Red Sox at the All-Star break. So, while everybody has been predicting the imminent doom of the Rays, they have actually played 5 games better than the Sox in the last 29 games…Winning on the road. The Rays just finished their longest road trip of the year at 7-3 and are now 11-6 on the road since the All-Star break after finishing the first-half at 19-25 away from the Trop.

THE BAD: Unlike the rest of the league, the Rangers schedule Sunday home games at night, due to the unbearable heat of Texas in the Summer. But ironically, the high yesterday was only 88. But thanks to the scheduling, the Rays likely did not get home until about 5am…The Red Sox are on the road for the next 9 games, but unfortunately, they get the Orioles starting today, while the Rays must take on the best team in the AL.

THE BAT-SHIT CRAZY: Joe Maddon deciding to walk Josh Hamilton with the bases loaded in the 9th inning. It was good because it worked. Dan Wheeler got Marlon Byrd to strike out. It was bad, because it brought the winning run to the plate in the form of a player that had just hit a walk-off grand slam against the Yankees two weeks ago. It was bat-shit crazy, because it was only the second time in 60+ years that a player had been intentionally walked with the bases loaded. Not to mention, for about 0.04 seconds we thought Grant Balfour was going to go kangaroo on Papa Joe when Maddon came out to the mound following the walk.

THE TELLING: Juan Salas looks like he ate Troy Percival…Juan Salas is now the only member of the 2007 opening day bullpen that is still with the organization…BJ Upton was back in the lineup, and batted leadoff with Aki Iwamura getting a day off…Was anybody else worried about the safety of inanimate objects in the clubhouse after Joe Maddon pulled Grant Balfour?…The Rays now have a 96.6% chance of making the playoffs according to Baseball Prospectus, with a 74.0% chance of winning the division…Don’t look now, but the Rays are only 1.5 games behind the Angels for the best record in the AL…The Rays magic number for the playoffs is now 35 with the Red Sox, White Sox and Twins all sharing the same number of losses…

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

• We had the honor of writing a “Rest of the Season” preview for the Rays at The Hardball Times…Most of the thoughts have been seen here previously, and it is a bit more long-winded than you guys are used to, but if you ever have a desire to see what Rays Index on amphetamines would look like, head on over. [The Hardball Times]
• So this is what BJ Upton apologists have turned to? They are sitting at home timing Rays batters to first base. We assume they are trying to show that Upton is not the only player that doesn’t hustle. Seriously. We can’t make this shit up. [DRays Bay]
• Troy Percival says his knee is feeling much better and he may not need the arthroscopic surgery originally scheduled. If this is the case, he could be back sooner than previously thought. [MLB]
• Marc Topkin does a nice job of breaking down the Rays and their remaining schedule. [St. Pete Times]
• Rake Blog wonders if the Rays should trade Carl Crawford this off-season, noting that CC may have a perceived value that is much higher than his actual value. [Rake Blog]
• The Rays say that today’s game will be played, but tomorrow’s contest is “in doubt”, due to Tropical Storm Fay. [The Heater]
• Gary Glover has landed a major league job with the Tigers. [Detroit Free-Press]
• The Rays are only the 4th team in MLB history with 5 starters 26 or younger with at least 20 starts. [Bradenton Herald]
• Bill Chuck agrees with us…The Yankees are roadkill. [Fox Sports]

THE GOOD: The offense. It was only 5 runs, but we are starting to see signs of the bats coming out of their funk. Carlos Pena homered. Again. His 5th in 14 games since the all-star break. Carl Crawford tripled. Again. His 5th in 6 games. Evan Longoria homered. Again. His 20th and 4th since the all-star break…The bullpen. Knowing early on that the bullpen was going to work overtime, 4 relievers combined to throw 4.1 shutout innings, allowing only 1 basehit.

THE BAD: Scott Kazmir. 4 walks in the first, including one with the bases loaded and 6 overall, led to Kaz being pulled without even completing the 5th inning after 110 pitches. It was Kazmir at his stereotypical worst…Scott Kazmir’s shoes? HERE is a picture of Kazmir’s shoes last night. And HERE is a photo of Kazmir’s shoes from his July 21st start (we could not find a photo of his July 26th start). Are those the same shoes? They are clearly a different color, but are they different models. We ask because Kazmir seemed to really struggle last night with his “landing” foot. Kazmir repeatedly would look down at where his lead foot would land on the mound. Did Dwayne Staats or Joe Magrane say anything about Kazmir struggling with new shoes? It did not appear to be a problem with the mound or Kazmir would have brought the groundcrew out to fix it. It would not surprise us to see Kid K come out in his next start with the old model.

THE TELLING: Jim Leyland of the Tigers thought that Miguel Cabrera’s RBI triple in the 3rd should have been ruled a home run feeling that the ball hit the catwalk. BJ Upton disagreed…The Rays picked up another game on the suposedly superior Yankees.

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

• There was some confusion over the status of Jonny Gomes. In yesterday’s “Pepper” segment, we said Gomes would be DFA’d if Rocco Baldelli is activated. The feeling was Gomes is out of minor league options. This was verified by somebody close to the team…However, Gomes was only in the minors for 16 days in ’07. A player must be in the minors for 20 days to count as an optional assignment. We double-checked with the Rays and sure enough Gomes does have an option remaining. Our bad. We blame Mrs. Professor. This is one of the more confusing aspects of baseball transactions. Last season, the Rays optioned Seth McClung to the minors at the end of spring training after his agent told him the Rays were out of options.
• Marc Lancaster originally thought Rocco Baldelli could be activated today, but is now reporting that Rocco will be “run through various baseball drills during the weekend” to see how he responds. Lancaster then says that Rocco could be activated at some point during this homestand. [Tampa Tribune]
• The Gary Glover era is over in Tampa Bay. After being DFA’d, Glover has cleared waivers and declined an assignment to the minors, instead choosing to become a free agent…Settle down, settle down. Yes, we are excited also. [MLB]
• Finally somebody that does not label the Rays “losers” at the trade deadline. [Seamheads]

Just the links today…

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

• Gary Glover was designated for assignment. The Rays have 10 days to try and trade him. If not, they can then try to send him to the minors, but he must clear waivers and Glover can choose to refuse the assignment and become a free agent. Joe Maddon said the preference is to keep Glover in the organization. [Tampa Tribune]
  
• Joe Maddon remained positive after the Rays latest offensive implosion. [Tampa Tribune]
• Outs Per Swing again has all of the trade rumors…One thing to keep in mind. When you hear most of these names being linked to the Rays, the situation is most likely one in which the Rays are making their interest known…BUT, they are not going to get into a bidding war for any of these guys. The Rays’ hope is that other teams find different options or balk at the asking price and turn their attention elsewhere. The only way the Rays are going to find a price they like is if the other teams are no longer interested. At that point, the Rays will move in and make what they consider a fair deal. [Outs Per Swing]
• Sean McAdam believes that any trades made this week could decide who wins the AL East. [The Providence Journal]

THE GOOD: Got nothin’

THE BAD: Using the batting practice jerseys during a game. We have made our feelings known about this in the past. And we are not the only ones that hate the idea…Yet another GIDP for Carl Crawford…Anytime Jason Hammel is in a game. Not just because it is Hammel, but because he is like the Grim Reaper of the Rays. He only comes into games when death is imminent.

THE TELLING: Got Nothin’

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

• Gary Glover is ready to come off the DL, but did not go with the team to Toronto, even though he was in Kansas City. Marc Lancaster feels that this is a sign that Glover will be Designated for Assignment in the next day or two. That means the Rays will have 10 days to trade him. If they don’t, the Rays will release him or try to send him to Durham. He can then opt to become a free agent. [Rays Report]
• Following Saturday’s game in which Aki Iwamura failed to score from first on a 2-out bloop double, Joe Maddon ripped into the team, with one player describing him as “borderline irate”. [St. Pete Times]
  
• Joe Maddon made it clear that Troy Percival is the Rays’ closer…The quote below is exactly why we believe that Percival should give up the 9th inning, if just for a week or two. If his mechanics are not 100%, we do not understand why Percival is closing games. [MLB]

“His arm feels good, but I still think he’s working his way through the body mechanics of coming off a leg injury,” Maddon said. “As he becomes more comfortable with that, I think you’ll see more strikes on a more consistent basis.”

• Troy Percival is not the only reliever struggling recently. Add Al Reyes to that list. [Tampa Tribune]
• Well, the Rays are still in first place, but (no surprise here) they are not getting any respect. The New York Post says that the weekend series between the Yankees and the Red Sox apparently proves that the Rays will be the team without a chair when the music stops at the end of September. [New York Post]
• As the Rays head to Toronto, Joe Maddon says their last game above the border was the day the Rays proved they were a playoff contender. [Bradenton Herald]

“That night meant a lot to me because we could easily have caved in,” Maddon said. “We could have caved in the ninth, and we did not. We came back. And when you’re on the road playing so many extra innings you have so many ways in which you can lose that game, and we did not. We had the mental resolve to battle through that.”

• The Ledger takes a look at the unorthodox style of Joe Maddon. [Lakeland Ledger]

THE GOOD: The Red Sox were swept in Anaheim by the Angels, maintaining the Rays 1.5 game lead in the AL East.

THE BAD: The Yankees swept the A’s. We suppose the good news there is that the Rays now have one less enemy in the wild card hunt. After trading two starting pitchers the A’s are now 5 back of the Sox and 6.5 behind the Rays. However, the Yankees are now only 3 back in the wild card and only 4.5 behind the Rays.

THE TELLING: BJ Upton was back in the 2-hole yesterday, one day after being dropped to the 7th spot in the rotation.

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

• Sad news for those of you still holding out hope that Gary Glover would be desginated for assignment…Troy Percival was activated from the DL and Glover was added to the DL with a sore calf. Percy pitched the 9th inning yesterday, striking out 1 and allowing only 1 hit. [Tampa Tribune]
• Troy Percival has been talking to Grant Balfour about what it takes to be a big league closer. [St. Pete Times]
• Martin Fennelly breaks down all the reasons the Rays can and can’t make the playoffs this season. [Tampa Tribune]
• Jonny Gomes who started yesterday is also expected to start all three games in the series that starts today with the A’s as Oakland will start three lefties. [MLB]

THE GOOD: After Friday and Saturday wins, the Rays were playing with house-money. Winning series is the key, especially on the road and that is what the Rays did.

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 2-run 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. 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. 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 hot-head, 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…The Rays have a 3 game lead in the AL Wild Card over the Oakland A’s with a magic number of 97…

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

• Don’t forget to VOTE for Carl Crawford to start the all-star game. If you haven’t voted yet today, go NOW! [MLB All-Star Voting]
• When Troy Percival returns from the DL at the end of the week, the Rays will most likely lose a reliever. Grant Balfour, Jason Hammel and Gary Glover are all out of options and one will have to be DFA’d. [MLB]
• The Herald-Tribune wonders if the Rays have surpassed the Bucs as the darlings of the Tampa Bay area…There is much to love about the Rays and the Bucs seem to be spinning their wheels a bit right now, but one thing they did not consider: Florida is football country. And the Bucs gave us a Super Bowl. It has been said that there is a 5-year grace period after a team wins a Super Bowl before fans are allowed to be truly angry at a franchise. This will be year six. Maybe the Herald-Tribune is starting the transition early. [Herald-Tribune]
• The Rays drafted the fewest number of small college players in the draft, one. Other teams drafted as many as 9. [Beyond the Boxscore]

THE GOOD: Jason Bartlett stole 3 bases, including 3rd base twice…BJ Upton threw a runner out at third base on the fly…

THE BAD: The Golden Sombrero for Jonny Gomes…Edwin Jackson being Edwin. After 27 pitches in the 2nd inning we knew it was going to be a long night…Rays batters had 11 strikeouts and only 2 walks…Carlos Pena and Evan Longoria combined for 9 runners left on base…Aki Iwamura just missed tying the game in the 5th when a drive down the leftfield line was foul by less than a foot. Jason Bartlett would end up stranded at 3rd.

THE TELLING: In the 6th inning, they zoomed in on Jason Hammel as he scurried to get loose quickly. You can just read the expression on his face, “God, I hate this shit”…Jonny Gomes got the start in right field against the left-handed pitcher, while Willy Aybar got the start at DH.

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

• Don’t forget to VOTE for Carl Crawford to start the all-star game. If you haven’t voted yet today, go NOW! [MLB All-Star Voting]
• Was Troy Percival cursed by The Sporting News? [Babes Love Baseball]
• Troy Percival’s injury is not serious, but not surprisingly, he is being given a 2-week break in the form of a trip to the DL to make sure he is 100% when he returns. Willy Aybar was called up to take Percival’s spot on the roster. After the game, Ben Zobrist was demoted and replaced by Grant Balfour…As we have said before, demoting Zobrist is certainly only a temporary move, until a better solution presents itself. We can’t imagine that Joe Maddon wants to go too deep into the season with Evan Longoria as his backup shortstop. Or maybe he likes having 1 shortstop on the roster and 4 guys that can play right field. [The Heater]
• Joe Maddon will go with closer-by-committe for the next two weeks…Of course, let’s hope he was just being kind when he included Gary Glover’s name in that group. [Tampa Tribune]
• Richard Justice says what we have been screaming for a long time. Be patient. The fans in the Tampa-St. Pete area deserve the benefit of the doubt and it is way too early to be screaming about low attendance. And a big part of this is that baseball owes Florida because they used the state for so long. Many teams used the state of Florida as a bargaining chip in their quest to get public funding for their own stadiums. [The Sporting News]
• Rocco Baldelli got some hacks in an extended spring training game as a DH. He went 1-5. [The Heater]
• There is a new blog in the area and with their first post, they take a look at the Rays why the best is yet to come. [The Emerging Voice on Sports and More]
• Gary Thorne says that Don Zimmer and his experience are a very valuable piece for the young Rays roster. [USA Today]

THE GOOD: The Tampa Bay Rays have the best record in baseball and Scott Kazmir is just getting warmed up. Last night, the game was over in the first inning. He struck out all three batters in the first inning, with 2 coming on sliders in the dirt. He was also consistently hitting 93-94 on the gun with his fastball. He had 7 Ks in the first 3 innings, and 9 after 5. He would finish with 10 in 7 innings of work, with no walks…The Catwalks. Nobody loves those catwalks more than Carlos Pena who hit another one last night for a double on what would have been a routine flyball…Evan Longoria made yet another diving stop on a ground ball and kept the leadoff hitter off base in a one-run game in the 4th…Dioner Navarro helped kill a rally in the 6th with a perfect throw to third base to gun down a would-be base stealer.

THE BAD: Gary Glover. Can somebody gives us a good reason why a pitcher with 11 walks to only 10 strikeouts and 27 baserunners in 14.1 innings, still has a job? Is there one good reason why Glover is still in the bullpen and Grant Balfour, who is tearing up AAA, is not? Or better yet, is there a good reason Glover is still in the bullpen and Jeff Niemann is not? Nobody can tell us that the Rays’ bullpen, although great so far, wouldn’t be better with Niemann in place of Glover. Clearly, nobody in the rotation is going to pitch themselves out of a job anytime soon and if somebody gets hurt, the Rays then could go with Jason Hammel or JK Ryu or JP Howell or Ben Hendrickson. And if it were to be a long-term injury, they could just re-stretch out Niemann and go that route…Cliff Floyd beat out an infiield single in the 5th inning, and our knees started hurting just watching him run to first base…

THE TELLING: Scott Kazmir is 5-6 mph from possibly becoming the best pitcher in baseball. No. We are not talking about a 99 mph fastball, although that would certainly help. On his good days, Kid K’s fastball sits about 93-94. Ideally, a pitcher’s changeup would be thrown 8-9 mph slower. Kazmir’s change is usually 78-79, for a difference of 14-16 mph. It would be a much more effective pitch if he was throwing it 84-85. Compare to James Shields who throws a 91-92 mph fastball and an 82-83 mph changeup. That is a difference of 8-10 mph. Perfect. And one reason he has one of the most dominating changeups in baseball. Kaz throws a harder fastball, but a slower changup. The problem with throwing a changeup too slow, as Kazmir does, is that it gives the batters a chance to reload even if they are fooled. With a difference of 14-15 mph, it is much easier for the batter to recognize that the pitch is not a fastball and lay off if they are geared for the hard stuff. If Kazmir could find a couple of extra inches on his changeup, he would then have three plus-pitches, and the power of Grayskull would be his…

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

• Don’t forget to VOTE for Carl Crawford to start the all-star game. If you haven’t voted yet today, go NOW! [MLB All-Star Voting]
• This week’s Rays Index Live Blog-A-Baloo will be held tomorrow afternoon for the final game of the Rangers series. Seeing as how we are in Texas this week, the game will be an AM start for us. That means live blogging and drinking while still in our PJs. Yummy!
• Marc Lancaster suggests that Willy Aybar may be the player that is without a job when he is ready to return from the DL. Ben Zobrist and Shawn Riggans’ jobs are safe. That means the final two bench spots go to Gabe Gross, Eric Hinske and Aybar. With Aybar’s better defense and OPS and the ability to also play second base, we have been speculating that Andrew Friedman would try and trade Hinske. Lancaster suggests that Aybar’s inability to play the outfield gives Hinske the edge. Of course the Rays do have Jonny Gomes and Zobrist, who got work in the OF in spring training, as backup outfielders. We are not sure how many backup OF the Rays need. [Tampa Tribune]
• Joe Maddon wants to start giving his starters regular days off so that the linup is fresh down the stretch. He specifically mentioned BJ Upton, who seemed to tire down the stretch last season and Dioner Navarro who has had a few passed balls recently. [MLB]

“Because I do believe this, I believe you have to rest your guys during the season,” Maddon said. “You have to. It’s a long year and you want to play well in September. If you play well in September you’ll do fine in October. You’ve got to keep them fresh for that good September. … You just have to rest people at the right time and you’ve got to keep an eye on them. And it does matter at the end of the season.”

• Baseball Musings takes a look at the Rays and Red Sox and compares their home/road splits. [Baseball Musings]
  
• DRays Bay takes a look at BJ Upton’s lack of power and wonders if we should be concerned…The Rays are in first place in the AL East and have the best record in baseball and Upton is only 23. He’ll be fine, and we don’t need to worry. [DRays Bay]

THE GOOD: We know the numbers and we know there are other players that need playing time, but we hope that it kills Papa Joe Maddon to keep Jonny Gomes on the bench when he does. The first run of the game was all-Gomes. Started with a single, after which he stole second off of a lefty and then scored on a 2-out single by Dioner Navarro. He would later steal third base just before scoring on Jason Bartlett’s triple and moved to third in the 7th inning on a pitch in the dirt that barely got away from the catcher. He would score during that at bat on a ground out…Speaking of Jason Bartlett’s triple, how often are you happy when a player can’t get a bunt down? Bartlett appeared to be attempting a safety-squeeze in the 4th, fouling off one attempt and pulling back on the second pitch. He would then hit a triple to left-center that would score 2….A solid game from Evan Longoria. The opposite field double off the top of the wall in the 4th was a good sign as it was only his 3rd hit this season off a lefty. He also started a huge double play in the top of the 6th to quell a Yankees rally that had 2 runners on with only 1 out. Dirtbag gets rid of the ball faster than any third baseman we ever remember and his throws to second base are pinpoint.

THE BAD: Knowing that Jonny Gomes has to sit against righties. We understand. But we don’t like it.

THE TELLING: Cliff Floyd sat against the lefty while Jonny Gomes got the start at DH and Eric Hinske got the start in right…The Rays will have to earn tonight’s victory. Edwin Jackson takes the mound for the Rays while the Yankees will counter with their Ace, Chien-Ming Wang…The Rays remain 1 game up in the loss column over the Angels in the Wild Card standings. The Rays are 3 games up on the next teams, Baltimore and Cleveland.

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

• Don’t forget to VOTE for Carl Crawford to start the all-star game. If you haven’t voted yet today, go NOW! For those that haven’t done it yet, once you have voted for the first time, it takes a matter of seconds to vote a second time. The ballot stores all your info. So you have ZERO excuses. C’mon, let’s make sure C.C. is in NYC in ’08. VOTE OR DIE! [MLB All-Star Voting]
• We will have the Rays Index Live Blog-A-Baloo on Wednesday night for game 3 of the Yankees series, with James Shields going against Mike Mussina. The Live Blog-A-Baloo will be held right here.
• Anybody want to take bets on what substances Her Rays was under the influence of when writing their post-game recap? Not that there is anything wrong with that. Much of the best writing in history was done “under the influence”. Just ask fans of the Beatles or Hunter Thompson. [Her Rays]
• Jonny Damon said that the scoreboard gun that had Matt Garza at 92-93 last night, must have been low. [New York Times]

Before we knew it, he was jamming us and making us pop out. That’s what happens when you’re late on the fastball, and it seemed like we were late all day. It just seemed like we couldn’t catch up to it.

• Ben Zobrist has been activated from the DL with Andy Cannizaro being DFA’d…Ahh Andy Whatever-your-name-is. We hardly knew ya. [Rays Report]
• Alex Rodriguez will not play in this series…Also, Marc Topkin says that Al Reyes could be activated as soon as today, although there is no clear indication who will be let go. Scott Dohmann and Gary Glover seem like the only options to be removed from the roster. Both are out of options, meaning they would have to be DFA’d. Of course, we could see another “Willy Aybar” injury by tomorrow afternoon. That is Dohmann or Glover could come down with a mystery ailment that would normally keep a player out for a week or so, but still need to go on the DL, just in time for a needed roster move and 2 months later, they are still MIA…Just sayin’. [The Heater]
• Gary Shelton says the Rays are not “fluky” and are here to stay. [St. Pete Times]
• Yet another positive piece on the Rays in the New York Times…That is 2 this season and 2 more than the Yankees have had. [New York Times]
• Here is a neat graph that compares payrolls to performance. [Benfry.com]
• Always in love with the underdog, Joe Maddon said that if he were to name MVPs for the first month and a half, it would be JP Howell and Jason Bartlett. [MLB]
• An early proposal for a ballpark in St. Pete circa 1983, looks an awful lot like the new proposed waterfront stadium. [Ballpark Frankness]
• Seriously, this is getting a bit ridiculous. Yahoo! Sports has the Rays ranked 5th in their power rankings. [Yahoo! Sports]

Supposed to be that the Rays would do well generally, but struggle against the AL East powers. They’re now 15-11 against their own division.

• The Rays will make public their financing plan for the proposed waterfront stadium on Thursday. [Ballpark Frankness]

THE GOOD: Evan Longoria made yet another great defensive play in the first inning. These plays seem to happen on a daily basis now and Dirtbag probably should be the favorite to win Rookie of the Year based on his defense alone…After the 5th inning, the Rays trailed 5-4. It could have been worse if not for the arm of Gabe Gross who saved a run by gunning a runner down at the plate…Darren Oliver, the Angels only lefty in the ‘pen was unavailable after pitching 1.2 innings on Saturday. Mike Scioscia could have used him on Sunday. Scioscia pulled Ervin Santana from the game with 2 outs in the 6th inning with the top of the order due up. The next two batters were lefties. Aki Iwamura doubled followed by a Carl Crawford 3-run home run that would be the difference in the game…JP Howell was simply terrific shutting down a very good offensive team for 3 innings, giving up only 1 hit. In particular was getting Vlad the Impaler to end the 7th. He wasn’t a threat at the time with the bases empty and the Angels down 3, but Vlad never looked comfortable during the at bat and that does not happen very often.

THE BAD: This is Andy Sonnanstine. Although it does appear that these versions of Duke are fewer and farther between recently. When he is hittable he is very hittable…Granted the Rays had a 3-run lead at the time, but if a team gets the bases loaded with no outs as they did in the 8th, 1 run should be automatic and a team has to try pretty darned hard not to score at least twice. The Rays did not score.

THE TELLING: A miscommunication play in the 9th between Carl Crawford and Jason Bartlett led to a pop up being dropped and an error charged to CC. That was the first error charged to the Rays since the previous Sunday in Boston…The Rays are starting to get more efficient on the base paths. We haven’t seen a serious branfart in a while and in the last week the Rays are 8-10 (80%) in steal attempts. Prior to this week, the Rays were only 28-42 (67%)…With no runs allowed in the first 2 innings, the Rays had set a record with 24 consecutive scoreless innings from the pitching staff…Cliff Floyd was back in the lineup for the first time in over a month. He had 2 hits and and 2 RBI…The Rays have now swept the Red Sox, the Angels and the Jays at home and now sit at 13-7 at home…Despite playing in a dome, Rain was not kind to the Rays yesterday. The Yankees game in Detroit was postponed. Without the rain, the Rays would have likely faced Kei Igawa and Darrell Rasner in games 3 and 4 of the series. Now the Rays will face Andy Pettite in game 1 with Rasner bumped to game 4 and Igawa will be skipped…Despite being swept in Boston, the Rays have earned at least a little respect from the Sox. They have yet to earn any from the Yankees. And to be honest it would probably take a sweep to get some. But if the Rays can win 3 of 4 we can at least shut them up for a while…Oh yeah, if the season ended today, the Rays would be the American League Wild Card representative.

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

• Gary Glover has been activated off the DL and Kurt Birkins has been optioned to Durham…Marc Lancaster also indicates that Ben Zobrist could come off the DL as early as today, with Andy Cannizaro sent back to Durham. If that happens that would leave only Willy Aybar on the 15-day DL. [Rays Report]
• Ben Zobrist is to have the pins removed from his left thumb today and has been told that he will be cleared to play immediately after the procedure. [MLB]
• Troy Percival says that defensively, this is the best team he has ever played with. [MLB]
• Roger Mooney notes that the Rays starting pitchers have grown up and are holding themselves accountable for the first time. Mooney notes that the most impressive feature has been their ability to rebound from bad starts. [Bradenton Herald]
• The St. Pete Times has a new blog dedicated to covering the progress of the Rays’ proposed waterfront stadium. [St. Pete Times]