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

click above image for boxscore

THE GOOD: David Price. Price rebounded from his poor outing last time out to by working into the 8th inning and giving up just 3 hits. His walk total (4) was a little high, but after giving up a 2-run home run in the 2nd, he retired 16 of the next 18 batters…Ben Zobrist. After getting only 2 hits in the first 11 innings of the series, the Rays strung together 3 consecutive hits in the 5th capped off by Zorilla’s 3-run home run. A home run that only came about after an official replay…Joaquin Benoit. After David Price walked the leadoff hitter in the 8th, Benoit came in strikeout 2 and kill the Indians last rally.

THE BAD: Leadoff Walks. David Price is young and someday he will learn that one thing he cannot do is walk the first batter of an inning. Twice yesterday he walked a leadoff batter. He has now walked a leadoff hitter 14 times this season and 5 times he has walked the first batter of the game. The first batter in this game walked and eventually scored the Indians first run.

THE TELLING: The victory was the Rays first in Cleveland since 2005.

WHERE THEY STAND: The Rays are 58-38, 3 games behind the Yankees and 4 games in front of the Red Sox in the Wild Card. After 96 games in 2008, the Rays were 57-39.

THE JUNKYARD DOGS WEBTOPIA…

  • Rocco Baldelli talks about his comeback attempt (Video). [Bright House Sports]
  • Matt Moore comes in at #2 in this week’s Prospect Hot Sheet: He’d have to arm wrestle John Lamb for the title of the minors’ hottest pitcher…From June 1 to now, Moore leads the minors in strikeouts (74 in 55 2/3 innings). [Baseball America]
  • Behind the Insider wall, but Buster Olney speculates Read the rest of this entry »