THE GOOD: After all that has happened in the past 3 days the Rays still lead the Red Sox by 4 games in the loss column with the hapless O's coming to town next and the Red Sox still have 2 more games in Yankee Stadium and then have to face the White Sox...And thanks to 4 straight losses by the Twins, the Rays magic number to clinch at least a wild card spot is now 26 with a 7-game lead over Minnesota in the loss column.

THE BAD: For a few fleeting moments on Sunday it looked like the Rays had a very good chance to stretch their lead on Boston to 6.5 games. A dropped-throw from the outfield, a horrific call by an umpire, Roy Halladay, an extra-inning win by Boston and a blowout of the Yankees later, the Rays lead is down to 3.5.

THE TELLING: We are suddenly reminded why football is so much more painful than baseball. If the Bucs have a bad loss: a) that game represents 1/16th of their season and; b) we have to wait an entire week with that loss and all the missed plays swirling in our head. A bad Bucs loss messes us up for an entire week. A bad Rays loss and there is hope for redemption the next day.

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA...

• Dioner Navarro took himself out of last night's game in the 6th inning with cramps in both hamstrings. He is calling it a "day-to-day thing"...If he is shelved for more than a day or two, the Rays will need to call up a catcher. The first choice would have to be Mike DiFelice, but somebody would need to be removed from the 40-man roster. John Jaso is already on the 40-man and is hitting well at Durham, but the consensus seems to be that he is not ready to catch at the major league level. [The Heater]
  
• Evan Longoria had x-rays on his broken wrist and everything looked good. Longoria is still aiming for a Sept. 1 return from the DL...The plan is for Longoria to start taking batting practice later this week. [MLB]
• Brittany Ghiroli reports Troy Percival threw about 30 pitches from a mound yesterday and expects to be activated on Saturday. [MLB]
  
• Instant Replay will be in place for Friday's home game against the Orioles. Replay will only be used to determine whether home runs cleared a fence or whether it was fair or foul. [The Heater]
  
• Buster Olney says Carlos Pena got his best hitting advice from Manny Ramirez and Steve Henderson reminded Pena when Evan Longoria and Carl Crawford were injured to just "see the ball" and not try to over think things as a hitter. [ESPN]
• Marc Topkin has his list of "5 things to watch in Rays' stretch run." One great point he brings up is facing the Yankees. Our instincts tell us to fear the Yankees, but if they continue to fall off the pace, will their veteran players be motivated to play hard? [St. Pete Times]
  

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: 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]
  

Now that Carl Crawford is going to be lost for the remainder of the regular season and Evan Longoria is out for 3 weeks, some think the Rays need to sign Barry Bonds more than ever. After months of saying the Rays wouldn't, yesterday we finally warmed-up a bit to the idea of the all-time home run king in a Rays uniform.

But then we figured out why the Rays should absolutely, positively NOT sign Bonds. Brian Sabean thinks it is a good idea.

"I certainly think if he DH’d for somebody, even at this late juncture in the season…it doesn’t take much for him to get ready, we all saw that in spring training, after 10 at-bats he’d get bored…I think it would be smart for Tampa Bay because they are in a very unique position...as history goes with baseball with a chance to win that division against those two counterparts is pretty amazing…”

This should be a no-brainer now. Even if Sabean had not traded Francisco Liriano, Joe Nathan and Boof Bonser to the Twins for AJ Pierzynski, many would still consider Sabean the worst GM in baseball. This is a guy that thought it was a good idea to give $126 million to a pitcher that had averaged less than 14 wins in the previous four seasons. And the Rays are now supposed to jump on the bandwagon of lunacy?

For those of you that have ever gambled, it is like that one guy you knew in college that never won a bet. It got so bad that you started picking the exact opposite. Thanks to your buddy, you made a lot of money (If you don't know the guy we are talking about, there is a good chance you were the guy). And then it would start to roll over into the rest of your lives. Like, if you guys were trying to figure out which bar to go to that would have the hottest girls and that guy picked bar A, the rest of you knew to go to Bar B.

Bill Simmons would call this "The Sabean Corollary". In being such a bad GM, Sabean has proven the Rays should not sign Barry Bonds.

Brian Sabean thinks the Rays should Persue [sic] Bonds [MLB on XM]

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]
  

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA...

• BJ Upton was benched for this afternoon's game for not running out a ground ball back to the pitcher in the 9th inning of last night's game. Joe Maddon did not rule out using him late in the game. [The Heater]
  
• As we expected, Rocco Baldelli is waiting for a roster spot to come available. Marc Lancaster speculates that Ben Zobrist will be sent back to Durham tomorrow when Jason Bartlett is ready to play SS. However, we wonder if Zobrist will stick around as a utility-guy for a few more days as the Rays are not scheduled to face a lefty until at least next Tuesday. [Rays Report]
• Jason Bartlett and Carl Crawford are both expected back in their familiar positions on Thursday. [MLB]
• The Tampa [sic] Rays have become the business-model for at least one non-sports entity. [tvnewsday]
  
• Remember way back in Spring Training when RF and DH was supposed to be a 3-headed monster, with Jonny Gomes, Cliff Floyd and Rocco Baldelli? Yeah, us neither. [Herald-Tribune]
• Jonny Gomes is starting to wonder aloud if his career with the Rays is over. [Herald-Tribune]
• Last night was only the 5th time in franchise history that the Rays posted win #67. Bugs and Cranks compares last night's win to the previous 4. [Bugs and Cranks]
  
• Jerry Crasnick says the Rays are only the 9th best bullpen of all the teams still in contention. [ESPN]

THE BAD: We were orignally planning to bring back the Live Blog-A-Baloo of the week on Wednesday. We are long overdue for an installment and Wednesday could be the '08 debut of Rocco Baldelli. But, when the casting director for a very popular NBC drama calls and asks if you are available on Wednesday to film a scene, you guys get shafted...Sorry.

THE TELLING: With Jason Bartlett limited to pinch-runner availability, Willy Aybar made his first major-league start at SS. Eric Hinske started in LF in place of Carl Crawford. Shawn Riggans made his first professional appearance in the OF after pinch-hitting, and replacing Hinske in LF...

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA...

• In a move that could have a big impact on how soon Rocco Baldelli is activated, Jonny Gomes has been demoted to Durham and Ben Zobrist has been recalled. Clearly, Joe Maddon was not happy with Willy Aybar starting at SS. Gomes was expected to be demoted when Rocco was ready. Now Rocco will have to wait until Jason Bartlett is ready to be inserted back in the lineup. At that point, we expect Zobrist will be demoted and Baldelli will be activated. [SI.com]
• Sixty Feet, Six Inches recaps an interview with Rocco Baldelli in which he addresses various topics including the fate of his beard. [Sixty Feet, Six Inches]
  
• Carl Crawford missed last night's game with a sore hamstring and could be out again tonight. [The Heater]
• Tom Verducci of SI.com tells us why the Rays are here to stay...Of course, you would think a 3-game lead in August is enough evidence to show that the Rays "have what it takes to stay in AL East race." Just shows you how little people outside of the Bay Area think of the Rays. Even if the Rays took a nose-dive over the next 3 weeks, they would at worst be 2-3 games out of the division lead with a month to go. And that alone is "still in the race."[SI.com]
  
• Not the first time we have heard this one...Buster Olney compares the '08 Rays to the '69 Mets...Olney is hidden behind the evil password wall called "Insider" at ESPN, but Marc Topkin has the details. [ESPN via The Heater]
• BJ Upton may or may not have met the president of his fan club. [Her Rays]
  

Updates will be limited over the next day or two. Mrs. Professor seems to think I need to hang out with friends and family just because they came all this way for some silly ceremony.

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA...

• Evan Longoria was named AL Player of the Week. [MLB]
• Conveniently, Rocco Baldelli has come down with a strained groin allowing the Rays to send Rocco out on a new 20-day rehab assignment since this is a new injury. [Tampa Tribune]
  
• Joe Maddon said that he is not concerned about the yelling match with Troy Percival on the mound in the 9th and that it was not unexpected. [MLB]
• Carl Crawford says that his knee is better but that it is not 100%. [MLB]
  
• The New York Sun says that Yankees fans should worry. Boston and Tampa Bay are the class of the division and will be for years to come. [New York Sun]
• The Boston Herald calls the Rays "the best team in baseball."...Well, they beat the Sox and lead the division, they must be the best team. [Boston Herald]
  
• Rays Homeplate says the Rays "will play in October." [Rays Homeplate]
• Everybody wants to be the Rays now. [Pittsburgh Tribune-Review]
  

THE GOOD: Evan Longoria and Carl Crawford are red hot. Last night they combined for 7-10 with a double, 2 home runs and 4 RBI. For CC, it was his 6th multi-hit game in his last 8 and 3rd home run in the last 3 games. For Dirtbag, he is 10 for his last 16 with 4 doubles and 3 home runs in his last 3 games. He has raised his average 24 points in 3 days to .272...The Pirates TV play-by-play guy on Eric Hinske's 3-run home run in the 3rd. It was hit so hard, that the announcer called "second 3-run homer hit by a tampa player today" right off the bat and long before the ball landed.

THE BAD: Scott Kazmir lasted only 5 innings, needing 103 pitches. His fastball had no consistency. He was everywhere from 87-93 on the gun...Carl Crawford really is a horrible left-fielder. On Freddy Sanchez' home run in the 4th, CC zig-zagged all over the place, looked at the wall a half-dozen times and still was afraid to reach for the ball that bounced off the top of the wall. Keep in mind that the wall is only about 7 feet tall. It could have easily been caught. And when he did jump (too late), the pocket of his glove was facing the fans in the stands. the ball would have hit the back of his glove. Good Times...Not to be outdone, BJ Upton misplayed a line drive right at him with 2 outs in the 6th. Instead of getting JP Howell out of the inning, Upton broke in on a ball hit over his head turning an out into an RBI double and getting the Pirates back within 3....PNC Park is apparently now playing the Saturday Night Live Cowbell Skit every night...

THE TELLING: Carlos Pena was back in the lineup for the first time, batting 6th. He was 0-3 with a walk and a sac fly...With Aki Iwamura set to start his suspension, Willy Aybar will get his first start at second base since 2006...The Rays maintain their 4 game lead over the A's in the wild card race.

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]
• Akinori Iwamura's suspension was not reduced and Coco Crisp's suspension was reduced from 7 games to 5...Huh wha?!? Crisp was the one that bowled over Aki. Crisp was the one that charged the mound. And he had his suspension reduced? By two games? Unfortunately Crisp will miss the upcoming Rays-Red Sox series at the Trop. We would love to see that idiot get another ball in the backside. [The Heater]
• Rays the Stakes has a very unique perspective on the Pirates series. [Rays the Stakes]
  
• Apparently one of the Bugs and Cranks writers hates the Rays Blogosphere. We are confused by the reasoning. [Bugs and Cranks]
  

THE GOOD: The extra-base hits are coming more frequently for Carl Crawford. Last night CC drove in 5 with a pair of home runs. He has 5 extra-base hits in his last 7 games after only having 1 in the 10 previous games. He also has 6 multi-hit games in his last 10...Every member of the Rays batting order scored a run in the Rays' 10-run 5th inning.

THE BAD: Using headlines like "Rays' 10-run fifth fuels 15-3 win over Marlins" or "Rays ride power surge" or "Rays' 10-run 5th fuels easy win over Marlins" one day after the Rays and Marlins played a carbon-neutral game. Not to mention those headlines are just unoriginal...The Rays drew 9 walks but still struck out 10 times. The Rays are 4th in the AL with 551 Ks...With Jason Bartlett away to be with his expecting wife, Ben Zobrist made the start at short, fresh off the IL disabled list. In the first two innings he made 2 errors.

THE TELLING: This was James Shields' first win in 8 starts. Apparently he just needed a little run support...Has Ben Zobrist changed his stance since we saw him last? He is very upright, with an awkward lean that we don't recall...The Rays now have a 4 game lead in the Wild Card race over the A's. Their magic number is 82.

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]
• The Rays Index Live Blog-A-Baloo of the Week will be this afternoon for the final game of the Citrus Series with the Marlins.
  
• We were a few days late, but we finally updated the Cork-Board in the sidebar. We now have updated rosters/lineups for Hudson Valley and Princeton. [Cork-Board]
• We realize that with so many topics in the "Pepper" feature it may be difficult to discuss just one or two in the comments. So we are now taking a selection of those topics and will start individual discussions on the RAYSHEADS Facebook page. As usual, feel free to comment on the post directly, but keep in mind that we do have the Facebook page if you want a more in depth discussion of just one of the topics. [RAYSHEADS on Facebook]
• Carlos Pena will play in a minor league game tonight for Vero Beach. [Rays Report]
  
• DRaysBay has an open letter to Joe Maddon questioning his move to leave Troy Percival in the game on Tuesday night...Of course Percy got the save even though he walked 4 batters. What is that old saying? "Hindsight is 20-2,000"?? [DRays Bay]
  
• Jerry Crasnick of ESPN.com has listed Joe Maddon and Andrew Friedman as the first half's "Best performance by a general manager and manager". [ESPN]

Maddon creates a productive environment for young players by giving them the freedom to fail, provided their mistakes are aggressive. He's shown he won't back down from the Yankees or the Red Sox, no matter how daunting their mystique, and lately it seems he's had a knack for pushing the right buttons...Friedman is building an impressive body of work with assistance from consigliere Gerry Hunsicker. With the exception of Josh Hamilton's departure through the Rule 5 draft, it's hard to find a blemish on his résumé. In the past year alone, Friedman has made moves to fortify the Tampa bullpen (Troy Percival), defense (shortstop Jason Bartlett), starting rotation (Garza) and bench (Gross and Willy Aybar). In Tampa these days, nobody is lamenting the departures of Delmon Young and Elijah Dukes...Three years into his tenure with Tampa Bay, Friedman's résumé is starting to look like one giant heist fest.

• The Rays and Pirates will wear Negro League throwback unis on Saturday night. The Rays will sport the threads of the Jacksonville Redcaps. [UNIWATCH]
  
• We are not the only fans that are a miffed by BJ Upton's play in the outfield recently. Rays the Stakes says Upton is the sole inhabitant of "Lazy-Town". [Rays the Stakes]
• Bugs and Cranks calls in the experts to analyze the fuzz on Andy Sonnanstine's face. [Bugs and Cranks]
  

THE GOOD: There is a video on YouTube in which Dwayne Staats compares Evan Longoria defensively, to Mike Schmidt, who won 10 gloves. But we wonder if Schmidt ever made a play to win a game the way Dirtbag did last night. Playing deep, with the tying run on third, Reed Johnson tried to bunt his way on first pushing the ball just to the left of the mound. Longoria ran in, barehanded the ball and made an off-balance throw to first base that was scooped on one bounce by Willy Aybar. Game over...What a top if the 9th. What a great catch heading face first into the wall, by Justin Ruggiano in left field for the first out. That out was just the first play that may have saved the game. Later on was not the best time in the world for Dioner Navarro's second passed ball of the season as it lead to a run to make it 3-2, but another passed ball took a Rays bounce off the backstop to hold the runner at third and saved the lead...Scott Kazmir did not allow a hit until 1 out in the 5th inning, despite not having his best stuff...The Rays are lucky that the Rays tank beyond the right-center field wall is shatterproof as Evan Longoria's solo home run to lead off the 6th went off the side glass...With 2 outs in the top of the 7th and a runner on second, Dioner Navarro threw out Reed Johnson trying to steal third. It even looked like Johnson got a bit of a shuffling lead before the pitch and he was still thrown out to end the inning...In the bottom of the 7th, a ground ball that would have been a single up the middle hits the pitching rubber and jumps straight up in the air. The pitcher tried to field the ball and throw to first. Aki was safe by a mile, but the throw went into the right field corner and Aki was on third to lead off the inning. Aki would later score what ultimately would be the decisive run.

THE BAD: Scott Kazmir may have not allowed a hit until 1 out in the 5th, but he would only record 1 more out after that, as he was pulled with 2 outs in the 5th. Yes the bullpen is better, but the Rays cannot afford too many nights with the bullpen having to throw 4+ innings...BJ Upton's stolen base to end the first inning wasn't bad on paper. With 2 outs, he has to try and get into scoring position. But for Upton to be thrown out by 10 feet was pretty bad...Bases loaded in the 3rd with only 1 out. A dribbler in the mound by BJ Upton led to a force at the plate followed by a strikeout by Eric Hinske and the Rays couldn't score...In the 7th, the Rays had 5 batters reach base and only scored 1 run including the second runner thrown out at home in the game.

THE TELLING: The attendance for last night's game was 31,607. We are just guessing, but that seems like it would be a record for a non-home opener, non-Red Sox, non-Yankees, weekday contest...Carl Crawford will be back on the field tomorrow night after completing his suspension. Aki Iwamura and Edwin Jackson have both appealed their suspensions. Jackson will mak