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: Rally Time. The Rays are now 3-0 in games in which Troy Percival blew a save and are 27-0 in games in which he has appeared.

THE BAD: The offense for the first 6 innings. Prior to the 7th inning, the Rays only hit was an infield single by Evan Longoria in which he beat out a routine ground ball to third. Prior to BJ Upton's grond-rule double to lead off the 7th, Fernando Galarraga had retired 14 in a row...

THE TELLING: After Jason Bartlett was removed from the game and Shawn Riggans was used as a pinch-hitter and was the Rays' last player off the bench, meaning he would have stayed in the game had Rays not won the game in the bottom of the 10th. The question then becomes: What would the defense have looked like had the Rays taken the field in the top of the 11th (We were on the Detroit feed, so not sure if Dwayne and Joe discussed this) [Ed. note: See second bullet below]? Our guess is Riggans would have been in right field, with Willy Aybar coming in to play third and Evan Longoria shifting over to play short. Riggans has never played a position other than catcher in his major or minor league career...The Rays are 16-1 at the Trop this season when the crowd is more than 30,000. Bodes well for any potential playoff hopes.

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA...

• Jason Bartlett will need a couple of days off after taking a pitch off the index finger of his throwing hand, but there is no break and he will not need a trip to the DL. This likely means that Evan Longoria will be the starting shortstop for the next few days, unless the Rays recall Ben Zobrist and demote Jonny Gomes...Also, Shawn Riggans has a significant bruise on his chest, but is otherwise OK, after taking a 97mph fastball to the middle of his chest. [St. Pete Times]
  
• Marc Topkin says that Shawn Riggans would have come out of the game, with Jonny Gomes moving from DH to right field had the Rays needed to play the 11th inning. That would have elimnated the DH spot forcing the pitcher to bat in Riggans' spot (#9). Therefore, whoever pitched the top of the 11th, would have been the 4th batter in the bottom of the 11th. We are not sure if this is Topkin's speculation or if this came from Joe Maddon, but we are not sure that scenario is better than Riggans playing right field. How much worse than Gomes could he be? [The Heater]
• Rocco Baldelli is back with the Rays and is set to meet with Joe Maddon and Andrew Friedman today to discuss the next step in his return...That next step is likely to be activation from the DL, and we are hearing that could be as soon as today. Of course that could be altered if the Rays need to recall Ben Zobrist and demote Jonny Gomes. [MLB]
• If and when Rocco Baldelli returns, the Rays are asking that he not give 100% all the time. [St. Pete Times]
• Brant James does a Q&A with Rocco Baldelli. The biggest revelation is that Rocco does not sound optimistic that he will ever be able to be an everyday player again. [The Heater]
  

"It's a weird thing to say to an athlete. Rocco would sprint after balls 110 percent, no matter what the scoreboard (said)," Friedman said. "That's how he played the game, or plays the game. We're trying to get him to pick situations and understand situations on the scoreboard, different things to conserve his bullets, for lack of a better word."

• Trever Miller got the win, ending his record streak of 121 straight apearances without a decision. [Bradenton Herald]
• In Ted Flemming's blog, he ponders Eric Hinske and Dioner Navarro for Comeback Player of the Year...Hinske, sure. But Navi? Not sure where he came back from. [Speaking of Sports]
  
• The Rays are up to 3rd in the latest Chicago Tribune power rankings, behind only the Angels and the Cubs (of course). [Chicago Tribune]
  

THE GOOD: Sometimes you watch a game and you just know early on that it is not the Rays' night. It is easier on the liver.

THE BAD: Andy Sonnanstine against the A's this season. The Rays have only played the A's 5 times and yet two of their worst losses are at the hands of the green and gold. In addition to last night's 8-1 drubbing, the A's got the beat-down on May 21 in Oakland to the tune of a 9-1 score. Sonny was the starting pitcher in both games. The only game worse than either of those was the 13-2 pounding just before the break in which we were thankfully in St. Lucia sans baseball. Oh yeah. Sonnanstine started that game also.

THE TELLING: Why was Houston Street brought into the game with an 8-1 lead? Might it be because he was being auditioned for the Rays brass? Managers will often bring closers into non-save situations if they have not been used in a while, but it had only been 3 days since Street last pitched. We counted 15 times this season in which Street had more than 2 off-days. The only explanation is that the A's wanted to make sure that Andrew Friedman and Co. got a first-hand look at Street before the trade deadline.

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA...

• Jason Bartlett will likely be activated after today's afternoon game. It looks like Ben Zobrist will not be demoted after all which means Jonny Gomes could be the odd-man out. That would leave Zobrist or Willy Aybar to play right field against lefties. [Bradenton Herald]
• And yet Marc Lancaster tells us that some in the organization think that Jonny Gomes can be the right handed bat that the Rays desparately need against lefties. [Tampa Tribune]
  
• As per our assertion in yesterday's "Hangover" that Grant Balfour screamed "fastball!" to Dioner Navarro in the 8th inning of Monday's game...Someone close to the team told us that Balfour says that he yelled "Fuck!" and not "Fastball!". We went back and looked at the tape and it looks to us as if there are either two syllables or two words. So, either Balfour is thinking of a different situation or he does yell the F-bomb with a second word attached. [Rays Index]
  
• Outs Per Swing is doing a great job keeping up with all the Rays trade rumors...Normally we would be more on this stuff, but we would be surprised if the Rays make a move for anybody significant. Maybe a middle reliever and maybe a utility infielder. The rest is just speculation because the Rays are in contention and have a deep farm system. [Outs Per Swing]
• Brittany Ghiroli points out that the Rays have still been able to score runs with several top hitters struggling thanks to their speed on the basepaths. [MLB]
  
• Jeff Passan of Yahoo! Sports gives the Rays 2/5 odds of making the playoffs. That is 3rd in the AL behind the Angels (a lock at this point) and the Red Sox. [Yahoo! Sports]
• ESPN is running one of their silly "Sports Nation" specials looking at the all time best player for each team. They are taking votes for each team. Follow the link for your chance to vote for the Rays' all-time greatest player...It is pretty sad when Roberto Hernandez is considered one of the five best Rays in franchise history. And it might seem silly, but one could make an argument that Evan Longoria is already the best player in franchise history. [ESPN]
• Reader J.J. pointed us to this auction for the game-used uniforms and equipment from the Rays turn-back-the-clock game recently in which the Rays donned the threads of the St. Pete Pelicans. [MLB]
  

THE GOOD: Little Ball and Long Ball. The Rays are not big on "Little Ball", but it sure helped in the 6th inning. An infield single by Ben Zobrist (OK, it went to the OF, but it bounced over Scott Rolen's head), a bunt single by Aki Iwamura, a dribbler down the line by Carl Crawford (it was fair no matter what the Jays announcers said), was followed by a Carlos Pena bloop single to score the first run of the game. Of course, funny thing about silly "Little Ball". That only gets you one run. One out later, Evan Longoria connected on the 10th pitch of his at bat for his first career grand slam. Game Over.

THE BAD: Bean Balls. With 2 outs in the 6th inning, and up 5-0, Dioner Navarro bunted for a basehit. Roy Halladay then tried to hit Ben Zobrist. Two innings later, Navi would be hit by a pitch. Since when is a 5-0 lead in the AL an "insurmountable lead" in which a team should no longer try to score? That was BS by Halladay and even more BS that they would still be fuming 2 innings later. The Jays announcers talked about how "you just don't [bunt] in that situation". This peeves us to no end. As a longtime proponent of the "unwritten rules" the one "unwritten rule" that is idiotic is the "no bunting with a big lead" rule. In the 70s a 5-run lead might have been insurmountable, but how many 5-run leads did the Rays blow last year? If the Jays think that a 5-run lead is "too big" for bunting then we suggest they stop throwing breaking balls and go take an effin' shower. The Rays better sweep these bitches. And if Sunday's game is a blow out in the 7th inning or later, a Blue Jay is going down and they are going down hard...Anything produced by the Blue Jays. Whether it is the in-inning commercials (no shit, they actually show commercials during an inning) or the runner in the 9th inning that went from first to third and then was apparently thinking about "tagging up" and going home on the same play. You can tag up on a basehit? Seriously? We can't make this shit up.

THE TELLING: Of the players in the top 15 in baseball in stolen bases, only Alex Rios (14) has hit into more double plays than either BJ Upton (10) or Carl Crawford (9)...Despite assertations by several websites this week that BJ Upton was not struggling, Joe Maddon moved BJ Upton down to the #7 spot in the order...What? The national media doesn't notice that the Rays once again have a 1.5 game lead in the Easy despite a 7-game losing streak? Of course not. So much for those, "Rays are coming back down to Earth" stories from last week.

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA...

• Joe Maddon was also a little upset about Dioner Navarro being hit by a pitch in the 8th inning. [St. Pete Times]

Maddon said. "Maybe in 1922, you wouldn't (bunt) because nobody is going to hit a home run. But in the year 2008, people hit home runs. And you could see how they came back. Once again, in baseball, for me, there are moments when people definitely mentally move at a glacier pace, and they really have to get beyond it. That's what I think about that situation. And it stunk."

• We are not really sure what this writer is talking about. Les Levine is critical of those that blame Terry Francona for using Scott Kazmir in the All-Star game. In fact, we don't recall anybody blaming Francona. We said that Francona and the Red Sox benefitted, but we also understand he had to use Kid K. And the Rays actually praised Francona...This is just another example of a writer in the mainstream media trying to invent a controversy. [News-Herald]
  
• Man, Yankees fans hate Seth McClung more than we do. [The Big Lead]
• Jon Heyman says the Rays have not talked to Oakland about Houston Street although he suggests the Rays would have a good shot at landing the A's closer. [SI.com]
  
• We proposed the question a couple of days ago, now Joe Maddon is emphasizing the point...Grant Balfour is closer material. [MLB]

"He's got that kind of stuff," Maddon said. "And the biggest thing to me is the makeup. The closer makeup -- it's different. Those last three outs of the game are different. People can argue as much as they want, but they are. And the last out of the game is always the most difficult. ... I think, from my perspective, [Balfour is] growing into that makeup where he could do that one day. Definitely his stuff is good enough."

THE GOOD: Ben Zobrist. In the second inning, BenZo made a Jason Bartlett-esque play in the hole, turning and making a one-hop throw to first for the out. Later, with the Rays trailing 1-0 in the 7th and one of the game's best pitchers on the mound, Eric Hinske drew a walk on a 2-out, 3-2 check swing that very easily could have been ruled a strike out. Zobrist followed with a home run to give the Rays the lead for good, and saved the Rays from having to deal with questions of an extended losing streak...James Shields came out with a chip on his shoulder and proved once again that he is the Rays stopper. His one blemish was a long home run, which he is prone to give up. But you just have to hope they happen with the bases empty and last night that was the case...Grant Balfour came on in the 8th and after falling behind Alex Rios 3-0, he came back and struck him out to end the inning. In the 9th inning, he struck out 2 for the save...Eric Hinske saved a potential run-scoring opportunity when he made a running grab for the second out of the first inning.

THE BAD: The Rays had first and second with no outs in their half of the first when BJ Upton was caught looking on a belt-high fastball for the first out. One out later, Evan Longoria would strike out on a pitch in the dirt...BJ Upton had an awful game at the plate. After going down in the first with his bat on his shoulder, with a pitch he would normally plant in the right-center bleachers, he struck out in the 3rd. This time he swung the bat, but was horribly late on the fastball. Upton is a player with some the quickest wrists in baseball and should never get beat by a fastball. Right now, he has no confidence and is at the plate hoping for breaking balls that he can handle...In the 3rd inning, Carl Crawford broke his 0-26 skid and then promptly got picked off first base.

THE TELLING: We will never know for certain, but Ben Zobrist's home run may have saved the Rays' season. Imagine if the Rays lose that game at home to a mediocre opponent, without scoring a run, and extending their losing streak to 8 games into the second-half of the season. That would be tough to come back from for a young team...If you were a betting person and you were going to bet on who would be closing for the Rays in 2010, would you bet against Grant Balfour?...Scott Kazmir is now officially set to make his second-half debut on Monday. Does anybody else find it strange that Kid K needs 5 days rest after throwing 14 pitches in the All-Star game, when he would normally only need 4 days after a regular start throwing 100+ pitches?...Of Ben Zobrist's 13 hits for the Rays, 7 have been for extra-bases...Attendance was 23,706, which is a decent number against the Jays after a 7-game losing streak.

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA...

• Troy Percival says he feels "perfect" after throwing a 30-pitch batting practice session. [Tampa Tribune]
• Baseball Analysts defends Dioner Navarro as being a legit all-star. [Baseball Analysts]
  
• USA Today ran a feature story outlining the Rays' second-half quest for the playoffs. [USA Today]
• ESPN.com took a closer look at the struggles of Rocco Baldelli. The most interesting note is one we had not seen before. Apparently doctors have finally found a cocktail of medicine that has Rocco feeling better...Could Baldelli be the right handed hitting outfielder the Rays are seeking? [ESPN]
  
• Skyking162 feels Houston Street would be a perfect fit for the Rays. [Skyking162]
  

THE GOOD: Carlos Pena's solo home run with 1 out in the bottom of the 9th inning to tie the game. Could this be the moment that gets El Gato back on track? Prior to that at bat, Pena had left 2 runners on in the 1st inning, 3 in the 2nd, 1 runner in the 4th and 2 more in the 6th.

THE BAD: Evan Longoria and Dan Wheeler in the 10th inning. You absolutely cannot lose that game. You are at home, going for a sweep against an inferior ball club and Carlos Pena had just bailed you out in the bottom of the 9th. You have to shut the Royals down in the 10th and give your team a shot to win. Longoria put Wheeler in a jam right off the bat with a throwing error that left the leadoff runner on 2nd and Wheeler gave up a 3-run home run to a guy who only had 3 coming into the game. This is one of those games that if the Rays miss the playoffs by a game or 2, we will look back and cringe.

THE TELLING: In order to give BJ Upton a day off, Joe Maddon penciled Carl Crawford into center field and CC was not happy about it...Reid Brignac did not play and is 0-4 with a walk and 3 strikeouts in his brief major league career...Remember that "reasonable goal" of a .500 season (81 wins)? The Rays need to go 27-47 over the remainder of the season in order to surpass that mark...Even though Boston has a 1.5 game lead in the Wild Card, the Rays magic number over the second place Twins is also 69 (for a playoff spot) as both the Twinkies and Red Sox have the same number of losses.

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA...

• We are back, if ever so briefly. On Thursday Mrs. Prof (no longer just figuratively) and I will be on our way to the Islands for a week. There will be updates while we are gone, although we are still working on the exact details. More to come in the next day or two.
• The Rays have a 77.8% chance of making the playoffs this season. [The Heater]
  
• Al Reyes threw a simluated game and says he is ready to come off the DL. [Herald-Tribune]
  
• Dioner Navarro and Scott Kazmir were named to the AL All-Star squad and Dan Shanoff says the Rays got screwed by politics. [The Sporting News]
• Evan Longoria still has a shot to be named to the final spot on the AL roster, and is currently leading the voting. [The Heater]
  
• John Romano says that Joe Maddon should have been named an all-star coach. [St. Pete Times]
• Marc Lancaster says the Rays are more likely to make a small move before the trade deadline, rather than go after some of the big names that are being tossed around right now...We agree. As we have stated before, our prediction is Eric Hinske for a utility infielder that is an upgrade over Ben Zobrist and possibly a relief pitcher to add to the bullpen depth. [Tampa Tribune]
• The Rays appear to have interest in Brian Fuentes. Of course the Rockies want Wade Davis or Jeremy Hellickson. That doesn't mean they will get one of those top pitching prospects. [The Heater]
  
• Bill Madden says that with the Rays on top of the AL East, the Yankees and Red Sox lack the "spark" from years past. [NY Daily News]
• The New York Daily News says the Rays are the new "beasts of the AL East." [NY Daily News]
• Richard Justice says that the Rays could be even better in the second half...While there is definitely room for improvement, it will be difficult to keep up this torrid pace of wins especially with more games on the road in the second half. [Yahoo! Sports]
  
• Now that the Rays are on the lips of media outlets everywhere some are offended that the Rays are often referred to as the "Tampa Rays". [St. Pete Times]
• The Rays surpassed 1 million in attendance in their 48th game this season. That is second fastest in franchise history, out-paced only by the inaugural season. [Tampa Tribune]
• A writer for the Aspen Times says the Rays are "not yet" this year's Rockies (upstart World Series participant)...He is right. While the Rays may not make it to the World Series, this Rays squad is much better than the Rockies squad that got hot late and ran through a weak NL playoff field. [Aspen Times]
• Marc Topkin lays out 5 keys to the Rays playoff hopes. [St. Pete Times]
• Former Rays prospect Wes Bankston hit his first major league home run for the A's. [MLB]
• Former Rays GM Chuck LaMar would like to take credit for the Rays success. We don't have the energy to give this it's proper beatdown. [The Heater]
  

THE GOOD: The 7th inning. Gary Glover was ginormous in the 7th with a man on second with no outs and Manny Being Manny up in a 4-1 game. There is a very big difference psychologically, between a 3-run lead and a 4-run lead. After working the count full on Ramirez, Glover got Manny to fly out to Gomes in right. He then got Mike Lowell to pop up to Carlos Pena who had to reach over the dugout railing. After an intentional walk, Jason Varitek went down on 3 pitches setting up the bottom of the 7th...In the bottom of the 7th Jason Bartlett did what he needed to do leading off the inning. The biggest reason Bartlett bats 9th is so Joe Maddon has 2 "leadoff" hitters in front off the heart of the lineup. Bartlett hit a double to right and got the rally started. And then in a very risky move, Bartlett stole third after getting a walking jump off second. Akinori Iwamura then beat the pitcher to the bag on a ground ball to first to score the first run of the 7th, and the Rally was on. The first 6 batters of the inning reached base. The big blow was a bases loaded 2-run double by Evan Longoria, of course (is it too early to start MVP chants at the Trop?)...The Top of the 9th saw several close calls. A great running grab by BJ Upton facing the wall in center field. A line drive by Jason Varitek that went just foul and then Dioner Navarro throwing out the tying run trying to steal second base. One of the more bone-headed base running plays we have seen in a while.

THE BAD: The Rays just swept the Boston Red Sox and now lead the AL East by 3.5 games. We repeat the Rays lead the AL East by 3.5 games with the best record in baseball. We dare you to try and come up with something bad.

THE TELLING: The Rays magic number to clinch a spot for the playoffs is 73 (3.5 lead over BOS, who has a 2-game lead in the Wild Card over MIN)

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA...

• Mitch Talbot replaced Troy Percival on the roster when the closer went on the DL but Talbot is not expected to see much, in any playing time as he will be the Rays emergency relief pitcher. [Tampa Tribune]
• Since 1995, only one team had the best record in baseball on July 1 and failed to make the playoffs. That was the '06 Red Sox. [Sully Baseball]
  
• Outs Per Swing offers their take on the recent rumors of the Rays interest in Rockies' closer Brian Fuentes. [Outs Per Swing]
• Outs Per Swing also wonders if Freddy Garcia is a better option for the Rays than CC Sabathia. [Outs Per Swing]
• Earlier this week, we wrote that we thought Dioner Navarro was the Rays first-half MVP...Rays The Stakes counters with JP Howell. Their argument is solid, but we just can't bring ourselves to give out an MVP honor to a middle reliever. [Rays the Stakes]
  
• "10 reasons to hate the Red Sox"...We hate the Sox and their Pink Hat nation, but this article is a bit of a stretch as you can tell Tom Jones had a little trouble coming up with 10 reasons. In fact, the various stretches needed to be made actually had us defending the Sox as we read it and that is something we never want to do. [St. Pete Times]
• Newsday comes up with "Top 10 reasons the Rays are for real." [Newsday]
  
• David Ortiz says the Yankees are still the team to beat for the AL East title...That is fine by us and should be great news for the Rays players. We much prefer that the Rays keep flying under the radar. [Boston Herald]
  
• We love all the fans jumping on the Rays bandwagon, but this is one "fan" we are happy not to have. He is a Mets fan looking for a "secondary" team. He bashes the new surge in fans at the Trop and yet he is the one bailing on his team looking for a new team to root for. And of course he fails to realize that 90% of all fans become fans of teams when that team is good. We are willing to bet that this guy is in his mid- to late-20s meaning he was in his formative years when the Mets were the best team in the NL and the best team in NYC. It is Mets "fans" that actually booed Johan Santana on opening day in his first start for the Mets. And it was Mets "fans" that will regularly boo Carlos Delgado early in a game and then give him a standing ovation later in the game when he hits a home run. And then they wonder why he won't come out for a curtain call. We are so glad to not be in the NL East. Mets fans make Red Sox fans look classy and that is not an easy thing to do. [200 Miles From the Citi]
• It used to be the worst day of his life, but now Scott Kazmir calls his trade from the Mets "a blessing". [NY Daily News]
  

THE GOOD: Getting on base in the bottom of the 7th inning. The inning started with 2 walks and a hit-by-pitch. Another HBP with Aki Iwamura at the plate drove in a run. That was followed by Carl Crawford's second career grand slam, making it 6-3 and effectively killing the rally. Stupid home runs. That is, except it didn't. These are the Rays and they are magilicious. BJ Upton followed with a triple and then an Eric Hinske double scored another run. Hinske stole third and scored on an Evan Longoria sac fly to make it 7 runs in the 7th...The bullpen got the last 8 outs of the game without allowing a run and without the availablity of Troy Percival and JP Howell, the Rays two most important relief pitchers.

THE BAD: Carl Crawford was thrown out trying to steal by 10 feet to end the 1st inning. This seems to be happening a lot with CC and BJ Upton...The Rays had first and third with only 1 out in the 5th and were unable to score...James Shields uncharacteristically broke down in the 7th inning after cruising for the first 6 innings. Shields does not usually give up leads late in the game. But 2 doubles and a walk led to 3 runs scoring in the inning and the Rays falling behind 3-1...Will somebody please tell Joe Magrane to stick to baseball and leave the jokes and the math AND especially the jokes about math to others. When talking about Hall of Fame pitcher Mordecai "Three Finger" Brown, Magrane "joked" that by reason, Antonio Alfonseca (who has 6 fingers on his pitching hand) should be "50% better" than Brown. Of course, 6 is 100% more than 3, not 50%. You could just feel Dwayne Staats tense up in awkwardness.

THE TELLING: Evan Longoria got his first career start at shortstop after Jason Bartlett fouled a ball off his foot in batting practice and had to be scratched from the lineup...The Rays lead in the wild card is now 3.5 games. Unfortunately, it is no longer the A's that the Rays are looking down at. It is the Yankees. Look for this to be the race for the rest of the year. Three team for two spots...This was the 9th straight home series win for the Rays after starting 1-3. On the road they are 4-4-3...The attendance last night was 34,441 and they averaged 32,515 for the 3-game set. We will let somebody else do the legwork, but we are going to assume that this is a record for a non-Yankees, non-Red Sox 3-game series...

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]
• Didn't mention this earlier in the first post of the day, but Tim Beckham's signing bonus is a record for a drafted player. [The Heater]
  
• Matt Garza met with a well-known baseball psychologist at the request of Joe Maddon. [Tampa Tribune]
• Outs Per Swing has visual evidence that the Rays have been squeezed in the strike zone on several occasions. [Outs Per Swing]
  
• In this breakdown of the Rays-Cubs matchup, Baseball Prospectus shows that defensively Evan Longoria has already been worth one win over a replacement-level player, while Dioner Navarro's defensive have improved drastically into one of the better defensive catchers in the game. Also, Jason Bartlett actually has a below average range factor this season. Certainly his throwing problems early in the season plays a factor, but reader Scott brings up a good point. Might a gold glove-caliber third baseman and/or second baseman lower the range factor of a shortstop by getting to balls that Bartlett would have otherwise reached? We have to wonder if that would be particularly meaningful on balls hit in the hole betwen second and third where the third baseman kinda has "first dibs" being closer to the plate. [Baseball Prospectus]
  
• John Romano breaks down why the Rays can no longer be considered a fluke. [St. Pete Times]
  
• One blog breaks down the 3-team race in the AL East by looking a little closer at each of the contenders. [No Regard]
• Bugs and Cranks is not at all pleased with Edwin Jackson's taste in...movies? [Bugs and Cranks]
• The above link is in reference to an SI.com piece in which baseball players are quized on pop culture. [SI]
• Bud Selig did not dance around his feelings about the Trop and the Rays need for a new stadium. [Ballpark Frankness]
• Ken Rosenthal says that the Rays are one of several teams to express interest in Freddy Garcia who is a free agent and recovering from shoulder surgery...We have no doubt that the Rays are interested, but if a "bidding war" begins, as Rosenthal predicts, that is when their interest will cease. [Fox Sports]
  

THE GOOD: Matt Garza stepped up after his meltdown in his previous start. Garza gave up only 1 run on 3 hits. He walked a batter and hit another...Evan Longoria is once again showing that not only is he the front-runner for Rookie of the Year, but he also deserves serious consideration for the Gold Glove award, making maybe his greatest play yet, diving into foul territory, and throwing a runner out at first from his knees...The Rays once again ran at will, stealing 4 bases, 2 by BJ Upton...Jason Bartlett has been on base 5 times in 7 plate appearance this series and one of the times he failed to reach base was a sac fly...The Rays made the most of their hits, needing only 4 hits to score 4 runs. They later added a 5th hit.

THE BAD:

THE TELLING: After homering in the second inning, Jonny Gomes struck out 3 times. The Rays radio crew wondered aloud what Gomes numbers look like in the 10 at bats prior to hitting a home run compared to the 10 at bats immediately following a home run. Their thought was that Gomes struggles after hitting a home run as he tries to hit more. So we looked it up. So far in '08 Gomes has hit 5 home runs. We looked at the 10 plate appearances prior to and following a home run. We only counted plate appearances as "prior to a home run" if they weren't already considered part of a batch of plate appearances "after a home run" (in the case of 2 home runs hit relatively close together). Prior to home runs, Gomes is 4-23 (.174) with 4 strike outs and no walks. In plate appearances after a home run he is 2-30 (.066) with 14 Ks and 4 walks. The number that really stands out is the strike outs.

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]
• We have heard previously that the Rays would add an alternate jersey in '09. But now it is being reported that the alternate jersey will also say "Rays" across the front, and not "Tampa Bay" as was previously speculated. [St. Pete Times]
  
• Rocco Baldelli will begin a 20-game rehab stint tomorrow with Vero Beach. He will only DH and there are no plans to have him play in the outfield...It appears as though the Rays still have one minor league option remaining on Baldelli, so it is conceivable (likely?) that the Rays will just option Rocco to the minors in three weeks if they are unable to extend the rehab assignment past the maximum 20 days. [MLB]
• MLB News Online is reporting that the Yankees have been trying to trade for Carl Crawford for the last 2 years, and wonder if there is a chance those talks could rekindle...The chances of the Rays trading CC are slim. The chances of the Rays trading CC to the Yankees, a divisional rival and wild card foe, are less than zero. [MLBNewsOnline]
• Lou Piniella believes that if the Rays had been willing to spend a little money as they are doing now, when he was manager, this success would have come sooner. [St. Pete Times]
• Marc Lancaster surveyed 20 players on who they thought should represent the Rays in the All-Star game. Dioner Navarro received the most votes (10). [Tampa Tribune]
  

THE GOOD: Evan Longoria, Willy Aybar and Dioner Navarro. Not only did they hit back-to-back-to-back and belly-to-belly-to-belly home runs in the 2nd inning for the first time in franchise history, but the trio went a combined 9-13 with 3 doubles, 4 home runs and 9 RBI...The Rays managed only 2 walks, but they made starter Joe Saunders work all night. Not even able to finish the 5th inning, Saunders threw 102 pitches, or more than 4 pitches per batter he faced...The Rays scored all 5 runs in the 5th inning on 2 outs...Edwin Jackson. This is why we couldn't feel too bad after Troy Percival blew 2 of Jackson's wins earlier this year. Jackson did not have his best stuff last night, but got plenty of run support and picked up a W he didn't earn. Jackson's biggest moment was facing the Angels top of the order in the bottom of the 5th after the Rays gave him the lead. That is easiest time to let up and let a team back into the game. Jackson put them down 1-2-3 on just 8 pitches.

THE BAD: We knew it was late, when in the 9th inning, we were actually considering that Dioner Navarro needed a triple for the cycle. When the lateness was conbined with enough beer, we actually yelled at Navi to "RUN!" when he hit a ball down the right field line only to realize as he was rounding first base that he is still "The Fat Catcher".

THE TELLING: According to the Angels radar gun, Edwin Jackson was still hitting 99 in the 6th inning...BJ Upton only had to work a half-day, working as the DH with Justin Ruggiano playing center field...The Rays extended their lead over the A's in the wild card to 3.5 games, 6 over New York, Toronto and Baltimore.

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]
• There were no fines or suspensions or even reprimands given out by the Rays to Matt Garza or Dioner Navarro after their scuffle on Sunday. Joe Maddon says everything has been worked out and Navi will catch The Garza Complex in his next start on Saturday.
• Probably not a coincidence that every team Cliff Floyd joins goes from perrenial losers to winners, and often the change is overnight. We are fairly certain that Andrew Friedman and Co. were aware of this. And this is why we call him Dr. Huxtable, due to his calming influence of the younglings...Of course, a Devil's Advocate would say those teams were all on the verge and Floyd is often considered a "final piece of the puzzle" and just happens to join these squads when they are about to break out. [MetsBlog]
  
• Rocco Baldelli was 1-4 in his latest extended spring game. He is expected to participate in one more and then he will likely join Vero Beach for an extended rehab assignment. [St. Pete Times]
• The future Mrs. Evan Longoria? [armchairgm]
  

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