DRG here again to get you through the weekend. I can be reached here..

• The Good: Best. Rays. Game. Ever...James Shields, 1 hit and one controversial hit batter short of a perfect game...Evan Longoria a 2-run walk-off home run with 1 out in the bottom of the 9th...Diving catches from Carl Crawford and BJ Upton...And let me point out one at bat at this point. Gabe Gross leading off the bottom of the 8th, may have been the best at bat I have seen from a Rays hitter this season. Gross had in mind getting on base at any cost. He was taking until he had a strike. He got ahead 2-0 before the first called strike. A foul ball on the next pitch and it was 2-2. Outside of the first pitch, everything was up-and-away. On the 5th pitch he fouled off a tough fastball. Next pitch he laid off a fastball off the plate. He then fouled off another fastball away. The 8th pitch was in very much the same spot as the last pitch, and Gross drove the pitch to left-center for a double. He didn't score, but that at bat sold me on Gabe Gross.
  
• The Bad: Did you guys see Joe Magrane's suit? Pinstripes with a diagonal striped tie. Doesn't he know that diagonal stripes clash with Dwayne Staats hair?...
  
• The Telling: James Shields only needed 92 pitches to pitch the 1-hit shutout. If the Rays do not score in the bottom of the 9th, Shields would have come out for the 10th inning...In his last 2 starts at home, James Shields has thrown 2 shutouts. In those two starts combined, 3 hits, 1 walk, 15 strikeouts...The Rays are 2 games back in the wild card chase...With the Rays winning this year, these out of division games have a different feel. In years past, I would look forward to these series, because I got a chance to watch some other teams and it was a respite from the grind that is the AL East. This year, I find myself dreading out of division series. The Rays are good, and I want every game to be a divisional rival.
  

DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA...

• My fellow RAYSHEADS, you have been heard. Nathan Haynes has been DFA'd. The move comes with the Rays activating Cliff Floyd from the DL. [Rays Report]
• The Rays effort last night inspired the poetic side of Her Rays. [Her Rays]
  
• The Mockingbord takes a look at Troy Percival's pitches from Thursday when he blew a 3-run lead in the 9th. [The Mockingbird]
• Fire Joe Morgan questions why the Rays are on the list of the 10 worst franchises, considering that the team looks pretty darned good this year. [Fire Joe Morgan]
• Rays of Light argues that the Rays should no longer seek outside help for the lineup noting that the Rays are ahead of schedule and should just play out the 2008 season as is. [Rays of Light]
  

THE GOOD: Good game for Akinori Iwamura offensively. In the 3rd, Aki had an RBI single, but more impotantly, with 2 outs, he advanced to second base on Carl Crawford's sac fly. That allowed Aki to score on BJ Upton's single...Jason Bartlett made two amazing plays in the field. The first came in the 5th when he charged and barehanded a slow grounder to get the runner. Later in the 8th in a 1-run game, he ranged deep into the hole to his right, stabbed a grounder, turned and made a strong one-hop throw to Carlos Pena. Make no mistake, that one-hop throw was as intentional play that shortstops often make on artificial turf, the same stuff Bartlett played on in Minnesota...Eric Hinske hit a lonnngggg home run. We pedicted two. One to go......Despite his struggles at the plate, Evan Longoria is still playing solid defense making a couple of good plays including the start of a very important double play. With 1 run in already and the Rays up by 1 in the 6th, the Jays had 1st and 2nd with 1 out. Dirtbag started a 5-4-3 to kill the rally.

THE BAD: We complained about the Toronto broadcast in the Orlando series and things were only worse this time. In the bottom of the third, the Jays scored on a close play at the plate. We are still yet to see a good replay or one that slowed the play down enough to get a good look. In the bottom of the 6th, Akinori Iwamura made a great play up the middle and made a good throw. Once again, we failed to get a good replay or one slow enough to see if the runner was indeed safe...The Rays struggled early on with 5 of the first 6 batters going down on strikes...In the 2nd inning, we saw our first incident in which Aki Iwamura looked lost at second base. With a runner on first, Aki fielded a ground ball only a few steps from the bag. He should have stepped on the bag himself, but instead tried to glove-flip the ball to Jason Bartlett. It worked, but it was awkward and eliminated a chance at turning two...Aki Iwamura also made a terrible baserunning play. On an RBI double in the 5th, he hesitated out of the box and then hesitated at second base and got thrown out at third for the first out, breaking a golden rule in baseball, never make the first out at third base...The Rays rarely sacrifice, but Joe Maddon tried in the 3rd with men on 1st and 2nd with no out. But Jason Bartlett failed to get the bunt down in fair territory...Evan Longoria is 2-19 and looks lost at times...Carlos Pena had the golden sombrero (4 Ks)...In the 9th inning, Carl Crawford swung at a pitch that almost hit his back leg. With 2 strikes that is almost acceptable. But not with 1 strike.

THE TELLING: What we love the most about the 2008 Tampa Bay Rays are wins like last night. The game was close, but there was little or no drama after the 6th inning. That has never happened before. If this game was in 2007, the Rays might have won, but not until after they blew the lead, and fought back, or at the very least, loaded the bases in the 8th and 9th innings...Joe Maddon went with Dan Wheeler for 2 innings again. We have to assume that he will not be available tonight...Troy Percival now has 7 saves, and 4 have come against the Jays...The Rays are now 7-8 on the road and 10-7 at the Trop...

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA...

• Injury updates from Marc Lancaster: Cliff Floyd and Ben Zobrist played in extended spring training games yesterday. Zobrist may join Vero Beach as early as tomorrow and play there the rest of the week. He will have the pins removed from his thumb next Monday and he could join the Rays on Tuesday. Floyd could also return about that time. Al Reyes could also return as early as next week and Gary Glover could be back as early as this weekend. [Rays Report]
• Interesting read from ESPN.com as they take a look at exactly how each member of the Rays' 25-man roster was acquired and who was responsible for the acquisition. The point being that despite all Chuck LaMar's failures, he deserves credit for a number of the players that have helped the Rays turn the corner...He may deserve credit, but he is not getting any from us out of pure stubborness. [ESPN]
  
• Scott Kazmir will work on ironing out his mechanics in his bullpen session today. [Tampa Tribune]
  
• Eric Hinske was booed continually last night and Joe Maddon can't figure out why. [MLB]

"What's going on with the booing," said Maddon, with a huge smile. "One of the nicest guys in the history of the United States and he gets booed in Canada. What's going on?...Don't boo Eric Hinske," he said. "He's a great guy. I thought, what did he do? Maybe skip town with a couple parking tickets? I don't know. And he gets booed. He's a wonderful young man. One of the finest."

• Carlos Pena is the inaugural member of the "LBS Golden Sombrero Club". That's not a good thing. [Larry Brown Sports]
• Evan Longoria is third after 5 weeks in the Baseball Happenings AL Rookie of the Year poll. [Baseball Happenings]
  
• We are a little lost on this one, as we have no idea who Paul DiMeo is, but we do see the similarity. [Hugging Harold Reynolds]
• Marc Topkin tosses a few names around if Andrew Friedman decides to keep playing musical chairs in the outfield...Jacque Jones does nothing for us, but then again, we still aren't sure why Nathan Haynes is a Ray. [The Heater]
• Andrew Friedman says that the Rays have narrowed their choice for the top pick in the draft to five players and signability may be a factor as Friedman says that they may try to sign a player prior to the draft. [MLB]
  

THE GOOD: James Shields showed us that he is a winner last night. He struggled early without his best stuff and with shoddy defense behind him, but fought through it and still managed to give Joe Maddon 7 innings. For all the changes to the bullpen, the biggest reason the relief corps is better this year is because the starters are working deeper. Any bullpen will be better if it only needs to throw 2 innings instead of 3-4...And last night wasn't any different. Shields handed the ball off in the 8th to Dan Wheeler (a role we expect he will keep once Al Reyes comes off DL) and then Troy Percival in the 9th. The two combined for 2 perfect innings...Eric Hinske continues to swing a hot bat, only this time it was against his former team and went to the tune of a double, triple and home run...Dioner Navarro added 3 hits in his return. We still can't get over Navi. Nobody hits more line drives. And nobody hits the ball softer than Navi...Jason Bartlett finally did something productive with the bat, executing a perfect hit-and-run with Dioner Navarro running from second base.

THE BAD: James Shields walking the first two batters of the second inning, followed by the play that led to the Jays first run. On the play the Rays were only charged with 2 errors, but there should have been three plus a couple of mental errors. A ground ball to Eric Hinske's right was bobbled after the runner on first distracted Hinske. Hinske then tried to backhand the ball to Shields covering first and missed him by 10 feet with the ball rolling towards the plate. For some reason, with a runner now on 3rd, Dioner Navarro left home to retrieve the ball. Shields sprints home to cover the plate. Throw from Navi was in time, but Shields dropped it.

THE TELLING: The Rays are now 4-0 all-time in Orlando...The Rays are 2-1 this season during our Live Blog-A-Baloos and 7-10 in all other games. Just Sayin'...The Rays need to sweep the Jays to get out of the cellar of the AL East and reach .500.

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA...

• We commented on this last night during the Blog-A-Baloo, but the Rays traded for Gabe Gross from the Brewers, giving up single-A pitcher Josh Butler. Butler was the Rays 2nd round pick in the 2006 draft. Gross is a left-swinging outfielder that can play all three outfield spots...While Justin Ruggiano will likely be the first player to go, this move probably marks the end of the Nathan Haynes-era. Andrew Friedman announced during the game last night that the Rays had been talking to the Brewers about Gross since Spring Training. [Tampa Tribune]
• Outs Per Swing sees the Rays crowded outfield and wonders if the Rays should trade Eric Hinske while the value is at its peak...We say yes. [Outs Per Swing]
  
• Through 19 games the Rays have the best bullpen in baseball. Trever Miller says that the biggest reason is they are not walking anybody. [Bradenton Herald]
  
• New Ray Dan Johnson suffered from an infection in the spring that caused him to lose 30 pounds. He has since gained most of it back. [Bradenton Herald]
• Marc Lancaster notes that Dan Johnson's injury history is quite extensive. [San Francisco Chronicle via Rays Report]
  
• While the Orlando Magic playoff game may have affected attendance, the Rays could not have been happy with the non-sellout or that a large portion of the crowd was not Orlando residents. [Orlando Sentinel]
• Brittany Ghiroli takes a look at the "Green" practices of the Tampa Bay Rays and notes the team will continue to make a commitment to environmental sustainablity after Earth Day. [MLB]
  
• The Serious Tip thinks they have figured out why Andy Sonnanstine has struggled at times this season...He's is jinxed. [The Serious Tip]
  
• A couple of new renderings of the proposed waterfront stadium, with one that apparently gives a reference to how big the new stadium will be compared to existing structures. [The Heater]
• Matt Silverman and Joe Maddon were set to attend the Bruce Springsteen concert in Tampa on Monday but missed it after the show was postponed until Tuesday. [Orlando Sentinel]
  

THE GOOD: The Rays did not lose their first series of the year.

THE BAD: Successful teams win series, and the Rays blew their chance to win their first series of the year.

THE TELLING: Fitting that the Rays are .500 after their first series.

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA...

• After last night's rain out, Joe Maddon will not skip Andy Sonnanstine as The Duke will go tonight in Yankee Stadium. Edwin Jackson will throw tomorrow afternoon and Jason Hammel will be pushed back to Monday with James Shields going Sunday on his normal 4 days rest.[The Heater]
• No make-up date has been scheduled...Scott Kazmir is scheduled to throw 65 pitches in a bullpen session on Saturday....Also, in a bit of a surprise move, Grant Balfour accepted his assignment to the minors over becoming a free agent. Certainly the $150K minor league provision in his contract beats the minor league deal he would have received from another club. [Rays Report]
• The Sports Scribbler celebrates the Rays' Grapefruit League Championship...which by the way is more championships than the Yankees have won in the past 7 years...and feels that it is a sign of things to come for the Rays. [The Sports Scribbler]
  
• Al Reyes says he was rushing his delivery and that caused his pitches to end up out over the plate...Also, Joe Maddon had planned to start Eric Hinske at third base on Thursday night in place of Willy Aybar who may not be 100% after recent struggles with a hamstring problem. [St. Pete Times]
  
• The Associated Press preview of the Rays-Yankees series. [Fox Sports]
• Rays of Light breaks down the Rays-Yankees series position-by-position. [Rays of Light]
• The Rays players and coaches feel like the bad blood with the Yankees is behind them and don't expect any further incidents. [St. Pete Times]
• To say Nathan Haynes has a history of injuries would be an understatement. Marc Lancaster reviews exactly what Haynes has endured to get to the majors. [Tampa Tribune]
  

Tampa Bay Devil Dogs (1 day until opening day)

DRG here again to get you through the weekend...

Yesterday: Reds 8, Tampa Bay Rays 4.

• The Good: Edwin Jackson was good, not great. After walking the first batter of the game and then giving up a single to the second batter, Jackson settled down to retire 8 of the next 10 batters until the 4th inning when he walked the lead off batter, which was followed by a wild pitch, and two straight fly balls that scored a run...JP Howell pitched one inning, striking out all three batters he faced, which is a good sign if Howell is sent back to the minors considering there wasn't a major leaguer in site of one of his pitches.

• The Bad: Fans at the game were subjected to a minor league game after about 3 innings, with names like Sergio Pedroza and Erold Andrus and Rhyne Hughes and Gabriel Martinez making appearances for the parent club due to the recent roster cuts.

• The Telling: With so many minor leaguers making appearances, you can tell the season is just around the corner...ohhhh, about 30 hours.
  

DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA...

• Gary Shelton and John Romano co-write a piece looking at the Rays and I'll admit it is the first piece from a Rays journalist that I wished was longer. [St. Pete Times]
  
• From the minors, one of the Rays' top prospects, Desmond Jennings will be sidelined to start the season with a back problem. Injuries are becoming a regular part of Jennings upbringing as he was limited to 99 games last year including a knee injury that cut his season short by two weeks. [Riverwalk Talk]
• Tom Jones compares this year's lineup with the Rays' all-time best seasons at each position. [St. Pete Times]
• The Herlad-Tribune calls Jonny Gomes the "only constant for Tampa Bay in right field" and Joe Maddon says "We were thinking that from the beginning." And yet the starting right fielder on opening day? Eric Hinske. So much for seeing what Gomes could do with 600 plate appearances. [Herald-Tribune]
• Jonny Gomes is only going to start against lefties. Eric Hinske is going to be the most-days right fielder. Wow. I had no idea how desperately the Rays needed another outfielder. [St. Pete Times]
  
• Marc Lancaster breaks down the Rays opening day roster. [Tampa Tribune]
  
• The Herald-Tribune says there are "Some surprises on Rays' roster". [Herald-Tribune]
• The Bradenton Herald says there are "Few surprises on Rays 25-man roster". [Bradenton Herald]
• Nathan Hayes was in southern California friday night when he heard the news he was coming to the Rays. 13 hours later he walked into Tropicana Field. [MLB]
• The Rays open in Baltimore tomorrow where they have struggled historically, going 33-50 in 10 seasons. [MLB]
• Marc Topkin has a Q&A session with Carl Crawford in which he discusses the 2008 Rays and his future with the franchise. [St. Pete Times]
  

The Rays made a couple of moves today, one surprise, one not so much, in an effort to finalize their 25-man roster for opening day on Monday in Baltimore.

The not surprising move was Grant Balfour will be Designated For Assignment, giving the last bullpen spot to Scott Dohmann.

The surprising move is that the Rays have acquired Nathan Haynes off of waivers from the Los Angeles Angels. The move was announced during today's televised broadcast of the Rays' matchup with the Reds. Haynes figures to be the Rays 4th outfielder come opening day suggesting that Eric Hinske will not be on the opening day roster.

Haynes, 28, was originally a first round selection of the A's in 1997. After 10 years in the minors, he made his major league debut last year for the Angels, appearing in 40 games, hitting .267/.313/.311 in only 45 at bats. In his 11 pro seasons, Haynes has only appeared in 100 games three times. He does appear to have some speed with 254 career steals in the minors.

Balfour cut; Dohmann takes last bullpen spot [Rays Report]