From the Better Late than Never Department...

First off, let me apologize to the cite and its readers for having been unreliable the past couple weeks. Things have been hectic here in the big city, but I expect them to settle down sometime in the fairly near future.

The Rays are coming into the All Star break 6.5 games off the lead in the division and 3.5 behind the Yankees in the Wild Card standings. Halfway through the year, the Rays look like they're toward the top end of a crowded field of pretty good teams.

The Week that Was

After getting swept out of Arlington, the Rays took their frustration out on the Blue Jays, sweeping them out of Tampa before welcoming...

The Effing A's. I am upset pretty much every single time the Rays drop a game the ought to have won, so I had kind of a rough weekend. After taking Friday's opener, behind another excellent performance from Niemann, the Rays dropped the next two games and the series. To the A's. The 37-49 A's, who sit twelve games back in the AL West. Yep.

SATURDAY: RAYS 2; Oakland 7

SUNDAY: RAYS 3, Oakland 7

The first three batters in the Rays lineup (Upton, Crawford, Longoria on Saturday; Upton, Aybar, Longoria on Sunday) went a combined 2-24 on the weekend, which probably has a great deal to do with the Rays only mustering a total of five runs. Combine the meager offensive effort with late inning bullpen implosions, and you've got two consecutive games of positively devilish Rays baseball.

The Futures Game saw the World beat the U.S. 7-5. Desmond Jennings was 0-3 with two K's, but he did contribute three stolen bases and a run. Kyeong Kang, of Bowling Green, was 0-1 with a pinch-hit pop-up. Is this the first time the Rays have sent fewer prospects to the Futures Game than big leaguers to the All Star Game?

The Week that Will Be

Looking forward to seeing Peña compete in the Homerun Derby today. I'd say I'm worried about him blowing up his swing, but let's face it. The guy swings for the fences with every cut anyway, so he might as well get some national recognition for it.

I've got more to say here, but for now I'll have to leave it and go to work.

GO RAYS!

CHEESE & WHINE: As Sharp As A Tack

Rays: 6
A's: 0


CHEESE:

• Jeff Niemann. What a well-called and well-pitched game between Navi and Niemann. Niemann got himself into a little trouble here and there, but more importantly got out of it each time. Being able to avoid the big inning has been Niemann's Achille's heel so far in his young career, and if he can stay away from it like he did last night then we Rays' fans are in for a treat in the years to come. Niemann pitched the complete game shut-out; allowing six hits and walking 3 while striking-out 6. He also gave the bullpen a much needed day off.
• BJ Upton. Bossman was 3 for 5 with 2 doubles, and was robbed of his second steal of home in just a week after home plate ump, Bob Davidson (who was also having a hard time deciding where the strike-zone was) called him out after he had clearly slid around the tag.
• Pat Burrell. Burrell is finally starting to get consistently good wood on the ball. Last night PB was 2 for 4 with 2 doubles and an RBI. Great, Pat finally gets hot and now he gets a 4 day all-star break so he can cool right back down again.
• The Yankees lost.

WHINE:

• Boston won... again.

CRACKERS:

• Last night's homerun by Longoria (17)was his first since June 17th; a drought spanning a total of 18 games.
• Carlos Pena's homerun last night was his first since June 27th, a drought spanning 11 games, yet he still leads the AL in homers by 3 (24).
• San Fran pitcher, Jonathan Sanchez, in his first start since returning from a bullpen demotion recorded 11 K's and the giants first no-hitter in 32 years. Read the Story here.
• The Rays' streak of 4 straight wins is the longest in the league right now.
• Tonight's game will feature the Rays in their "throwback", 1998, rainbow, Devil Rays gear. Yay!

CAVIAR (game ball):

• Jeff Niemann. Throwing complete-game shut-outs will earn you the game ball every time.

CHEESE & WHINE: Oh No- There Goes To-ronto- Zo, Zo, Zorilla

Rays: 10
Jays: 9

CHEESE:

• Ben Zobrist. Not only did Zorilla hit the walk-off single to win the game he also hit a 3-run homerun (his 17th), and took a walk. Add to that the fact that he looks like he's really found his comfort zone at second base, and you've got yourself a legitimate all-star. Zobrist finished the night 3 for 5 with 4 RBI.
• BJ Upton. Upton's steal of home was legen... wait for it... dary. Here it is: There's no place like home.
• Dioner Navarro. Navi had a nice game from the plate, finishing 3 for 4 with a double and an RBI. The Rays need more games like this from Navi down the stretch.
• The Middle/Bottom. The middle to bottom of the lineup (Zobrist, Burrell, Bartlett, Kapler, Navi) combined to be 10 of 20 with a total of 8 RBI. Way to pick up the slack left by the fella's up top.

WHINE:

• Dr Jekyl/Mr Kazmir. Kaz looked like he had his stuff working for him, but he just couldn't stay out of his own way last night. Kaz surrendered 2 homers early before imploding in the 4th (although, in his defense, the home plate ump, Bill Welke, was wildly inconsistent with his balls and strikes calls). Kaz' stat line looks like this; 6 and 1/3 innings, 7 runs on 9 hits, walking 2 and striking out 4.
• Grant Balfour. Too many times this year the Mad Aussie has looked absolutely horrid, this was one of those times. Grant pitched 2/3 and allowed 2 runs on 3 hits.

CRACKERS:

• Last night's game lasted 4 hours 5 minutes... I swore it seemed like 5 hours, at least.
• The Rays look for the sweep today at 12:08 EST

CAVIAR (game ball):

• Ben Zobrist. Another great performance from Zorilla.

CHEESE & WHINE: PB Blaster

Rays: 3
Jays: 1
(11 innings)

CHEESE:

• Pat Burrell. Welcome to the party Pat. Burrell hit a 2-run, walk-off homer with 2 outs and 2 strikes in the bottom of the 1th. It was only Burrel's 4th HR of the season. PB finished the night 1 for 4 with the 2 (game-winning) RBI and a walk. Check out the video (ESPN's #1 play o' the day) here.
• James Shields. Shieldsy was sharp from the start and logged 7 innings while allowing just 1 run on 7 hits, walking 1 and striking-out 4. Shields didn't factor into the decision due to the fact that Toronto tied the game at 1 after Shields had already left the game.
• Ben Zobrist. Zorilla was 1 for 3 with 2 walks and a steal, but his real contribution came defensively where he had a great day , flashing the leather and his athleticism on various occasions. Check out one of those plays (ESPN's #3 on the top 10) here.
• Outfield Assist. BJ Upton had another tough day at the plate (0 for 5), but helped compensate for it by saving a potential game-winning run when he gunned down Hill in the 8th. You must check out the video (ESPN's #7 on the top 10) here... no really, you have to- it's good.
• The Bullpen. 4 innings, 3 hits, zero runs.

WHINE:

• Top of The Order. The 1 through 4 batters (Upton, Crawford, Longoria, and Pena) were a combined 0 for 19 against a rookie pitcher making his major league debut! Way to make a kid feel welcome. The fantastic 4 also combined for an awe-inspiring 7 strike-outs.

CRACKERS:

• Don't forget to vote for Pena as many times as you can, in an attempt to have a Rays' player be the fan vote for the second year in a row (Longoria). You can vote right... here.
• If Pena doesn't make the All-Star roster it'll be only the 8th time a player leading the league in HR's doesn't make the team.

CAVIAR (game ball):

• Pat Burrell. Do that more often.

Rays - Jays Part Deux

The Rays are coming off of an abysmal series in Texas in which they were swept- giving the Jays a breath of hope that the Rays aren't going to run away, leaving them mired in the AL East basement with Baltimore.

As it stands the Rays are holding-on to a 1.5 game lead over Toronto as they prepare for another 3 game set v. the Jays starting today in Tampa. The Rays have slipped back to 4.5 games behind New York and 5.5 behind Boston.

Here's the potential match-ups for the Toronto series (with some random thoughts added in for flavor):


GAME 1:
Tuesday, July 7th @ 7:08

Pitchers:
Marc Rzepczynski, LHP (0-0, -.--) vs. James Shields, RHP (6-6, 3.50)

Rzepczynski will make his major league debut tonight against the Rays' "ace" James Shields. Shields is coming off a loss against Toronto last week during which he allowed a career high 3 home runs. The Rays should be able to jump on this kid early, and put a few runs on the board to ensure that they end their current losing streak at 3. I'm thinking a final score of something like 8-2.


GAME 2:
Wednesday, July 8th @ 7:08

Pitchers:
Brian Tallet, LHP (5-6, 4.38) vs. Scott Kazmir, LHP (4-5, 6.79)

In this battle of the lefties we'll get to see Kazmir make his third start since being recalled, and with any luck we'll see him keep his pitch count in-check and make it out of the fifth inning (hey, a boy can dream). Tallet started the season in the bullpen, but has adjusted nicely to a starting role. He is 2-0 lifetime (as a reliever) against the Rays with an ERA of 1.72 . This should be a close game, but I can't help but believe that the Rays will find a way to win. Let's go with a 4-3 final, in favor of the Rays.


GAME 3:
Thursday, July 9th @ 12:08pm

Pitchers:
Roy Halladay, RHP (10-2, 2.79) vs. David Price, LHP (2-3, 5.21)

I can't seem to find a way to envision this one turning out well. My confidence in Price has been falling faster than GM stocks, and Halladay is about as good as it gets, so even if Price were at the top of his game I'd still be hard pressed to find it in me to go against Halladay. Halladay has struggled a bit since returning form the DL and Price struggled mightily in Texas having to be lifted after only 1 and 1/3 innings of work, so neither pitcher has been sharp as of late. Sadly, I think the Rays blow the opportunity for the sweep and lose big, lets say to the tune of 9-3.
Oh yeah, and if your listening Prof, this would be a great chance for the year's first Live Blog-a-Baloo over at Rays Index.
---

All in all a series win is a series win, and that's all we can ask for. Make no mistake though, winning this series is just as important as winning any other series they've played to this point of the season. If the Rays stay locked in a battle for third place with the Jays all season then the Sox and Yanks will just run away with the division. The Rays must dominate the Jays' season series in order to climb the ladder back to their rightful place atop the AL East.

CHEESE & WHINE: Losses seem Bigger in Texas

Rays: 1
Rangers: 3

CHEESE:

• Scott Kazmir. Kid K was fairly solid last night lasting 5 innings, allowing 3 runs (1 earned) on 5 hits, while walking 1 and striking-out 6. Of course we'd always like to see Kaz be able to stretch a start past 5 innings, but at this stage in his career 5 solid innings seems to be all we can expect.
• Grant Balfour. While it wasn't always pretty the Mad Aussie worked 2 innings allowing no runs, no hits, no walks, and striking-out 2.

WHINE:

• Fielding Errors. Both Jason Bartlett and Ben Zobrist committed fielding errors while trying to throw to 1st, neither should've hurried their throw as much as they did. These are the mistakes that the 2008 AL Champions didn't make.
• Ben Zobrist. Not only did he commit the throwing error, but he was also 0 for 4 at the plate, striking out once and leaving 3 men on base.

CRACKERS:

• Texas starter, Tommy Hunter was originally drafted by the Rays, but opted to go to college instead of signing with the Rays, and was later drafted by the Rangers.

CAVIAR (game ball):

• Grant Balfour. Consistent performances by relievers are critical down the stretch.

The Constitution of The Rays

The Preamble


We the people of the United Rays of Tampa (via Rays the Stakes), in order to form a more perfect fanbase, establish our legitimacy, insure the admittance of no Yankees or Red Sox fans, provide for alienated baseball groupies, promote the team at all cost (even if it means getting a mohawk), and secure yet another AL pennant do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United Rays of Tampa.

Article I- Executive Branch
The executive power shall be vested in great young men who have sworn publicly to always place the fate of the Rays above all other tenets. Concerning themselves with the well-being of the team before any personal regard.
To always ensure that the citizens of the Rays-iverse are treated justly, and with the respect that any citizen, who has willingly suffered for numerous years before this great fandom's success, truly deserves.

Article II- Managerial Branch
The Managerial power shall be vested in great strategists and sometimes unconventional thinkers. In all cases pushing the Athletic branch (named later) to strive for their best. Primarily putting said athletic branch members in what seems to be the most opportune positions to acquire victory at every attempt.
Should a member of the managerial staff continually favor an incorrect decision (ie BJ Upton at lead-off) he should be held in check by other members of both the Managerial and Executive branches, and ridiculed by members of the media (see amendment 1).

Article III- Athletic Branch
The power of the Athletic Branch shall be vested in great and talented young players. The members of the Athletic branch must be willing to conform to the wishes of both the Managerial and Executive branches in order to help sustain a winning environment at all costs. Members of the Athletic branch must always, and without falter, put forth their absolute best effort every time they take the field to represent the members of the Rays-iverse; understanding that they play for a cause which is truly larger than themselves. No member may throw bats at umpires or specifically request a trade to New York or Boston.

Section 2- Treason

Any member of the Athletic branch who willingly undertakes in part of a scheme to undermine the success of the Rays-ivers or who cohorts with other nations with which we do not openly associate (New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox) shall be tried for treason. Any member of the Athletic Branch deemed to be working together with or turning-over to said enemies instantly becomes an Enemy of the State.

The United Rays of Tampa Bill of Rights

Amendment 1-Freedom of Speech, Press, and Ray-ligion
Any member of the Rays-iverse has the freedom to speak or write in regard to any aspect, positive or negative, of any branch of the hierarchy of United Rays of Tampa.
Furthermore, all citizens of the United Rays of Tampa have the exclusive right to praise and worship the Rays through their own freedom and expression of Ray-ligion, just so long as no portion of their Ray-ligion teaches peace with the enemy or forgiveness for their wreckless disregard for the sport which we love.

Amendment 2- Right to Bear Cowbells
All members of the United Rays of Tampa are permitted to carry and use, within reason, their own cowbell. Your right to bear Cowbell will not be infringed.

Amendment 3- Quartering of Devil Rays Gear
At no point since the ratification of the constitution, wherein the Devil was exorcised, are any citizens of the Rays-iverse required to quarter any Devil Rays merchandise against their will.

Amendment 4- Search & Seizure
The citizens of the United Rays of Tampa are hereby protected from unjustified searches or seizures of paraphernalia related to any former alliance, with the exception of New York and Boston whereas a warrant for the search, seizure, and detainment of the citizen will be fully allowed.

Amendment 5- Trial & Punishment for Desertion
At no point will a member of the Rays-iverse be tried unjustly for a crime without first being subjected to a jury of their peers. Furthermore no citizen will be tried for the same crime twice unless said crime is desertion to the enemy wherein said citizen will be subject to endless and fully justified ridicule as well as public shame and embarrassment.

Amendment 6- Right to a Speedy Entry to Rays Games
All citizens have a right to a speedy and expedited entry to any Rays game for which they hold a ticket. Under no circumstances should any citizen be made to wait in line with traffic which is inundated with members and citizens of the enemies' territories.

Amendment 7- Trial by Seating Section
If during a game a citizen is found to be outside of United Rays of Tampa law an impromptu trial by members of their seating section shall be held, with the decision of the people standing as temporary law, unless said offender buys a round of ballpark beers for all interested citizens in his seating section, whereas all sins are forgiven (with the obvious exception of Red Sox or Yankee related crimes).

Amendment 8- Cruel and Unusual Punishment of Sox and Yanks fans
Cruel and unusual punishment of Red Sox and Yankees fans and players shall always be allowed and encouraged by all branches of the United Rays of Tampa

Amendment 9- Construction of a New Stadium
If principles of the various branches deem it necessary to build a new stadium, members outside of the government shall not be allowed to hinder such efforts unless an attempt is made by the executive branch to move the United Rays of Tampa to another state.

Amendment 10- Powers of the Branches and the People
Any power not vested specifically to a branch of the rays-iverse shall be decided upon by the citizens.
Any crime against the United Rays of Tampa may be punishable by the most horrible of punishments; banishment from the Rays-iverse and the forcing of said citizen to thereby join either the United Republic of the Kansas City Royals or the Socialist State of the Cleveland Indians.



We have marked this lasting Constitution with our official seal below:

CHEESE & WHINE: Rays are on Halladay in Toronto

Rays: 4
Jays: 1


CHEESE:

• Jeff Niemann. Jeff outlasted his counterpart (notoriously long-lasting Roy Halladay) and added another W to his 2009 campaign (7-4) by going 7 and 1/3 innings, allowing just 1 run on 4 hits, oddly enough only striking-out 1 (despite throwing 65% strikes) and walking 2. Niemann's ERA is now a very respectable 3.95.
• Carl Crawford. CC may not be leading-off the line-up, but last night he led-off the scoring in the 3rd when he blasted a 2-run homer into RF to put the Rays up for good. Crawford finished the night 2 for 3 with 2 RBI, a walk, and a steal (his 40th).
• Gabe Gross. Gross continued his hot hitting going 2 for 3 and drawing a walk. Although, someone needs to remind Gross to leave the running to his younger, faster teammates, as he was gunned down trying to stretch a single into a double (the tag debatablly missed him) and was gunned down again later in the game trying to steal second, but when you're hitting well I'm more than willing to forgive a sin or two here and there. I am a just and faithful blogger.
• Pat Burrell. PB was taking some heat over at Rays Index yesterday, and responded by doing exactly what we expect of him; hitting a homerun. The Rays are already averaging more than 6 runs per game, and if Burrell can start producing as well... look out!

WHINE:

• Carlos Pena. 0 for 4. Everyone has an off night every so often, especially against the likes of Halladay, but Pena looked out of place at the plate. The holes in his swing are growing daily.
• Willy Aybar. See Carlos Pena above.

CRACKERS:

• The Rays play more than 20 percent of their remaining schedule against the Blue Jays, so having their number would greatly increase their chances at a playoff run. Toronto is thinking the exact same thing too, I'm sure.
• Tampa Bay is now third place in the AL East, leading Toronto by 2 games, while trailing Boston by 5 and NY by 1.5
• If the season ended today the AL division winners would be Boston, Detroit, and LAA, with the wildcard belonging to NY. So, despite all of Tampa's early struggles and consistent inconsistency they still stand just 1.5 games from being in the wild card position- but there's a whole lot of baseball yet to be played. This should get exciting!

CAVIAR (game ball):

• Jeff Niemann. It's like watching one of my little boys grow up right before my eyes.

Monday Morning Thoughts

SATURDAY: RAYS 3, Marlins 2

**In Which the Rays Walk Off**

Scott Kazmir: I know it's sort of a backhanded compiment to Kaz to be excited that it only took him 92 pitches to get through five innings, but it is an improvement. And, as the Professor pointed out, his velocity is back up in the low-mid-nineties, which is close to where Kid K ought to be sitting. Let's hope that if he's not back, he's at least close and here to stay.

Jason Bartlett: He continues to rake at the plate and terrorize on the basepads, all while providing pretty good glovework. This guy's leading the All Star voting for shortstops, right? RIGHT?!?!

Dionner Navarro: Did not play, so did not disappoint.

B.J. Upton: He's playing so much better these days, I'm not even going to mention the fact that he got gunned down AGAIN trying to steal second. Nope, not gonna mention it.

SUNDAY: RAYS 5, Marlins 2

**In Which the Rays Complete the Sweep**

David Price: King David offered justification for Sonny's demotion by going 6.1 innings on 96 pitches and giving up only one run. Price looked pretty good, and the fact that he picked Hanley Ramirez off first almost makes me want to overlook the 4:5 K:BB ratio. Things seem to be going in the right direction for Price. Let's hope he keeps it up!

J.P. Howell: Racked up a save today to go with his win last night while striking out three and walking two on the weekend. The de facto closer, Howell is anchoring a bullpen that seems to have worked out its kinks.

Clutchiness: These past two games felt close, but the Rays pulled through. Close games, as we know, presented problems for the Rays earlier this year. We've been hoping that the Rays would figure out whatever it was that made them lose to bad teams, like freaking Cleveland, while beating good ones, like the Red Sox, who might be the class of the league. With Upton hitting, the rest of the offense continuing to click, and the bullpen coalescing, it seems like they've got it together, but I will continue to hold my breath.

The Week that Was:

After the Rays were shellacked in their first game against the Phillies, yours truely hoped, in the comments to this post by our good friend the DirbagFan, that getting blown out would actually be a blessing in disguise, less crushing than a close loss and more likely to be useful as a motivating tool. I've got no idea whether or not I was right, but the Rays haven't lost a game since. Go figure.

Also, it seems Phillies reliever J.C. Romero slapped a Rays fan after a game last week and may now be facing prosecution. We don't have actual photographic evidence, but if we did, I'm betting it would look something like this. Anyhow, we probably won't ever know what exactly the guy said to provoke Romero, but I'd be shocked to learn that fans in Tampa Bay dish anything worse than do the good citizens of the City of Brotherly Love.

The Rays are, apparently, the fastest team to reach 100 steals and 100 homeruns in a single season. We the faithful have known that the Rays offense was potent, or at least capable of being potent (after all, they lead the league in RBIs and OBP, and are close in almost every other offensive category), but I had no idea that their combination of long- and small-ball was historic.

Coolstandings has the Rays' odds of making the playoffs as right around 50-50. That sounds about right to me, too.

My second team, the Mets, refused to help the Rays this week, and instead allowed themselves to get swept at home by the Yankees. Sigh.
The Week that Will Be:

The Rays head up to Canada to start the week with a series against the Blue Jays that should, if things go well, solidify the Rays status as the non-Yankee-or-Red-Sox contenders in the East. With Niemann, Garza, and Shields going, there's certainly reason to be hopeful. Then again, Niemann's coming off six days rest (tho this isn't the first time he's had his starts moved around), and might be rusty. Plus, they're trotting out Halladay for his first post-DL start. The Rays need to win the series, and, obviously, a victory tonight would go a long way towards that end. I am going to continue to believe in the power of positive thinking (recent evidence to the contrary notwithstanding) and predict that the Rays will indeed take two of three in Toronto.

After closing out the month of June in Toronto, the Rays move on to the second series of the week against the Rangers. Arlington might be a tough place for Kaz and Price, both of whom will hopefully build on the success they had this week. Then again, the Rangers just dropped a series against the Padres, so maybe they're ready to fall off the planet.

Let's keep in mind that the Red Sox will also be on a road trip through Baltimore and Seattle (the Yanks also face Seattle, starting Tuesday), so we'll probably need to win, say four of six just to keep pace in the division, let alone gain. That means it's time for another two-series-winning week.

Let's Go Rays!!

- Dustin

CHEESE & WHINE: Chicken Dinner...

Rays: 7
Marlins: 3

Sorry, no cheese & whine today, very busy day in the Dirtbag Household.

Please refer to Rays Index for all your Rays needs.


-DBF