Cheese & Whine: July 10

CHEESE & WHINE: Buckin' Bronx

RAYS: 1
Yankees:2

CHEESE:

• Edwin Jackson pitched fairly well, but had to settle for a no-decision in his 18th start of the season. Jackson threw 100 pitches, 63 of which were strikes, allowing 1 run on 6 hits while striking out 3 and walking 2. Someone with Jackson's 'stuff ' should be recording more than 3 K's in 6 1/3, but anytime you hold a team to 1 run you deserve a win regardless.
• JP Howell did it again. Howell came in in the seventh with a runner in scoring position and one out and once again got his starting pitcher off the hook by striking out Gardner and then Jeter. JP pitched a total of 2 innings and recorded 3 K's.
• Carlos Pena looks like he's back to normal at the plate, belting another homer in the sixth to tie the game at 1. El Gato now has 14 dingers on the year.
• Although they lost, the Rays played a decent game and didn't embarrass themselves like they had the day before.

WHINE:

• The Rays got swept by the Yankees. Since May the Rays have effectively gone to Fenway twice and been swept twice and then onto the Bronx where they were swept again. If the Rays want to be considered a contender they need to learn to win on the road against division opponents (I know, I'm starting to sound like a broken record- but it's true).
• Carl Crawford looks like a bush-leaguer at the plate right now. CC went 0-5 last night following an 0-4 performance on Tuesday. Looks like someone better quit whining about having to play CF once a decade and start concentrating on hitting the ever-lovin' ball!
• The Rays were 0-5 with runners in scoring position yesterday and 2-28 with runners in scoring position during their current 3-game slide. Can't win games with numbers like that.(MLB)
• Why on God's green earth is Reid Brignac getting at-bats in crucial situations when you've got Gross and Aybar on the bench, and Zobrist ready to take over at SS if need-be? Another shining example of Joe Maddon falling asleep mid-game.
• The freakin' Yankees giving Abreu a gatorade bath after the game. Really? How the mighty have fallen...

CRACKERS:

• I never thought I'd say it, but we need Jason Bartlett. Get well soon noodle-arm, we need you!
• Dirtbag is still leading in the "Last Man" all-star vote, but lets not rest on our laurels... keep voting, Evan deserves it.
• Can I start a petition to get Gabe Gross more starts? I understand that the Rays are a bit heavy in the lefty dept., but Gross is far superior to any of the other defensive alternatives, and is a fairly patient batter with a decent amount of power and plenty of clutch- he NEEDS to be in the line-up more often.