Cheese & Whine: July 24

CHEESE & WHINE: Go & Zo go back-to-back

RAYS: 4
A's: 3

CHEESE:

• James Shields once again pitched very well; going 8 1/3 innings, allowing 3 runs on 6 hits while striking out 7 and walking none. Now if we can get Shields to pitch like that on the road then the trip to the post-season would be much smoother. Shields is now 9-6 for the season with an ERA of 3.66 over 21 games.
• Zobrist and Gomes went for back-to-back jacks in the 5th. Gomes hit a 2-run homer into left while Zobrist sent his over the rightfield wall. Its a shame that Ben seems to be rounding into form just in time to be sent back to Durham. The Rays will miss Zobrist's power when Bartlett returns (although Bartlett seems to be the more consistant hitter).
• The Rays won their 20th series of the season, matching a franchise record.
• We're headed to KC.

WHINE:

• The upper-middle of the Rays lineup (Crawford, Longoria, Pena) were a combined 0-10.
• With Greg Smith's amazing move to first the Rays should know better than to push their luck... Yeah, I'm talking to you Bossman and Aki...
• Percival did a fine job closing this one out, but he faced 3 batters- walked one and struck out none. I'd like to see my closer getting more K's than BB's.

CRACKERS:

• Last Night's back to back homers by Gomes and Zobrist marked the first Rays back to back jacks of the season that didn't include Dirtbag.