CHEESE & WHINE: Oh It Burn(ett)s!

RAYS: 2

YANKS: 7

CHEESE:

• Matt Garza. Garza recovered from a rocky start to finish well. He pitched 7 innings, allowing 2 runs on 5 hits while striking out 9 and walking 2. Had he not run into a buzz-saw on the other side, those numbers would've earned him a nice win, but alas, AJ Burnett was better.

WHINE:

• BJ Upton. Upton backed-up his masterful 2009 debut performance with a totally forgettable one. Bossman went 0-4 from the plate with 3 K's.


• Evan Longoria. Dirtbag did his best BJ impression and also struck out 3 times. To be fair to both Dirtbag and Upton, Burnett was pitching very well, but suddenly Dirtbag looks like there's no meathod to his madness (could the early HR's be affecting his swing, circa the re-learning curve he experienced after last season's HR derby?).


• Carl Crawford. Crawford didn't do anything overtly wrong, but it seemed to me that he was horribly out of place on a couple of hits last night. Someone with his supposed speed should never look like they're out of position, and last night CC unmistakingly did.

CRACKERS:

• Longoria will not be in the line-up for the next few days, as he's returned to the left-coast to attend to some undisclosed family matter. (MLB.com)


• Don't forget, that you can win a pair of tickets to a Rays game just for guessing the "Sunburst Player of The Game" (contest details). Stop by Rays Index to see who last night's "Sunburst Player of The Game" was and remember to make your choice for the upcoming game's SPOTG. (Rays Index)