CHEESE & WHINE: Ho-Hum

Rays: 3
Angels: 4


CHEESE:

• Ben Zobrist. Zorilla hit yet another homer, his 12th, in the 8th inning to pull the Rays within 1. Zo finished the night 2 for 4 from the plate with 2 RBI, scored a run, and was the only Rays player to record more than 1 hit.
• Carlos Pena. El Gato was 1 for 2 with a double and 2 walks. With patience will come better pitches to hit, and with better pitches to hit will come more homers. *fingers crossed*
• Gabe Gross. Offensively Gross was less than stellar (1 for 4 with 2 K's), but Gross showed exactly why he deserves a roster spot over the other Gabe by showing good instinct and showcasing his great arm on several occasions, including gunning down Kendrick from shallow RF.

WHINE:

• James Shields. You could see from the first pitch that Shields didn't feel like pitching. If you go back and look at the tape you'll see that he was just kind of skulking around right out of the gate, and it wasn't until the 3 inning that Shields caught his stride, but between his lackadaisical approach and a few defensive errors the Angels were already on top, where they'd stay the rest of the game. Shields finished the game having pitched 6 and 1/3 innings, allowing 4 runs (2 earned) on 10 hits, while walking 0, and striking-out 3. Not good enough for the supposed Ace of the staff.
• Dioner Navarro. Navi is back to his sucky ways once again, going 0 for 4 with a strike-out. Navi's descent back into the mires of hitting sucktitude coupled with his crappy defensive effort this weekend have re-earned him a spot "on-notice" (sidenote: as no major gaffes have been made as of late Joe Maddon has been removed from the list).
• RISP. Team stats with runners in scoring position: 0 for 8. Not gonna win those games.
• Evan Longoria. Since returning from his strained/sore hamstring Longoria is 0 for 6 with 3 strikeouts. E-Lo has drawn 4 walks (1 intentional) during that stretch, but the Rays need more from their stud third baseman.
• BJ Upton. Stop trying to steal.

CRACKERS:

• In round 1 of the first-year players draft the Rays selected (30th overall pick) 17 year old LeVon Washington (fresh off of shoulder surgery (no red-flag there?)) from Gainsville, Fl. Washington bats left-handed and throws right. Their second and third round picks were Kenneth Diekroeger (ss), and Todd Glaesmann (of) respectively.

CAVIAR (game ball):

Ben Zobrist. Another day another homer.