CHEESE & WHINE: Royal Flush

RAYS: 3
ROYALS: 2


CHEESE:

• BJ Upton. Upton finished the night just 1 for 4, but the "1" just so happened to be a 2-run homer that put the Rays on top for good, and enabled them to complete their first 3 game sweep of the season. BJ also walked once.
• James Shields. Despite the fact that Shields can't seem to buy any run support (averaging somewhere around 2.5 runs per game, as opposed to Niemanns' 6+ runs of support per game recently) he still walked away with a W after battling through several tight spots. Shields finished the night having pitched 8 innings, allowing 2 runs on 6 hits, while striking-out 8 and walking none. Thank the lord that these starters are finally finding their stride, and I'm sure the bullpen is enjoying the rest as well. Pure coincidence that as soon as Kaz left the rotation the rest of the pitchers seemingly picked-up their game? Is it a matter of picking-up the slack in his absence or is Kaz just full of bad mojo?
• JP Howell. Once again JP came-in in the clutch and performed well; going 1 inning (3 batters) striking out 1 and picking up the save.
• Joe Dillon. All this guy does, apparently, is get on base. Last night Dillon was 3 for 4 out of the DH position.
• Double Plays. Last night we got to see 2 less-common double plays; with bases loaded and no outs Shields turned a "back at ya" grounder into a 1-2-3 (pitcher-catcher- first) double play, and later Aybar did a great job initiating a 5-3 double play (third to first).

WHINE:

• RISP. Once again the Rays did a horrible job with runners in scoring position, finishing the night 0-13. Last night the Rays were fortunate to escape with a W thanks to the long ball, but I'm fairly certain that they'll never win another game in which they finish 0-13 with runners in scoring position.
• The Middle of the Lineup. Aybar, Pena, Zobrist, Joyce were a combined 0-12. Its getting close to the time where we start to worry about the holes in Pena's swing.
• The Sox and Yanks won.

CRACKERS:

• Last night the Rays got back to .500 (28-28), so in case you didn't notice we've once again exorcised the Devil (hopefully for good this time).
• The Rays are now just 2 games back of 3rd place Toronto.
• Reid Brignac hit his first career triple last night.

CAVIAR:

James Shields. 8 solid innings with 8 K's and no walks... no brainer.