CHEESE & WHINE: King Me

Rays: 8
Royals: 7

CHEESE:

• Pat Burrell. Pat the Bat is heating up- it gives us a warm and happy feeling.
• Carl Crawford. CC was 3 for 5 (just another day at the office), with 3 runs and an RBI. It was also the threat of CC running that got Cruz out of his game plan in the 8th which then changed the way he pitched Longoria, and the rest, as they say, is history.
• Evan Longoria. Dirtbag came through in the clutch, took advantage of Cruz's split attention, and sent a changeup over the left field wall to put the Rays up 8-7 in the 8th.
• Back-end of the Bullpen. Wheeler and Howell pitched the final 2 innings, allowing zero runs, on zero hits and striking out 2.

WHINE:

• James Shields. The "ace" shouldn't give up 7 runs on 11 hits against a mediocre oppponent. And he should definately not say in a postgame interview that he pitched well (MLB).
• Carlos Pena. Let the post homerun derby slump commence.
• The Yankees and Red Sox won.

CRACKERS:

• At the ceremonial half-way point of the season the Rays still have 3 players with batting averages over .300, none of which has the last name of Pena or Longoria (Crawford, Bartlett, Zobrist).
• Tonight the Rays get their shot at young phenom Zack Greinke. Let's see if the Rays' own former young phenom (Kazmir) can keep up.
• If you get the chance to watch Yankees v. Tigers today at 1:00 you'll be treated to a great pitching match-up, Sabathia v. Verlander.

CAVIAR (game ball):

• Evan Longoria. Clutch is crucial.