CHEESE & WHINE: Long Ball - Short Sweep

Rays: 6
Red Sox: 4


CHEESE:

• Sweeping. Although it was only a two-game set, getting the sweep of Boston could turn out to be paramount in the grand scheme of things.
• The Long Ball. Crawford, Pena, Burrell, and Bartlett all managed to put one over the wall.
• David Price. King David had a solid outing, lasting 6 innings, giving up 2 runs (2 solo homers), on 6 hits, striking-out 5 and walking 0. That'll do.
• Setting 'em up and Knocking 'em Down. Dan Wheeler and JP Howell continue to work well together to finish games, and last night was no exception. Wheels came in after the Rays newest bullpen arrival, Bennett, promptly put 2 men-on in the 8th with no outs, and managed to limit the damage to just 1 run. Howell came-in in the ninth and after walking the lead-off batter managed to retire 3 in a row to seal the victory and record the save.

WHINE:

• The Yankees won.
• Jeff Bennett. Hmmm... must've been a reason he was just floating around unnoticed and unsigned. Bennett came-on in the 8th and managed to put runners on second and third in a grand total of 7 pitches. Thankfully he got a little help from his friends. Oh, he'll get by with a little help from his friends.

CRACKERS:

• All of the Rays' runs were scored via homerun (Crawford (2), Pena (2), Burrell (1), Bartlett (1)).
• No Rays' player had more than 1 hit.

CAVIAR (game ball):

Carlos Pena & Pat Burrell. Both of these cats needed something to jump start their offense. Hopefully the monster homers they launched last night will be the catapult they needed; for Pena that means better hitting for average, for Burrell that means better hitting for power.