CHEESE & WHINE: Losing My Religion

Rays: 5
O's: 10

CHEESE:

• Pat Burrell. The Bat had a nice night, going 2 for 4 with a 3-run homer and 4 RBI total. Where was that all season?
• Ben Zobrist. Benny-Boo was 3 for 4 with a double, a triple, and an RBI. Well played, sir.
• Low-K. The team, as a whole, only struck-out twice. That's quite the improvement from the team average which hovers somewhere around 672 per nine innings (or so it seems).

WHINE:

• Jeff Niemann. The Rays' most consistent starter and AL R.O.Y. candidate didn't do himself any favors last night; lasting only 4 and 1/3 innings, allowing 6 runs on 11 hits. However, he did manage to strike-out 6 while only walking 1.
• Brian Shouse. I consider myself a good Christian man, but if I ever see Brian Shouse on the street I'm going to walk up and punch him in his lip. He comes in as a lefty specialist v. Scott and promptly surrenders a solo homer followed by a 4-pitch walk. Ridiculous amounts of anger.
• Russ Springer. The same punching possibility applies.

CRACKERS:

• The Rays are now only 1 game over .500 for the season, which is an absolute travesty considering where they stood just 3 short weeks ago (69-56).

CAVIAR (game ball):

• Pat Burrell. The Bat came through with some serious run-production.