CHEESE & WHINE: As Sharp As A Tack

Rays: 6
A's: 0


CHEESE:

• Jeff Niemann. What a well-called and well-pitched game between Navi and Niemann. Niemann got himself into a little trouble here and there, but more importantly got out of it each time. Being able to avoid the big inning has been Niemann's Achille's heel so far in his young career, and if he can stay away from it like he did last night then we Rays' fans are in for a treat in the years to come. Niemann pitched the complete game shut-out; allowing six hits and walking 3 while striking-out 6. He also gave the bullpen a much needed day off.
• BJ Upton. Bossman was 3 for 5 with 2 doubles, and was robbed of his second steal of home in just a week after home plate ump, Bob Davidson (who was also having a hard time deciding where the strike-zone was) called him out after he had clearly slid around the tag.
• Pat Burrell. Burrell is finally starting to get consistently good wood on the ball. Last night PB was 2 for 4 with 2 doubles and an RBI. Great, Pat finally gets hot and now he gets a 4 day all-star break so he can cool right back down again.
• The Yankees lost.

WHINE:

• Boston won... again.

CRACKERS:

• Last night's homerun by Longoria (17)was his first since June 17th; a drought spanning a total of 18 games.
• Carlos Pena's homerun last night was his first since June 27th, a drought spanning 11 games, yet he still leads the AL in homers by 3 (24).
• San Fran pitcher, Jonathan Sanchez, in his first start since returning from a bullpen demotion recorded 11 K's and the giants first no-hitter in 32 years. Read the Story here.
• The Rays' streak of 4 straight wins is the longest in the league right now.
• Tonight's game will feature the Rays in their "throwback", 1998, rainbow, Devil Rays gear. Yay!

CAVIAR (game ball):

• Jeff Niemann. Throwing complete-game shut-outs will earn you the game ball every time.

CHEESE & WHINE: It's A Zo-merun

TAMPA BAY: 6
OAKLAND: 5


CHEESE:

• Ben Zobrist. Has there ever been a better clutch pinch hitter? When he steps up to the plate in the clutch it's almost a foregone conclusion that the Devil Rays are going to win. In case you live on Mars; the Devil Rays watched a 2 run lead slip away in the 8th, then continued to watch Oakland take a 2-run lead in the top of the 9th. The momentum had swung and this game was all but over. Enter Benjamin Thomas Zobrist to pinch hit in the bottom of the 9th and, right on cue, he smashes a 1-1 pitch over the right field wall for a 2-run zo-merun to tie the game at 5. Amazing.
• Matt Garza. Garza pitched 6 and 2/3 innings allowing 2 runs on 7 hits while striking-out 8 and walking 4. What a night and day difference between watching Kaz and Garza. Garza wasn't as sharp as usual and still dominated the Oakland hitters (much lik Kaz did in the not-so-distant past). Garza is, without a shadow of a doubt, the best pitcher on this staff.
• Melvin Upton. I've been riding this kid all year long, so I'll give him a little love; the player formerly known as Bossman Jr was 2 for 4 with an RBI and a walk. Gotta start somewhere.
• The Trop. Although they lost power during this first inning, the Trop gets a shout-out because it's been nothing but rain here all week long. If it weren't for the dome then at least 5 of the last 8 games would've been either delayed or postponed due to rain/lightning. What do you have to say to that all of you open-air stadium supporters?

WHINE:

• Troy Percival. Fatty McFluffnuts did his best Devil Ray impression, pitching all of 1/3 of an inning, managing to walk 2, allow a hit, strike-out 0, and sending 2 earned runs (the go-ahead runs) across the plate. What a "closer"!
• Evan Longoria. Dirtbag is in a serious funk, going 1 for 4 while striking out once. Over the last 10 games Evan is 9 for 41, or an alarming .220, with zero homeruns and 24 strike-outs.
• Carlos Pena. El Gato is also slumping a bit, having another 0-fer night, going 0 for 3 while taking 1 walk. Feast or famine continues in regard to Carlos.

CRACKERS:

• Despite it all the Devil Rays managed to finish this homestand at 5-3, which is not as good as they'd have hoped, but will suffice considering how poorly they played. They must find a way to avoid playing down tho their competition.

CHEESE & WHINE: Kaz Strikes Again

Tampa Bay: 6
Oakland: 7


CHEESE:

• Carlos Pena. After a week and a half drought El Gato finally got back on the Long Ball Express, hitting his 14th homer of the season. Carlos also hit a double and finished the night 2 for 3 with 2 RBI and a walk.
• Akinori Iwamura. Aki was 2 for 4 with his first triple of the season, and has now moved his batting average to above .300 (.303).
• JP Howell. Howell worked another inning without allowing a hit while recording 1 strike-out. JP has looked amazing as of late and seems to be thriving in his recent "faux-closer" role.

WHINE:

• Scott Kazmir. I've pushed the panic button on this one. Enough is enough. With 3/5 of the Rays rotation struggling this team is going nowhere. There is a fundamental difference between, say, Niemann's struggles and Kaz' struggles though; Niemann is a rookie and has shown signs of improvement whereas Kaz has done just one thing consistently, stink. Kaz was once the ace of the staff and now looks like a 5 guy at best. Something's got to give. Soon. Last night was another "gem" for Kaz, giving up 7 runs on 8 hits in 4 and 1/3 innings, walking 4 and striking out 3. When you start as poorly as Kaz did you never give your team a chance. The offense did all they could to help, but this loss falls squarely on the shoulders of Kaz and all of his "mechanical issues". Hey kid, quit worrying about where your toe lands and pitch the dang ball!
• Melvin Freaking Upton. I don't know who I'm more pissed-off at, Upton or Maddon. Maddon is just being stubborn at this point by leaving Upton in the lead-off spot, and Upton is sucking beyond imagination. At first I loved Maddon's stick-to-itiveness, but this is just becoming foolish. If Bartlett can work his way up the line-up then why is Upton immune from sliding his way down it. Upton was 0 for 5 again, bringing his BA to .177- I wonder why the Rays can't consistently score runs...hmmm.

CRACKERS:

• It looks as if Maddon is on the cusp of signing a 3-year contract extension that would have him set-up as the skipper until after the 2012 season. I wonder- if Upton is still hitting .177 in 2012 will Joe will still ave him leading-off?
• Be sure to check-out my 1st quarter report card for the Rays.

CHEESE & WHINE: The One They Should've Won

RAYS: 1
A's: 4
(11 INNINGS)


CHEESE:

• James Shields. Shieldsy must not have like his report card grade, because he came out and did exactly what an ace should do; he shut down the other team and outlasted his counterpart. Big Game James had a stellar performance; retiring 17 in a row at one point, but didn't get any help from his friends who couldn't find a way to score him a single run. Shields pitched 8 1/3 innings, allowing 0 runs on 4 hits, walking 2, and striking-out 5. What else could you ask for?
• JP Howell. JP came into the game in relief of Shields and inherited 2 runners, but allowed neither to score. Howell recorded 2 innings of work, allowing zero hits and striking-out 1.
• Aki/Maddon. Maddon takes a lot of crap for some of his hair-brained schemes and outlandish shifts, but last night he had Aki in all the right places at all the right times. It seemed as if Aki was a ball-magnet last night as every grounder found its way into his glove. (Speaking of his glove (and I may be wrong here), but I'm fairly certain Aki started the season with a new glove, but has recently switched back to his old gator-skin glove (black/blue/orangish-ish.) Aki also went 2 for 4 from the plate on the night.

WHINE:

• Sucking. The Rays were 0 for 11 with runners in scoring position. Wow- way to help out a pitcher who's working his butt off for you.
• The Beef. Evan Longoria and Carlos Pena were a combined 0-9 from the plate with a total of 4 K's.
• This team had at least 17 billion chances to score and win this game but blew them all, some of which were detailed in The Hangover at Rays Index.

CRACKERS:

• I hate to be an if's and but's person, but if the ump's strike-zone hadn't suddenly turned into a postage stamp while Wheeler was pitching (there were 3 pitches that would've ended the inning had they been called correctly) then Oakland never puts up 4 and Aybar's homer was a walk-off. Sad that such a great "pitchers' game" got spoiled by an ump taking 1 at-bat off.
• Oakland's starter, Outman, has the perfect name for a pitcher, whereas Tampa's, Balfour, not so much.

CHEESE & WHINE: Shall We Go for a Walk?

RAYS: 13
A's: 4


CHEESE:

• Jeff Niemann. The kid definitely deserves some credit for this one, despite the fact that he could've pitched the crappiest game of his career and still gotten the W. Niemann, who has struggled all year, finally found a way to pound the strike zone and put together a good outing. Jeff was able to avoid the "big inning" and put up some fairly impressive numbers along the way, allowing just 8 hits in 8 innings, surrendering 4 runs (3 earned), while striking out 3 and walking...wait for it... ZERO. Hopefully this start will give Niemann the confidence he needs in order to put some consistent starts together.
• Jason Bartlett. Its getting to the point that he essentially has his own parking space up here. JB produced again, going 3 for 3 from the plate with 5 (yes, 5) RBI and a walk (those numbers are good enough for me to accidentally forget to mention his throwing error).
• Carlos Pena. El Gato gets some love for showing that he's not a one trick pony. He can do more than just hit homers. Pena worked over the pitchers all night amassing 3 walks to go along with his 1 hit. Pena's BA is still way lower than I'd like to see, but his patience at the plate has his OBP looking okay regardless.
• Ben Zobrist. Nice catch (pic).

WHINE:

• Melvin Upton. The player formerly known as Bossman Jr was back to his old tricks going 0 for 3... again.
• The top of the lineup. Actually the 9, 1, and 2 batters (Hernandez, Upton/Gross, Crawford/Kapler). These "players" combined to be 0 for 13 from the plate. o for 13! Five of the team's 10 strike-outs came from these gentlemen as well. If it weren't for 9 walks I don't see how the Rays win this game. Take it as a gift and move forward.
• The freaking Blue Jays keep winning. Cut that crap out already!

CRACKERS:

• Jason Isringhousen made his Rays debut last night working 1 inning, allowing 1 hit and no runs. As a gesture of good-will and as a "coming-up" present I've decided to take Isringhousen "off-notice", for now... but he's on a short leash.
• The Rays are finally back to .500 for the first time since being 4-4 on April 14th.
• Niemann joins Garza and Kaz as team leaders with 4 wins each.