CHEESE & WHINE: And Yet Again...

*a picture truly is worth a thousand words:Rays: 2
Yankees: 3

CHEESE:

• David Price. King David looked solid, pitching 6 innings allowing 2 runs on only 3 hits while walking 2 and striking-out 6. Price looked like we expected him to look all season, and hopefully he can finish strong and head into next season with all the confidence he lost when he was sent down to Durham to start this season.
• Evan Longoria. Dirtbag is ridiculous. Another day, another homer. Dirtbag now has 30 homers.
• Chris Richard. Richard played a solid 1st base, making some nice stops on tough hops, and also managed to record his first major league hit in 6 and a half years.

WHINE:

• RISP. Team RISP 0 for 5.
• Beating Dead Horses. I'm tired of complaining about the bullpen. Every day its a new scapegoat, this time it was Wheeler who surrendered the walk-off homer. A little offensive help would've been appreciated though. When your bully has been struggling the guys in the dugout should work extra hard to put runs on the board to make certain that no matter how bad the relievers are- they'll still have a shot at the W.
• Tailspin. The fall into the abyss continues as this is the Rays' 7th straight loss- their longest skid since their pre-all-star break meltdown last season.

CRACKERS:

• Evan Longoria is just the ninth player in MLB history to finish a season with 30 homers, 40 doubles, and 100 RBI while under the age of 25.

CAVIAR (game ball):

• David Price. Quality start under pressure in the Bronx. Dirty, rotten shame his team couldn't get him the win.
  

CHEESE & WHINE: I Hit it Farther in Church League Softball

Rays: 3
Yankees: 5


CHEESE:

• Evan Longoria. Dirt McGirt was back from his tweaked hammy, and is hopefully the first in a long string of players returning from injuries (are you listening JB and PB?).
• Carl Crawford. Another day another pair of hits. CC was 2 for 4.

WHINE:

• Carlos Pena. El Gato had better find his stride again real soon if the Rays expect to get on any sort of run. Last night Pena was 0 for 3 and was hit by a pitch for the second game running.
• BJ Upton. I was all ready to come in today and finally take BJ "off-notice", but with another 0 for 4 performance his stay at the On-notice Hotel (free robe included with every stay) has been extended.
• Little League Ballparks disguised as MLB parks. You'll notice that Sonny isn't in the "Whine" section, and rightfully so; he allowed 6 hits against the Yankees at their house, 4 of which were homeruns, the problem is that 2 of those homers would've been flyouts at any other major league park, so I don't hold Sonny accountable at all. Take those away and he pitched 7 innings allowing only 4 hits and 3 runs, and he'd be in the "Cheese" section without a second thought. This new park is a joke. Its no exaggeration to say that it is within the realm of possibility for a strong player to accidentally hit a check swing homerun over the RF wall. Seriously. Like Dwayne and Ken said during the broadcast, that's not baseball that's slow-pitch softball.

CRACKERS:

• Word on the street is that Pat the Patient will be back in the lineup by the end of the week, and JB should be back before long as well. And not a moment too soon.
• Quick shout-out to our own writers, Dustin and Brian. Thanks for holding down the fort on the weekends. Much appreciated.

CAVIAR (game ball):

Gabe Kapler. No he's not in the "Cheese" section. Yes I'd still dance a jig if he were DFA'd right now, but his 2-run homer was a bright spot on an otherwise regular day.

CHEESE & WHINE: Holy Homers, Batman!

RAYS: 8
YANKS: 6


CHEESE:

• Evan Longoria. I consistently say that he'll soon be the best player in the league, sometimes I wonder why he's not already considered the best. Dirtbag was 3 for 5 with 3 more RBI (38), recording not 1, but 2 homers.
• Carl Crawford. Although CC's stolen base streak ended, so to did his home run drought. Crawford hit his first homer of the season off of Mo Rivera in the 9th and finished the night 2 for 5 with 1 RBI and 0 K's.
• J.P. Howell. A slight bit of redemption for J.P. who came-in in the 6th and pitched 2 innings, allowing just 1 hit and 1 walk while striking out 3. That's more like it.
• Ben Zobrist. Zobrist continues to show his worth, going 2 for 4 from the plate and hitting a solo homer in the 6th.

WHINE:

• Dan Wheeler. Wheels was brought-in in relief of Howell, but couldn't manage to hold-on, allowing 2 runs on 2 hits while striking-out zero, to allow the Yankees to tie the game at 6 and effectively blowing the save. The Rays need more consistency out of their "set-up" guy.
• Joe Maddon. Papa Smurf has to make a decision. He chose Niemann as his 5th starter, but won't lengthen the leash enough for Niemann to breath. Yes, Niemann was struggling with control, but he'd thrown less than 80 pitches and was standing on a 4-0 lead. With a 4 run lead there's no need to throw as many hittable pitches, and the result is a few walks. Did Maddon really feel that Niemann was looking that bad? Bad enough to give him the hook in the 4th inning in exchange for Lance cormier? Well, hindsight now shows that Cormier wasn't any better, and once again Maddon "out-thunk" himself. If he's lost all faith in Niemann (right or wrong) then a change needs to happen- sooner than later.

CRACKERS:

• The Rays amassed 6 homers which is a new team record.
• For the first time in his 15 year career Andy Pettitte surrendered 4 homer runs. This season he has allowed 5 total, all of which are credited to the Rays.
• For the first time in his 15 year career Mariano Rivera gave up back to back homers (Crawford, Longoria).

CHEESE & WHINE: Pena to the Rescue

RAYS: 4
YANKS: 3


CHEESE:

• Carlos Pena. El Gato started slowly at the plate going 0 for 3 with 3 K's heading into extra innings, but came through in the clutch sending a frozen-rope line drive homer over the rightfield wall to take the lead in the 10th. The "all-or-nothing" approach by Pena continues, but I'll take it as long as the "all" keeps coming at opportune times.
• Andy Sonnanstine. Sonny finally had a good, solid outing facing the minimum through 3 and lasting into the 8th. Sonny pitched 7 and 1/3 innings, surrendering 6 hits and recording 4 K's. Sonny left the game with a 3-0 lead, but had 2 runs charged against him after Howell screwed everything up (more on that in the "whine").
• Gabe Gross. Gross had been out for a few days to celebrate the birth of his first daughter, Allie Lee (congrats, by the way), but came back and picked up where he left off, with smart at-bats and solid fielding (tell me again why we have Kapler). Gross got hits at all the right times, finishing the night 2-4 from the plate and scoring a run.
• Troy Percival. Fatty McFluffnuts did his job, again. He took his time doing it, but he did it. Percy came-in in the 10th to put it away after Pena had put the Rays ahead by 1 in the top of the inning and he (Percy) once again rose to the occasion and got the save, his 5th of the year.
• Dioner Navarro. Navi was 2 for 3 from the plate with an RBI and did a great job behind the plate as well. I think that Hernandez having a great game last week was exactly what it took to light the fire under Navi's butt.

WHINE:

• J.P. Howell. Does J.P. stand for Joke of a Pitcher? I've been a huge Howell fan even back to '07 when he was still a starting pitcher, but the last 2 games he's pitched in have been ridiculous. Last night Howell came-in in relief of Wheeler (who had come in to get one batter after Sonny had allowed runners to reach 2nd and 3rd) and had done it successfully, recording a K before being sat down to make way for Howell to come in for a lefty/lefty match-up with Damon who he proceeded to walk to load the bases. Then Howell gave up a bases-clearing double to Teixeira to blow the save, rob Sonny of a W, and nearly cost the team the game.
• Joe Maddon. First of all you have to at least consider keeping Wheeler on the mound after he showed such great command while striking out some dude from NY, oh wait, it was Derek *clap clap* Jeter, but Maddon decided with a 3-0 lead to go to the lefty/lefty righty/righty routine and bring in Howell. Secondly, once Howell walks Damon to load the bases you don't make the call to the pen or at least think about a trip to the mound to relax him? Listen Papa Smurf, if a pitcher is on (Wheeler), sometimes its better to leave him out there. This lefty specialist BS is starting to get old. I understand it, and I see its inherent advantages, but you don't have to live by it or die by it. Sometimes you have to get your nose out of the book and play the scenario not the odds.

CRACKERS:

• Carl Crawford stole his 20th base of the season, is still yet to be caught stealing. CC has stolen a base in 9 consecutive games.
• Evan Longoria leads the bigs in RBI (35) and doubles (14), and is riding a 10 game hitting streak.
• Pena leads the league in HRs with 12 (two more than the next closest, Pujols).
• ADDENDUM: After reading Prof's (Rays Index) game recap I was reminded how crapily Upton and Burrell did, again. So just an FYI one more crappy game from either of you and you're On-Notice!