I know the score might not look like the Rays got hammered but trust me they did.  This was a very difficult game to watch, a very painful loss.  Nothing much went right for the Ray’s pitching staff.  SP James Shields, the guy who has been our work horse eating 7-8 innings every start, barely survived 5 innings.  In those 5 innings he gave up 10 hits and 5 runs (2 ER thanks to Aki’s 5^th Error of the season).  Shields did not show the ability to put people away going deep into many counts.  Although he did earn 5 K’s his frustration on the mound was evident.  The bullpen followed Shields and did not fair any better giving up 6 hits and 6 ER through 4 innings. 

The offense was shut down by Carmona in the early going.  They finally managed to mount some sort of attack in the 6^th inning scoring 6 runs and closing the gap to 3 runs at that point.  The big blow was dealt by Ben Zobrist who sent a screaming line drive into the RF seats accounting for 3 runs. 

So, now the Rays record stands at 4 games under .500.  The pitching is bad and the defense is questionable at times.  These were the two things the rays relied upon last season.  You know offense for any team is here to day gone tomorrow but without pitching and defense you stand no chance in MLB.  So, the issue is not the loss itself, every team is going to lose at some point and lose ugly, but HOW we are losing.  I am concerned now doubt but not throwing in the towel by any means.

Go Rays!!!!!