The key for any successful team is beat who you should beat. If you can do that the stars will align. The Rays did just that this series by sweeping the Washington Nationals and going 5-1 on this homestand. SP James Shields was again a bit less than perfect on the rubber. Although he stopped the bleeding and kept the game close enough for the Rays to rally. Shieldsy lasted 6 1/3 innings giving up 9 hits, 4 ER, 1 free pass while striking out 4. Lucky for him he was bailed out by the bull pen and the offense or he would have suffered the loss. As it ended RP Dan Wheeler earned the ‘W’ and RP JP Howell earned the save. RP Randy Choate chipped in with a scoreless 2/3 of an inning. One thing I have noticed about the SP core this season is none of them seem to have an ‘out’ pitch that they can throw. Shields was living that nightmare Sunday as he went 0-2 to a lot of the Nat’s hitters then left a pitch over the plate to give up a hit. They really need to sort that out so the offense is not always playing catch up.
The big bat of the game was swung by Gabe Kapler. Yes, folks, that’s right…Gabe Kapler. Kapler was 2 for 2 with a game tying HR, 3 RBIs, 1 run scored and 2 free passes. Carlos Pena and BJ Upton also chipped in with a multiple hit day. The quirkiest play of the game came off PH Willy Aybar’s bat. Pena was standing on 2nd after leading off with a 2B. Willy came in to PH for Gross due to the LHP. Willy hit what appeared to be a routine grounder to 3rd base that deflected off the bag and sent the ball into no man’s land in LF allowing Pena to score the winning run. It was awesome!
With the victory the Rays have tied Toronto for 3rd place and are only 3 games behind the second place Yankees with 97 games to go. Not too shabby considering the major injuries this team has had to suffer through. Now with Pat Burrell and Jason Bartlett the Rays can solidify their lineup. Burrell needs to get going quick as there is no time to waste. If he can start swinging the bat like he was signed to do this lineup will become very dangerous very quickly.
See you in Denver!
