The Rays opened their 4 game series with the Seattle Mariners riding the high of the walk off HR by Carlos Pena the night before.  Well, the tables were turned when Raul Ibanez smacked a HR in the bottom of the 9^th off Dan Wheeler to earn the walk off victory for the Mariners.

This game was about the art of pitching!  Both Andy Sonnanstine and Felix Hernandez had their best pitches working tonight.  Sonny scattered 5 hits over 7.1 innings of awesome work giving up only 1 ER, 4 K’s and 0 BB.  At one point in the game Sonny had retired 17 straight Mariners.  Unfortunately for Sonny Hernandez was just as impressive holding the Ray’s bats at bay for 8 complete innings.   

The Rays offense managed only 5 hits and 1 run scored on a wild pitch.  Sonny got himself in a little trouble in the 7^th allowing a lead off double eventually to score the tying run.  Dan Wheeler hung a split finger to Ibanez on a 1-2 count and he promptly deposited it in the right field seats for the walk off victory. 

It’s too bad for Sonny that Hernandez was just as effective.  This was Sonny’s best game in a while by far and he deserved to win it.  But, we all know that’s not the way it always works.  James Shields will toe the rubber tonight for the Rays and set his sights on earning a W!