What a difference 24 hours makes. One night after the Tampa Bay Rays blast the Boston Red Sox pitching for 5 home runs, the Red Sox return the favor by hitting 5 of their own, 4 coming off SP Matt Garza. The Tampa Bay Rays were out hit 17-8 in tonight’s game and they dropped 2 of three in the regular season series against the Red Sox.Boston wins walking away with a 11-5 victory.

Matt Garza was shelled, he gave up 6 earned runs, 9 hits and departed the game after 4.1 innings dropping his regular season record to 14-8. Boston Red Sox P Tim Wakefield gave up 4 earned runs, pitched only 5 innings but came away with the win, his win made him the oldest pitcher to record a win for the Boston Red Sox at 44.

Tampa Bay will have an off day Thursday as they travel to Toronto for the final regular season series with the Toronto Blue Jays. After the Toronto series, the Rays will square off against the New York Yankees for 7 times in 11 days in the series which should go a long way towards determining who will win the AL East this season. Only 23 games remain in the regular season and it’s getting down to crunch time. Tampa Bay remains in the driver’s seat for the wildcard playoff seed, they remain 6 1/2 games ahead of the Boston Red Sox despite dropping two of three to them this week.

The game was well in hand for the Tampa Bay Rays by the end of the 5th inning as they enjoyed a 12-2 lead over the Red Sox. The Boston Red Sox started P Daisuke Matsuzaka who has had an up and down year this season, and scorched him for 8 earned runs in 4.2 innings. On the flip side, David Prices’ march to become the first 20 game winner in Tampa Bay Rays history continued as he picked up his 17th win, throwing 6 innings, allowing two earned runs and just striking out 2.

This evening the Rays will square off against the Boston Red Sox for hopefully the last time this season. Boston has now slipped behind the Chicago White Sox in the hunt for the wildcard berth and are now 7.5 games behind the Tampa Bay Rays in the hunt.

Tonight’s game will be broadcast on ESPN so I’m sure I’ll have to turn down the sound and listen on local radio as the announcers will be moved to tears as they talk of what might have been for the Red Sox, and they’ll wax poetically about all the different scenarios which would allow the Red Sox to climb back into the playoff race. Spare me.

The Rays will be send Matt Garza (14-7 3.46) to the mound tonight to face knuckleballer, Tim Wakefield (3-10 5.19) for the Red Sox. Garza has been red hot lately, he’s 3-0 1.32 ERA in his last 4 starts. The last time Wakefield faced the Rays, he gave up 6 runs and 6 walks in 5 2/3 innings, let’s hope for more of the same tonight. Goodbye Boston, and good riddance.

Tampa Bay Rays fans realize that several key pieces of their team will be absent when the Tampa Bay Rays season starts in 2011, Carl Crawford being front and center but the core of the pitching staff is looking good for the future. Already locked in is David Price, Matt Garza, Wade Davis, and Rays fans got to see a taste of the future in the last month when Jeremy Hellickson was recalled twice from AAA Durham.

Jeremy Hellickson lived up to all of his billing. He started 4 games, he went 3-0 in his starts. Pitched 26.1 innings while logging 25 strikeouts and only allowing 4 walks. He finished his stint with the Rays this season with a 2.05 ERA in four starts. That’s a very solid start to what should be a very successful career in the majors.

But the Rays have another pitcher who is knocking on the door and who might make an appearance or two with the major league club next season. Matt Moore. Moore accomplished something which hasn’t been achieved in 5 years, he recorded 208 strikeouts in his minor league season. The last time such a milestone was reached was by Francisco Liriano in 2005.

Moore has played his season with the single -A Rays affiliate in Port Charlotte Florida, the Stone Crabs. Matt Moore has registered double digit strikeouts in 10 of his 26 starts this season in the minors. In his final regular season game for the Stone Crabs, he struck out 11, recorded 6 ground ball outs, and had one flyout in 6 innings of play.

Carl Crawford will be missed by the Rays after this season, even Carlos Pena could be gone, but with the likes of Jeremy Hellickson and Matt Moore due to join the rotation soon, I don’t expect the Rays to drift back into the dark ages anytime soon.

Price, (15-5 2.97) will be looking for his elusive 16th win of the season after receiving 2 no decisions in his last two outings. Lester (13-8 3.26) is coming off a 2 inning 9 earned runs loss after getting shelled by the Toronto Blue Jays.

Tampa is going to need the pitching to be strong throughout the series, this is not the usual running team from Boston that Rays fans have been accustomed to seeing in the past. Injuries have really taken a toll on Boston this season, and they rely more on their bats than ever. That won’t be an easy chore though. Boston is second in MLB with 169 home runs, 2nd overall in RBI’s with 625 and 4th overall in hits with 1197. They also enter the Trop with a team .269 BA.

Boston really has overcome adversity this season, as much as I hate to admit. They looked like they were down for the count early on in the season, and yet despite all the injuries they have endured, they are only 5.5 games back in the wildcard race. Tampa will face the Sox 6 times in the next 12 games and really does control it’s own destiny. Tampa holds an 8-4 advantage over the Red Sox so far this season, however Boston is 3-3 at the Trop.

It’s time to put the shelling the Rays received on Wednesday behind them, we have a real chance here to put some serious distance between Boston and Tampa with the start of this series. We really don’t want these guys hanging around much longer. We can’t allow these guys to pick up any sort of momentum. Let’s watch Terry Francona speed eating his bubble gum tonight in a defeat for the Red Sox.

It is being reported by Ken Rosenthal of FoxSports.com that the Tampa Bay Rays have signed RF Brad Hawpe. Hawpe was released by the Colorado Rockies and he cleared waivers. The Rays were rumored to have put a waiver claim in on Detroit Tiger OF?DH Johnny Damon and were linked to possibly being interested in OF Manny Rameriez. I never thought Rameriez was actually in the mix because the team would have had to pick up over 4 million of his remaining salary for the last 35 games of the regular season. Rameriez expressed a desire a few days ago that whichever team he went to, he wanted them to pick up another season which the Rays would not be able to afford.

Hawpe brings a left handed bat to the lineup, but he has a history of hitting right handed pitching very well. He has also spent time at 1st base but primarily plays right field. Hawpe has only appeared in 88 games so far this season, collecting 7 home runs, 37 RBI’s in 300 AB’s. While he is batting just .255 in limited action this year, he is a career .280 hitter.

Tampa pounded Angels starter Ervin Santana who had come into last nights game with a three game win streak, he was hit hard and often, yielding 8 hits and 6 earned runs in 5.1 innings. Rays 3B Evan Longoria led the hitting attack with his 4th multi hit game in his last 10 games. Longo hit his 19th homer of the season in the third inning and added a double later in the game for good measure.

This afternoon, the Rays will wrap up their West coast trips with a matinee against the Angels. The Rays get another pitcher back off the DL, Jeff Niemann (10-3 3.12) going up against Dan Haren (1-4 4.39) for the Angels. The Rays like Niemann pitching on the road, they have won 9 of his 10 starts on the road this year. Haren makes his first start against the Rays since 2007, and B.J. Upton loves squaring off against Haren, he’s 7-15 lifetime against him.

Damon told reporters yesterday that he didn’t know if he would report to the Boston club, he has 48 hours to show up. Damon has a partial no trade clause in his contract and said he was going to have to think long and hard about whether or not he wanted to finish the season with the Red Sox. After last night’s Tigers game, Damon said he was leaning towards staying in Detroit. He had told reporters yesterday that he wanted to return to the Tigers next season as well.

Damon is not the player he once was. In 415 AB’s this season, Damon has 7 home runs and 41 RBI’s with a .272 BA with his left handed bat.

A similar move by the Red Sox might be executed if the Dodgers put Manny Ramirez on waivers as expected later this week. The Rays have been searching for another bat for the run to the playoffs.

In a great sign for the Rays, James Shields picked up his second consecutive win in his last two outings. In his last two starts, Shields has pitched 13 innings, surrendered 12 hits, 3 earned runs and logged 16 strikeouts. The Rays are going to need Shields to turn his season around as we head down the stretch to the playoffs. Shields might not have a stellar record but has been able to post a 3/73:1 K-BB ratio this season, nothing to sneeze at.

The Rays bats were largely silent with Tampa only recording 6 hits and once again, failed to drive in several runs, batting only 2-13 w/RISP.

Tonight is the second game of the three game series and the Rays welcome back Wade Davis (9-9 4.45) from the 15 day DL list with a shoulder strain. The Angels are sending Ervin Santana (13-8 3.93) to the mound tonight.

These next two games will the the Rays final games on the West coast this season, and it’s about time. These first pitches coming at 10:30pm are killers.

Tampa outscored Texas 24-12 in the three game series, and once again logged 10 hits and drew 8 walks against Rangers pitching. James Shields was impressive for the Rays, only allowing 4 hits and 1 earned run in 7 innings, and registering 6 strikeouts. Relievers Joaquin Benoit and Rafael Soriano bookended reliever Lance Cormier, and Soriano recorded his 35th save of the season.

This was an impressive series for the Rays, they posted huge offensive numbers along with very quality starts for the pitching staff. The start of the month saw the Rays flounder a bit, losing 5 in a row between the 5th until the 9th of the month. Since that slump, Tampa is 7-2 . 10-7 for the month so far.

I wish I had more to add, but I was distracted by my other obligations, having to cover the Brett Favre news conference. Jesus, I hope this will be the end of the line for him.

Tampa now heads out west.

Rays pitcher Matt Garza had a fantastic outing. Garza had been pitching well in his last few starts but couldn’t seem to record a win. Tuesday night though, Garza was on fire, logging 7 innings, 5 hits and 10 K’s on 102 pitches. Garza struck out 5 of the first 8 batters.

The Rays at the plate were electric, collecting 15 hits and drawing 7 walks. Tampa had 4 batters with multi hit games and LF Carl Crawford and 3B Evan Longoria each driving in three runs. Crawford was simply a double away from hitting for the cycle. And B.J. Upton, who is quietly raising his batting average, had a pair of doubles as well.

James Shields will be on the mound tonight as the Rays look for a series sweep. To say that Shields (10-11 4.98) has been inconsistent, would be an understatement. On August 1st, Shields pitched the best game I’ve ever seen him pitch against the New York Yankees. Shields pitched into the 8th inning, 4 hits and 11 strikeouts. He has followed up that brilliant performance with a pair of really terrible outings. Rocked for 8 earned runs in just 4 innings against Toronto, then surrendering 4 runs against Baltimore last week. A start by Shields is a roll of the dice as of late.

The Rangers will be starting Derek Holland (2-1 4.19) The 23 year old left hander is being recalled from the Rangers AAA affiliate in Oklahoma City where he has been rehabbing a shoulder injury. Holland is 2-0 against the Rays lifetime, but has a 5.73 ERA versus Tampa.

After tonight’s game, Tampa will travel to the West coast for a 6 game trip taking on the Oakland A’s and Los Angeles Angels.