David Price (14-5 2.82) takes the mound tonight for the Rays as Tampa tries to get back on track. In Prices’ last outing, he had a quality start, going 7 innings, striking out 7 and only allowing one run. Price got a no decision as the Rays went into extra innings and eventually lost the game 2-1. Hitting for the Rays has been abyssal for the Rays of late. In the last five games, Tampa is batting a team .149. Yesterday, the Rays barely managed to avoid getting no hit for the third time this season, managing a single with two outs in the ninth inning off Blue Jays P Brandon Morrow who threw 136 pitches.

The Sporting News Stan McNeal penned a column about three things David Price needs to do in order to take his game to the next level. McNeal says he needs more strikes, has to expand his arsenal and spend more time trying to learn hitters tendencies.

The Tigers will have Armando Galarraga (3-4 4.32) on the mound tonight. As if yesterday’s debacle in Toronto wasn’t enough here comes Galarraga. Though he has been struggling of late, Galarraga will forever be remembered for the “Non-Perfect” game he threw against the Cleveland Indians on June 2nd of this year.  Galarraga is 1-0, 6.35ERA lifetime against the Rays. Price is 2-0 1.65 lifetime against Detroit.

Something has to give to the Rays right now and we have to hope that during their flight from Toronto to Detroit yesterday, the Rays found their bats, maybe they were lost in customs.

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Detroit comes to the Trop after losing 6 consecutive games on the road this season, and what frustrates me about the Rays, is just like the Buccaneers, they seem to play down to the level of their opponent.

Matt Garza (10-5 4.36) takes the mound tonight for the Rays, who has a 3-0 record at the Trop in his last four starts at home, however, Garza is 0-4 with a 5.85 ERA versus the Tigers in his career starts against the Tigers. The Tigers are running Max Scherzer to the mound in opposition tonight. Scherzer is 7-7 with a 4.43 ERA and I’m concerned that the Rays batting order always seems to make ordinary pitchers look like Cy Young candidates, tonight could be crucial. Crucial because tomorrow the Tigers are trotting out Jason Verlander against James Shields who has struggled mightily this season.

The Rays must capture a win tonight because I’m not so certain about tomorrow night’s game, and you don’t want to be two games down to Detroit at home. Especially with New York at Cleveland and Boston against the Angels.

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3B Evan Longoria was thrown out in the top of the 8th inning with Carlos Pena up to bat. Pena just launched a homer in Cleveland on Saturday night. Carl Crawford was picked off 2nd base with no one out in the top of the eighth as well, fooled by a move by the Indians pitcher. Reid Brignac was also thrown out. And how about John Jaso standing on second after a double with no one out, going on contact with a shot hit into the shortstop position.What are the Rays doing here? Practicing the things a team ought not to do in the post-season? Let’s get the mistakes out of the way now.

Wade Davis did post another win, his third in the last four outings, and perhaps this afternoon’s game was another audition as trade bait. I’ve read a couple online rumors this afternoon that the Rays might be seriously interested in Indians outfielder Shin-Soo Choo. The Indians outfielder has just recently come off the DL, and this season is batting .292 with 13 home runs and driven in 45 runs. If the rumors are true, perhaps the Rays will leave Davis and bring Choo with them on the flight home. I would not be agreeable to such a trade though because I feel Davis has much more upside than Choo who has a history of injury.

This afternoon was a messy win. Davis allowed too many baserunners, Rays baserunners looked like they were in high school but once again, Benoit and Soriano bailed the club out. A win is a win, even if it is ugly, and today’s win takes the Rays record to 59-38, the first time this season the Rays have been 21 games over .500.

So now it’s back to the Trop for the longest homestand of the regular season. I’d like to see an 8-3 record after the homestand and a sweep of the Yankees. Hey, a guy can wish can’t he?

There are somethings in life that just don’t make sense. If 7-11 stores are open 24 hours a day, they why do they need locks on the doors? Why are there instructions in braille at the drive through window at the bank and why can’t the Tampa Bay Rays win in Cleveland? I guess there is something to be said for consistency and the Rays have now lost 18 in a row in Progressive Field. In fact, not only did they not win tonight, the Rays only managed one hit. One hit for a team which had been averaging 7 runs a game after the All-Star break.

Indians P Fausto Carmona recorded his 10th win of the season after allowing one hit and striking out 7 in a game which was suspended after 2 hours and 44 minutes of rain delay, the game was eventually called after the 7th inning.

Saturday night’s matchup features David Price (12-5 2.84) going up against Mitch Talbot (8-8 3.89) for the Indians. Price is coming off a horrible outing his last start, surrendering 7 earned runs in 5 innings against the Yankees. Talbot was strong his last start, getting a no decision but only gave up 1 earned run against a good Detroit team.

Maybe tonight’s rain shortened game will cause the Rays to do something different that will help break the streak. Take a different route back to the hotel, maybe they should go out for midnight bowling tonight, hit some strip clubs, go drinking until 5am, something different. Until then, this streak will simply remain a mystery.

Tampa has not won a game in Cleveland since September 28th 2005 against the Indians. Tonight’s game will see two pitchers square off against one another who are both coming off a win in their last outting.

Jeff Niemann (8-2 2.92) takes the mound for the Rays against Fausto Carmona (9-7 3.65) for the Indians. Cleveland has been playing some good baseball after the All-Star break and are expected to get OF Shin-Soo Choo back in the lineup tonight. The Rays are hoping for a return of OF Carl Crawford who, uh, took one for the team on Tuesday night.

This series has all the makings of a trap series for the Rays. The Rays must win the series if not sweep the series against Cleveland with a very difficult 11 game homestand against three very good teams, Detroit, New York and Minnesota.

On Sunday, Tampa left 15 men on base, as was 4-13 w/RISP. This is not the way a championship team is born. They won 3 of 4 against a very weak Cleveland Indians team and swept a wounded Boston Red Sox squad, they went 6-1 at the home stand which is what they needed to do. I can’t ever remember being so upset about a 6-1 homestand, but major problems are lying ahead for the Rays if they can’t start scoring these runners on base. Bases loaded with no outs and no runs?  The key hits seem to be coming helter-skelter for the Rays recently but consistency needs to be the key in the second half if this team is going to move forward and drive into the playoffs.

During the All-Star break, I’ll be issuing my mid season report on the Rays and a very interesting article about a new stadium and what that would mean to the Tampa area.

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Jeff Niemann (7-2 2.65) will be on the mound for the good guys this afternoon. The Indians are sending out Justin Masterson (3-8 5.22) Masterson lost his last start after surrendering 7 earned runs in just over 5 innings and received the loss. Niemann recorded a win in last Tuesday’s start against the Boston Red Sox.

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Speaking of pitching, how many Rays fans were disappointed lat season when the Rays shipped LHP Scott Kazmir to the LA Angels? Once Kazmir arrived in LA, he made 6 starts and recorded a 2-2 record, posting an ERA of 1.73. Many thought that Kazmir’s woes were behind him, well, they’re not. Heading into last night’s game, Kamir was a pedistrian 7-8 with an ERA just under 6.00. Kaz was ROCKED last night, ROCKED is a gentle work for what happened last night. Kazmir set a record for surrending the most runs in a single game by an Angles pitcher when he gave up 13, YES 13 earned runs in 5 innings. I took Kazmir on my fantasy baseball team early on this year but dumped him in May, thankfully.

Manager Joe Maddon announced that the starting rotation will be changed after the All-Star game in order to give maximum rest to the starting 5. James Shields will remain in the top spot, Jeff Niemann moves into second, AL win leader David Price moves into third. Wade Davis will be fourth and Matt Garza will slide into the number 5 spot in the rotation. Garza pitched twice this week and made a relief appearance. Shields, Niemann and Price will square off against the Yankees after the All-Star break while Davis and Garza will be set to take on Baltimore.

This afternoon is the Futures All-Star game. It will be broadcast on ESPN 2 at 6pm EST. You’ll be able to see Rays prospects, RHP Jeremy Hellickson, LHP Alex Torres and OF Desmond Jennings.

After perhaps his worst start of the season, Tampa Bay Rays P Matt Garza turned in perhaps his best. Garza was dominant. Pitching 6 complete innings, only throwing 88 pitches (64 strikes) and he only allowed 1 hit to the Indians. Garza appeared fluid and in control on the mound tonight, the best this blogger has seen him look since April. Garza is now the second Ray pitcher to reach double digit wins for the season as he improved his record to 10-5 and the Rays rolled over Cleveland 4-0.

The bullpen was fantastic again with an inning pitched by each Grant Balfour and Joaquin Benoit.

A couple key hits, especially a 2 out hit from Gabe Kapler allowed the Rays to come away with another win tonight. Manager Joe Maddon decided to shake up the lineup by first moving BJ Upton to the leadoff position. Willie Aybar was batting clean up and 1st base with Carlos Pena getting some rest tonight against the Indians Laffey. Pena did make an appearance late in the game though drawing a walk. Kelly Shoppach was the receiver behind the plate tonight and Gabe Kapler played left while Carl Crawford played as the DH. The Rays benefitted from some very timely hitting tonight, but one issue that continues to be a lagging number with the Rays is the hitting with RISP, they were 3-11 tonight.

Sundays game kicks off at 1pm, be sure to check in with me in the morning for the latest news and notes regarding the Tampa Bay Rays

Shields last one out into the 7th inning Friday night, and while he did strike out 9, he allowed 4 earned runs on 106 pitches. He threw 31 pitches alone in the 2nd inning. Manager Joe Maddon said after Friday nights game that the Rays were going to have to adjust the rotation after the All-Star break to account for David Prices’ workload. Perhaps a shift out of the #1 spot in the rotation might help Shields.

The Rays once again did little with RISP, going 1-8. Pena did hit his 18th home run of the season, his second in as many nights. Carl Crawford logged his 30th stolen base of the year.

Tonight’s matchup sees the Indians send Aaron Laffey (1-2 5.18) to the mound to face off against Matt Garza (9-5 4.28) Garza is coming off his first ever relief appearance on Wednsday night. His last start though, Garza was shelled lasting only 3 innings against the Red Sox surrendering 4 earned runs.

The Tampa Bay Rays are loving the month of July having won 7 of their last 8. Now if we could just do something about the damn Yankees.

Wade Davis is inconsistent again, to his credit he did settle down after the second inning but you’ve got to hold your breath to watch this kid pitch. He did record the win and lasted 7 innings but he made 112 pitches and only 63 went for strikes. Jeremy Hellickson has got to be weighing on the mind of manager Joe Maddon though. Hellickson will be pitching in the XM Futures All-Star game this coming Sunday, I don’t know what time it is broadcast yet though, but it will be on. Another Rays player that will be showcased in the game is Desmond Jennings who will most likely be with the club next season when he replaces Carl Crawford.

Speaking of Crawford, he had another stellar night, hitting 2 home runs and driving in 4 runs. Crawford’s blast in the 3rd was an epic shot to right, 446 feet. Crawford demonstrates why he will command so much on the free agency market after this season. Crawford has hit .405 with 3 homers and 10 RBI’s in the month of July. He really is a legitimate 5 tool player.

Tonight’s piching match-up will feature James Shields (7-8 4.83) against Fausto Carmona (7-7 3.69) for the Tribe. Shields finally recorded a win in his last outing after a prolonged slump in June but is winless in his career against Cleveland. Carmona is the Indian’s lone representative on the All-Star team and suffered a loss in his last start against Oakland.