And if your wondering what Pat “the bat” Burell is doing for the San Francisco Giants, he’s doing what he was suppsoed to do here. Burrell is hitting .344 with 5 home runs and 11 RBIs in 61 at-bats. For the Rays, Burrell hit .202 with 2 home runs and 13 RBIs in 84 at-bats. Damn. I guess being a DH wasn’t Burrell’s cup of tea.

With the designation of Hank Blalock, the Rays filled in the roster with the return of Gabe Kapler off the DL. Kapler was injured with a right hip flexor strain and will return to the team tonight against the Red Sox.

Hank Blalock was signed during the spring in case of this situation occuring. He is hitting .349 with five doubles, four home runs and 24 RBIs while recording a .910 OPS with the Bulls. He could also be considered Carlos Pena’s replacement if he plays well and Pena does not resign this offseason, which word around the streets is unlikely to happen. Last year, barring injuries with the Rangers, Blalock hit .234 with 25 home runs and 66 RBIs while playing first base and designated hitter.

The main reason for this happenning so quickly was the way Blalock’s contract was written. He had an out clause, meaning he could ask for his release at any point if he didn’t see his way back to the majors. It was reported if he wasn’t called up this week he would excercise his clause and then be able to sign with any other team, with the Rays getting nothing out of it. The Rays could try to trade him but I dont see the point of that. He is a viable replacement as of now and if he doesnt produce there is always someone else waiting for their chance to impress. But I personally think he will do fine sharing time at DH with Willy Aybar.

I must say this was a  very impressive series. The bats were very alive and the starting pitchers survived deep in the games allowing the bullpen to stay off the field. The 5 and 6 spots in the Rays lineup really did the damage against the Bo Sox with  BJ Upton banging 2 hr’s and driving in 5 RBI’s. Upton already has 4 homeruns, a mark he didn’t reach until the end of June last year. The real surpirse came from argueably the most hated guy amongst the fans, Pat Burrell. He hit a 2 run blast at the top of the 12th inning to lead the Rays victorious in game 1. He would end the series with a total of 5 hits, that included a 3 hit game, the most hits for Burrell in a Rays uniform, also driving in 5 runs and hitting two doubles. If Burrell and Upton keep this up, opposing pitchers are going to have a hell of a time facing this line up. 

 Rays starting pitchers made a very good argument as the best rotation in baseball. The starting pitchers allowed a total of 7 runs thoughout the series. Matt  Garza went another eight innings, giving up no runs and Wade Davis made his case as a viable candidate for rookie of the year with his battle against thier ace, Josh Beckett in the first game. Garza is now 3-0 with a .75 ERA.  We really needed this from our starting pitchers in the series especially with all the hype Boston gets for their over priced staff. And I think the Rays showed everyone what a real pitching staff consists of. Pitchers that go deep in games and keep a consistency in the pitches. Rafael Soriano recorded another 2 saves in this series as well.

I dont know about you, but I loved seeing the Boston fans, with their ugly ass hats on, sitting in the rain, watching their team get smacked around in all the games. At least you guys did a good job with the  ridiculous sing-a-long of  ”Sweet Caroline”. Seriously, I think Neil Diamond, the writer of this song is sick of  hearing this crap.  The Red Sox scored a total of 9 runs in four games. This doesnt sound like a playoff team to me. After actually watching this team, I got them finishing behind the Blue Jays for the 4th spot in the division. Its early in the season but as we seen with the Rays last year, a rough start determines how the season ends. Not in the playoffs!!! Lets hope this is true with them. They cant think being outscored 24-9 by the Rays is not a big deal. “It just feels real nice,” said Carl Crawford, who has been on the receiving end of many a Rays loss at Fenway Park. “I’d have never thought I’d see a day where we’d sweep the Red Sox in their home stadium.” Well you seen it Crawford, and be prepared to see many more as the Rays are on a 7 game road win streak and the first time the Rays have gone back to back sweeps on the road. Winning on the road was a big problem in years  past, and this should give the team great condidence going into the series versus the White Sox and finishing the road trip with 3 sweeps.