The Rays Are On Cruise Control

After the win last night in Seattle, the Rays have the leagues best road record at 10-1 with the only road lost being against the White Sox. To add to this stat, the Rays are also 14-5 during night games and 3-0 against teams in the AL West. With Jason Bartlett having the day off and BJ Upton not in the game until the late innings, they still managed to beat the Mariners 5-2.

The Rays didnt have a huge inning like they usually do but scored 1 run in five seperate innings. Its not the usual run production but it did the work. Evan Longoria extended his hitting streak by hitting a homerun in the 5th inning off Jason Vargas, finishing up the game 3-4.  He has been on a complete tear during his 10 game hit streak,  hitting .487 with four home runs, three doubles and seven RBIs. I think its safe to say we can start the MVP chant again. With Ben Zobrist struggling, its a good thing Longoria is picking up his slack. He should give some of that overpaid money to Longoria’s under paid contract.

James Shields had his longest outing of the season going 8 innings and striking out 10 giving him 22 strikeouts in 2 games. Thats pretty impressive for a not overpowering pitcher. He did have a shaky 6th inning with the bases loaded he struck out Milton Bradley and Ken Griffey Jr. to retire the side. “That was great, to get out of [the sixth inning] with the two big punchouts,” Maddon said. “That was obviously the turning point of the game. Possibly, they could have really gotten back into it. He had great command and placement of his pitches, cant ask for more. Shields is 4-0 with a 3.15 ERA. I keep preaching on here how Matt Garza is going to win the Cy Young but he might have some competition for that award on his own team.

Rafael Soriano closed out the game recording his 7th save. He seems a little shaky and loses his command at times but when hes on he gets the job done and thats what matters. In 12 innings pitched, he has a 2.25 ERA and 11 strikeouts giving up 3 earned runs. Theres definitely better closers out there but its much better than what we had in the past.