Price and Longo Shining For The Rays During Homestand

The Rays managed to end the homestand against the Mariners and Indians winning 4 out 5. But none of the games were really blowouts as the Rays have been accustomed to doing. Actually, the only game that was not by one run, was the 6-2 win today.

We can thank David Price for throwing another gem and recording his AL leading 6th win of the season. Price has been very commanding in the strike zone and batters are having trouble seein his fastball. This has lead to an impressive 1.81 ERA. Going into this season, I did not know which David Price we were going to get. The dominant pitcher we seen in the 2008 playoffs or the mediocre pitcher with just an overpowering fastball in 2009. But as we can tell so far this season, he has matured to a very confident pitcher who believes in his pitches to get batters out.

I am going to send another thank you for the future MVP of the AL, Evan Longoria. Theres nothing not to like about this guy except for the fact, he cuts his own hair and it looks ridiculous. But he can do whatever he wants as long as he keeps up this tear of the ball. Longoria has 9 HR’s, 35 RBI’s and  is batting .313. He ranks in the top 10 in the following categories: Runs, HR, RBI, Doubles, and Hits. I must say that is very impressive.

Other stories over the homestand, was the release of Pat Burrell and the promotion of Hank Blalock. Hank went 2 for 8 and drove in a game tying run in a game versus the Mariners to help the Rays win. He didnt look phenomenal at the plate but he has contributed more than Burrell did in just this little amount of time.

J.P. Howell, who was expected to be back very soon, had a set back while throwing a simulated game over the weekend and is being seen by Dr. Andrews to get a better clarification on his shoulder injury. I will keep this up to date, as JP is much needed in our bullpen. Especailly, when our only left hander in the pen is Randy Choate.