Rays Notes: Rhymes Down, Streaks Broken, Cruz OK, Trade Deadline

Yesterday we talked about the Rays calling up Matt Joyce. The other side of the coin is that they sent Will Rhymes back down.That’s right after he led off for the Rays two days in a row. That’s a pretty quick 180. Rhymes does have just a .233/.306/.292 line on the year. Joe Maddon explained the move in more detail.

#Rays Maddon said Rhymes sent down because with lefty Joyce back and Zobrist at 2B there would be little to no playing time for Rhymes
— Roger Mooney (@RogerMooney50) July 17, 2012

Maddon talked about how he wants to keep Rhymes sharp and without any clear opportunity for playing time available for the time being in the big leagues, that isn’t possible right now. Maddon did say that he expects to see Rhymes back on the big league roster later in the season.

And now for them pretty crazy notes from last night’s game and the Rays’ current place in the standings, all in tweet form.

Yesterday Luke Scott set career high w/ 4th SB of year. Today, hits his first triple since June 2010. I'm just saying: pic.twitter.com/MOBdBOxL
— Jonathan Gantt (@Jonathan_Gantt) July 17, 2012

With O's loss, Rays move into 2nd place in AL East for first time in five weeks. During that span, TB is 12-19.
— Todd Kalas (@RealToddKalas) July 18, 2012

And some how the #Rays will wake up 2nd place in the ALE & tied for the wildcard
— Tommy Rancel (@TRancel) July 18, 2012

If you’re not all tweeted out yet, the Rays got good news about Joseph Cruz after his scary injury the other day.

Biscuits RHP Joe Cruz: Diagnosis "very good news," though he won't throw for 7-10 days. ... http://t.co/NTizA6VA #rays
— Stacy Long (@AStacyLong) July 16, 2012

And finally, Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports talked about how the Rays would be open to trading any of their right-handed starting pitchers- James Shields, Jeremy Hellickson, Wade Davis, Alex Cobb, and Chris Archer– if they decide to sell and the right situation arises. Hopefully that’s not something that we’ll ever have to worry about. More on Shields and the trades that the Rays have made as sellers historically is coming up today at RCG.