Thanks Liriano and Company, We NEEDED That!

See, boys and girls, that’s how dangerous the Rays can be when the hitters are in sync. The good guys are going to need to go into NY tomorrow with the same mentality. Tonight though, we can all be satisfied knowing they played well, and took the season series from the Twinkies 7-3.

It would be nice to make up some ground in the east over the course of the next four days, and ending this series on that note will go a long way, as they make their way into the evil empire tomorrow. It would also be great to see the Rays charge into the All Star break as opposed to limp in like they did in the 2009 season; a season that found them seated similarly (5 1/2 out of first) to where they are at this point in this season.

Some positives for today: the defense looked solid…hell, even Shoppach defended the plate well, as Upton gunned down Thome in the bottom of the fifth to end the inning. The offense looked really good, and it seemed as though they had an all in mentality. Simply put, they were in synch at the plate as a team. Three multiple run home runs by Shoppach (he ACTUALLY had a good game, go figure), Rodriguez, and Longoria didn’t hurt either. Howell also seems to, finally, be coming into his own. That’s a big plus considering the mountain of pressure that was put upon his shoulders (no pun intended) prior to his return.

July 6, 2011 Box Score:

The Rays: 12 runs on 14 hits with no errors.

The Twins: 5 runs on 14 hits with no errors.

WP: JP Howell, 2-1, 8.56 ERA LP: Alex Burnett, 2-5, 6.39 ERA

Davis: 5 IP, 4 runs (3 earned) on 9 hits, 3 BB, 1 SO

Leave a comment