In addendum: I wrote this series preview on Monday, prior to the Blue Jays official announcement of who they’d start and when. I based the rotation order off of ESPN.com, who obviously had it wrong themselves. I guess I got Kruked! In any case, the problem is fixed. Sorry for the confusion.

Rays and Jays pitching over the last 30 days.
Rays and Jays hitting at home and away (respectively), and over the last 30 days.
  • The Rays are 56-52, seven and a half out of first in the East, and two games Detroit and Oakland in the wildcard race. Tampa Bay is 24-20 against the other teams in the East.
  • The Jays are 53-55, 10 games out of first in the East, and five games behind Detroit and Oakland in the wildcard race. Toronto is 18-24 against the other teams in the East, including going 2-6 against the Rays.
  • Tampa Bay is 5-5 in their last 10 games following two straight losses to the Orioles, where as the Jays are 4-6 in their last ten games, following two straight wins against the A’s.
  • Toronto, like seemingly every other team in the East, has had its fair share of injuries…especially of late. The team that most of us considered to be a contender has fallen off because of injuries, (among other things) and now seems more likely to be a spoiler. I’m still not content to take the Jays lightly. There is a bright side: at least we won’t have to worry about Adam Lind and Jose Bautista since both are on the DL. We also may not have to worry about Colby Rasmus, Brett Lawrie, or Carlos Villanueva who are all listed as day-to-day. Both Rasmus and Lawrie are hoping to return Tuesday, so who knows for sure?
  • Not including players on the DL or those that are now in Triple-A, Tampa Bay is hitting .355 off of Happ with a home run, four walks, and seven strikeouts. Off of Villanueava they’re hitting .396, with four home runs, nine walks, and eight strikeouts. They’re hitting .305 off of Alvarez, with six home runs, three walks, and six strikeouts.
  • James Shields is 3-0 with a 1.10 ERA in his last four starts against the Jays.
  • Don’t expect Longo to necessarily make an instant impact on the Rays offense. He told the Times today, “I’m not the savior. He noted that he’s hoping to change complexion of lineup, and be “a spark.” It bears mentioning that Longoria is 4-for-25 (.160), 1 HR, 2 RBIs in seven career games at DH.
  • Edwin Encarnacion is 1 for 9 against Shields since 2011.
  • The imminent return of Evan Longoria to the Rays in the DH/PH is tomorrow! Longoria, who’s been out of the lineup since April 30th, has posted a .200 BA/.359 OBP/.200 SLG/.559 OPS in a rehab stint with Triple-A Durham. Starting things off relatively coldly, Longo has heated up in recent days. Going 6-30 in ten games with Durham, Longoria’s driven in three runs, while walking seven times, and striking out nine times.
  • No people, Ben Zobrist didn’t get traded. He left the game early Sunday with upper back spasms. He’ll likely be back in the lineup Tuesday.
  • Following a disappointing series against the O’s where Tampa Bay’s offense stalled, this series could stand as a fix-it-all of sorts. Granted the Jays are fourth overall in runs, and seventh overall in slugging percentage, they’ve dropped from scoring over five runs per game on average in June, to 4.52 in July. That number has dropped even further, down to 3.4 in August.
Continuing where we left off in our last series preview, we present to you Terrible Feelings by Shadows, from Malmo, Sweden. They’re on Deranged Records, out of Toronto.

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