After the Red Sox took a sweep at the hands of the Angels in Los Angeles and the Rays won their series over Toronto, Tampa Bay held on to first place with a 4–0 victory over the Oakland A's at Tropicana Field.  Scott Kazmir was back to his dominant form, only allowing two hits (with four walks) and no runs in seven innings, striking out nine.  It was his first performance of more than six innings since June 11th.  He threw 103 pitches, about 10 of them sliders, recording four of his strikeouts with his slider.  He mixed in a high amount of first pitch changeups, as even that pitch was working greatly for him.  The A's love to run up pitch counts, but there was no slowing down Kazmir last night.  This was a turning point to his season.  Every pitch was in command early and often, and it will be that Scott Kazmir that leads us into extra October baseball.  The Rays have started advertising postseason ticket packages, so please don't fail us now.

Evan Longoria hit a home run for the third straight game, so he is now up to a team–leading 19.  Had the Rays stuck with their initial option of keeping him in AAA for two months, I don't think they would be where they are right now.  He has started hitting the ball very well and, once his teammates produce more in front of him, may be in line for 100 RBI in his rookie season.  Willy Aybar also homered last night, hitting it high off the left field foul pole for his fourth home run and ninth RBI of the year.  It's about time he started doing something.  B.J. Upton had two hits and two walks as he may be catching fire at the right time.  If guys like Upton, Crawford and Pena start hitting more like they did under the radar last season, this team can possibly be a dominant force throughout the playoffs.

Yes, I just said playoffs.  Hopefully the Rays can use some of their loaded minor league talent to beat the Yankees to a right handed power hitter for the middle of the lineup.  That's just about the last piece of the puzzle they need to fill to get there.  They just beat a left handed starting pitcher last night, but overall that has been one of the weakest points of this team, which has the best record of any team against right handers and a losing record against left handers.  The latter will definitely need to change if the Rays want to succeed at this level.  I think they'll find a way to do it.  So until the A's are sent back to their bay, go Rays.

I have recently been on another brief blog hiatus thanks largely to the actual move from one apartment to another that took place last Friday, the days of cleaning and unpacking, and my new school quarter starting this week.  I've been a bit deprived on baseball lately.  Except, of course, for the 79th All Star Game from Yankee Stadium, a showcase of baseball's greatest players.  And Jason Varitek.  There were three Tampa Bay players for the first time ever in an All Star Game, those guys once again being Scott Kazmir, Dioner Navarro and Evan Longoria.  They all got their playing time — not only that, but they actually made positive contributions to the game and affected its outcome.

Navarro was the first Rays player to appear, pinch hitting for Varitek (wisely) with a runner on base.  His strikeout and subsequent throwing error obviously didn't help his cause, but greater things were on the way.  Longoria pinch hit for designated hitter Milton Bradley and hit the game tying ground rule double, making it 3–3 in the eighth inning.  Navarro then threw out Cristian Guzman at second base to send the game to extra innings, and he probably should have scored the winning run in the 11th inning, but home plate umpire Derryl Cousins incorrectly called him out at the plate on what was a great throw from Nate McLouth.  It would have been irrelevant if Rangers second baseman Ian Kinsler had been correctly called safe by umpire Tom Hallion on a steal of second base.  So after the umpires granted the game's eternal extension, Kazmir finally appeared in the 15th inning after every other pitcher had been exhausted.  Having thrown 104 pitches two days earlier, there was cause for concern, but Kazmir represented his team with pride by throwing a perfect 14–pitch inning to set up the American League's win in the bottom half.  So now if the Rays do pull off the 1969 Mets turnaround, they'll host four games of the World Series at Tropicana Field.  In the last 25 years, teams with home field advantage have gone 20–5 in the World Series.  So the cost of losing this game is very substantial.  At least the Rays helped their league win.

Speaking of the Rays and winning, they returned to action tonight at home against the Toronto Blue Jays and edged out an exciting 2–1 victory to snap that seven game losing streak.  James Shields allowed one run in seven innings, pitching well with no run support.  That is, until Ben Zobrist entered the game with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning down 1–0.  In a scene reminiscent of Akinori Iwamura teeing off Clay Buchholz, he took A.J. Burnett's inside pitch and launched it deep into the right field seats down the line to give the Rays their margin of victory.  J.P. Howell and Grant Balfour stranding that runner at third base in the next half inning definitely assisted them as well.  But tonight's victory was all about Zobrist, who has caught Navarro's sense of timing his home runs.  Shields deserved to win, and he did.

Now this whole winning concept that they had most of the first half has to keep resurfacing as the Red Sox don't ever seem to lose.  Not to mention those pesky ancient Yankees.  The Rays need to send the freefalling Blue Jays back to their country by broom and stay right up there with baseball's best teams.  They got off to a nice start tonight.  Until this task is completed, go Rays.

I have been away from Rays blogging recently, as I have been preparing for a move to a new apartment.  This doesn't mean I haven't been following the Rays, of course.  As a matter of fact, I would have had time for one or two posts if I hadn't been so busy voting for Evan Longoria in the Final Vote for the upcoming All Star Game.  I probably sent between 500 and 600 ballots.  My dad threw in over 300 more.  In the end, it all paid off as Longoria defeated close runners up Jermaine Dye and Jason Giambi with a record 9,000,000 votes and officially became an All Star.  For a rookie, this is a monumental accomplishment.  Same goes for the Rays, who now send Longoria with two other players, Scott Kazmir and Dioner Navarro, as the first trio to represent Tampa Bay in the same All Star Game.  So congratulations to him, as well as to National League winner Corey Hart.

Never mind that the Rays have lost four games in a row, they have to win sometime soon.  They're not, you know, that Devil team anymore.  So until next time, go Rays.

After all the hype, all the newfound Rays coverage, all the optimism and doubts… it has happened again.  The Tampa Bay Rays have officially swept the Boston Red Sox by final scores of 5–4, 3–1 and 7–6.  The Rays now lead their division by 3½ games.  Indeed, Raysmania has taken over.  And this is far from the end of it.

Now thinking about all those times that networks such as ESPN put over the Red Sox, the Yankees, even the Blue Jays ahead of the Rays for weeks on end into this season, we have been vindicated.  We talked before the season about how good this team could be (and they have even exceeded those expectations), and the optimism was higher than ever before.  At this point — yes, it is July — we can still say we were right and then some.  The Blue Jays have perennially disappointed Canada since 1995, the Yankees are old guys and older news, and the Red Sox are faltering.  I'm going back to Tampa very soon and then will be busy moving to another apartment and then going back to school, but even then I will be looking to throw together enough money to see more Rays games.  This team is now 20 games over .500 and even on the minds of long–time doubters.  All of the horrendous losing of the previous ten years is behind us — it died with the Devil Rays name.  Now it's time to dismantle whatever is left of the Royals and keep the train moving.

I'll be using the off day to throw it all in the faces of those rival fans.  And Jonathan Papelbon.  Where was he?  Probably in Argentina with Hitler and Tupac.  I wouldn't mind it if he stayed there.  In one final bit, Evan Longoria should now be the Rookie of the Year.  He proved in this Red Sox series that he has outperformed Jacoby Ellsbury, and voters should remember this when the ballot arrives.  Until next time, celebrate good times and go first place Rays.