He is playing poorly (I was wrong a month ago)...and his outburst was immature and selfish. But let's not get hasty and toss out a guy who can do what he can do. CC will be have to be a HUGE part of any equation that breaks our postseason barriers.

I would be on board with Giles if nothing else gets worked out, but I imagine he's going to be expensive as well.

*IF* the Rays win tonight, that could be the Clutch Hit of the Year.

...so I guess that is the Choke of the Year.

That's a big weight off everyone's shoulders. Hope Friedman was watching that 3 hole closely.

Upton sure is doing a lot of watching in that 3 hole

Glad they pulled that one out of the hat, because Halladay is probably shutting them out tonight.

hopefully, they can work some counts. otherwise, the jays bullpen may as well not even show up.

They beat Halladay in the Disney series and have gotten to him in the past. It is never easy but they looked awful last night except for the power of Sweet Jesus Ben Zobrist hitting the HR. He gets the nickname for being a holy roller and his wife is a christian gospel singer.

Halladay touched up by The Rook!

Listened to the 6th in my car on the way to Publix...sounded like a crazy inning...some breaks and a big hit to capitalize is exactly what we need though.

Garza and Shields have come thru big...

Longoria is God.

Down on the farm, anyone notice just how dominating Neimann has been lately? If you take out that one start in early June where he got obliterated (I know, can't really do that, but I will) his ERA is 2.39.

You could argue he's the 5th-best pitching prospect. Christ...

It's amazing to me that they haven't gotten one of those RH bats from Pittsburgh yet. (edit: seems like sooooo much of their end pitching could really help a team like the Pirates. Sonny would probably be their ace for goshsakes).

Maybe they're holding out for Holliday

Sonny would be nails in the NL. I imagine he would have #2/3 upside there.

It seems like they're really looking to deal with Pitt, but who knows what they're asking.

I do know Niemann could certainly be a boon to somebody's rotation right now.

The Pirates would be foolish not to trade Nady in a deal involving one of the many rumored Rays Pitching prospects.

ESPN now reporting the Yankees are talking to Pitt about Bay or Nady...

The Rays definitely need to move an arm for a bat. Even if they move one, they still have four legit #1/2 guys in the minors and Barnese absolutely dominating low-A.

Between Davis, Niemann, Price, Hellickson and McGee, there's just not room for all of them. And Barnese looks just amazing.

Davis with 7 shutout innings in his AAA debut. Very nice to see.

Salas appears to be ready as well.

Salas needs to come up now and Hammel needs to GTFO along with Glover once he comes off the DL.

Just went to a Rays luncheon...Wheeler and Hinske were the guests, and fielded some questions.

Hinske raved about Longoria's intelligence and attention to detail for a Rook..says he is trying to guide him down the right path on everything...off-field, pre-game, etc.

They were asked to name 2 clubhouse leaders from the pitching staff and 2 from the position players...guess who they were?

Pitching Staff:

Percival
Kazmir

Position Players:

Crawford
C Floyd

My guess would be Shields and Floyd are 2 of the 4.

Percival is one of the pitchers. The other surprised me.

Floyd is one of the position players. The other is new to the team this year.

Bartlett?

Hint on the position player...he was there

Garza?

Position player: Hinske
Pitcher: Kazmir?

Position player were Hinske and Floyd.
Pitchers were Percival and Trevor Miller (?).

Pitchers: Percival and Shields
position: Floyd and Pena

Honestly, I'm not sure this offense is getting better anytime soon. Crawford and Upton are just horrendous at the top.

i'll guess:

percival, sonnanstine (he ain't great, but he's a battler. seems like he'd be great in the clubhouse)

hinske, bartlett

Some missed my answer above...but it was Hinske/Floyd and Percival/Miller...thought Miller was a surprise.

Where did BJ Upton's power go? He's still useful because he gets on base and racks up steals, but not much power to speak of.

Word around the camp fire is that tampa has called Detroit about Sheffield and maybe Thames. Give us a pitching prospect and we'll eat the remaining 2008 contract and call it even. Nice doing business with you.

Is Chad Orvella still considered a "prospect"?

Nope

The ghost of Greg Vaughn haunts these here walls...

Guess they'll have to settle for Matt White then.

Since I am normally focused on Training Camps this time of the year...is there normally a quiet week prior to the deadline, while teams wait for other teams to get desperate and lower prices?

by you and tamales ;)

So will we sit pat with the possibility of Ruggiano or Baldelli in Right for the stretch?

this team couldn't score in a whorehouse right now

They'll bounce out of it.


Price looks great again in AA -- should make his next start for Durham.


J -- why is Nowack not considered a prospect? I know he's repeating AA, but he's raked at every level.

Actually, the more I think about it, I could see Price skipping Durham. He's proved enough from what I can tell. Wouldn't surprise me to see them include Hammel on any deal to clear the immediate roster space. Hammel could have value to most teams as a backend of the rotation guy.

Price dominant tonight - 2 hits in 8 IP, 0 walks, 7 K's.

Now 9-0 as a pro. Bring him up already.

Tommy - I'm sure he'll be up after the deadline and they know what they have.

Garza was unbelievable last night. Looked like a young Schilling.

Think that Delmon trade worked out ok.

In Garza's wins, he has given up 9 earned runs in 67 innings.

In the 57 innings of NDs or losses = 40 earned runs

Boom or bust

JASON BAY to the rays?

Some reporter talked to Maddon and quoted him as saying that Friedman sat down with him last night and detailed some "very interesting" trade possibilities...some that have been discussed and some that haven't.

Some interesting numbers, compiled just after the ASG:

- Since June 1st, the Rays have averaged 26,500 fans in attendance
- TV viewership is up over 35% from 2007
- Orlando has grown to about 17% of the total TV viewers
- Raysbaseball.com visits and page views are up 44% and 49% from 2007
- Tracking for 1.8M in attendance, up from 1.34 in '07 (34%)...would be larger with playoff run

Also...there will be an alt jersey in '09...I'm sure everyone can guess what color it will be.