Rays Corner - Shields is on fire!

Hello Rays Fans!
Last night was game one of the interleague series against the Houston. Rays had an off day on Thursday, but Friday they came to play. James Shields took the mound once again, with a 7-4 record, a league best 5 complete games, and one of the highest ERAs in the league. His opponent? The 5-3, Wandy Rodriguez, tied for the Astros best record on the team.

The Rays came out of the gate completely dominate at the plate. The first two inning were very quiet, but with two outs in the third inning, Sean Rodriguez, started the Rays off with a single.Ben Zobrist stepped up next. Rodriquez stole second, and then Zobrist hit an RBI single to give the Rays the first run of the game. Longoria decided to play with no batting gloves tonight for his first time since he was a rookie, to see if it would change anything. It sure did make a change. Longoria's second at bat came with a reward, a  two-run home run into right field. The next batter stepped up. It was BJ Upton, who has found his mojo these past couple game: he hit a solo homerun. These shots came back to back, the first time this year that has occured for the Rays. The third inning gave the Rays a comfortable four-run lead through three.

"It hurts my hands, really, so it kinda makes pitch selection a little better. I don't want to swing at some balls that I can't really handle," Longoria said about his no batting gloves,"It's coincidental what happened, happened tonight. I guess I'll keep doing it until either it starts hurting too much, or it stops working." Longo went two for four, with three runs batted in, one run, a home run and a strikeout.

But no one can forget about the star of the night, James Shields. He set a goal at the beginning of the year to throw more complete games this year. "I definitely didn't think it would be this many," Shields comments on his complete games,"I thought it would be three or four, something like that. It's unbelievable. It's not how I expected to start, but it is exactly how I want to start. I have to try to keep it going." Shields breezed through the first three innings of batters. In the fourth the Astros got their first hit from Michael Bourn's single. The next batter grounded into a double play and the inning was over.

Joe Maddon has just ran out of words for James Shields. He has expressed his feelings for James on Twitter and in his press conferences. "There's no superlative that I can give you that is adequate, that is really good stuff," Joe Maddon said after the game last night.

James came out of last night allowing only one run on three hits, tossing nine strikeouts, and throwing only one walk. What a performance. This was his third straight complete game, and he has gotten a win in all three of them. This game gave him the third best ERA in the league.

The Great- James Shields
The Good- The Rays top of the lineup. Sean Rodriguez went 3-4, and two runs. Zobrist went 1-3, with a run, a RBI, and a walk. Longoria went 2-4, with a run, three RBIs, and one strikeout..without batting gloves. Upton went 1-3, with a run, a RBI, and a walk. Outstanding hitting from the boys last night. The only other hit was from Kotchman, who went 1-4.
The Bad and The Ugly- The bottom of the lineup who went a combined 1-20 and struck out eight times (4 of those being James Shields at the plate)

Other Notes: JP Howell was active after hurting his foot. 4 of the Rays 5 runs came after catcher JR Towles left the game with chin lacerationgs. He received 11 stitches. Carlos Corporon, the Astros third string catcher, replaced Towles.