–Great to see the Rays start to turn the corner a bit this week. They have won 4 out of their last 5. Even though the Rays were shut out 5-0 last night, it was good to see Matt Moore pitched 7 innings and give the bullpen a bit of a rest for at least one night.
–The Rays have been getting timely hitting. Evan Longoria, Logan Morrison have been tearing the cover off the ball this trip. Nice to see Longoria get back to the Longoria we saw his first few years in Tampa when he avg. 28 HR a game and drove in 100 runs. He is on pace for 40 homers and over 100 runs driven in. Right now he is in line to be the Rays representative at the all-star game
–Desmond Jennings should follow the lead from Logan Morrison on how to get a season turned around. At one point earlier this year Morrison was hitting .094 and was actually in the lineup as the starting first baseman. Morrison is now hitting .253 with 7 HR and 18 RBI. Throughout his slump Morrison was rarely rude and curt with the media, he answered the questions, continued to work hard and he is on the way to turning his season around.
–With the strong performance by Moore last night I am still concerned about this Pitching staff. Yes it was probably Moore’s best outing of the season. It feels so odd to say that losing 5-0. Two bad pitches were essentially the difference in the game last night. The night before Archer through 115 pitches through 6 innings. Alex Colome saved his 4th straight game for the Rays. We have seen game after game the Rays starters throw too many pitches in the early innings and have reached their pitch count limit by the 5-6 innings. The Rays also need a lot better from Drew Smyly and Jake Ordorizzi.
–Alex Colome has been fantastic in the absence of Boxberger. He has gone out there night after night and gotten the job done. If Boxberger gets healthy, that is going to be a nice back of the pen with Colome in the 8th and Boxberger in the 9th. Colome should also get all-star consideration.
–The Rays are home to Houston this weekend and then Seattle next week.
–Logan Forsythe is very close to returning. The rumor mill had him coming back this weekend, but he will be at Durham for a 2-3 game rehab assignment. Barrring a setback, Forsythe should be back next week against Seattle.
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