[Art Deco]

Game 1: We made it 10-for-10 against the Yankees with a 6-3 win at Publix Park to kick off the 4-game series. Eric Titcombe led the offense with a pair of homers to give him 18, a solo shot in the 3rd and a 3-run blast in the 5th to make a 3-2 game no longer close. Victor de Jesus also contributed #22 in the 3rd while Omar Rodriguez doubled in a run in the 1st. Nate Schultz started and was excellent again, going 6 4 2 2 2 7 to improve to 12-1, 3.12. Tim Siqueiros had a scoreless 7th, Bob Sirna gave up a Mario Aguilar homer in the 8th and Kikuo Kawase got his strangest save of the season with a scoreless 9th. Save #23 was odd because it was the first time all season Kawase did not strike out at least one batter in an appearance this year and I imagine that streak tracks far back into last season as well.

July 6: Placed SS Jeff Baez on the 10-day IL with a sore ankle, recalled 2B Robbie Salazar from AAA Durham.

Baez tweaked his ankle in the final game of the Baltimore series, so between that and the fact we're hitting the All-Star break he should be back right about the time we return from it. Salazar was the only other MI on the 40-man and he can't really play SS, so here's hoping Melvin Gutierrez holds up for the next 3 games. In fact yesterday Jaiden Hardaway was fatigued so I played Jon Jimenez of all people at 2B. He handled all his chances, although it looked like there might have been a double play or two that wasn't turned which might have been normally.

Game 2: The Rays made it 11 straight over New York (and 7 straight overall) with a 5-2 win today. Josh Hanna was excellent, bouncing back from a bad start with 7 shutout innings, allowing 3 hits, 4 walks and whiffing 7. He's now 11-2, 3.19. Willie Bertone gave up a 2-run homer to that guy Mario Aguilar again, Mike Wherry got the final out of the 8th, and Kikuo Kawase came on again for save #24 and struck out the first two after yesterday's odd K-less appearance. Victor de Jesus was the hitting star, delivering a 2-run triple in the first and an RBI double in the 5th while Danny Ayala brought home the other two with a groundout and a double. de Jesus drove in Dayle Jenkins both times as Jenkins had a 3-5 day.

Game 3: The Tampa Bay dominance over the Yankees continued today with a 7-1 win, making it 12 of 12 this season over New York. Ron Adams had a strong start, going 7.1 8 1 1 0 7 on only 83 pitches before Bob Sirna took over and retired the final five batters, four on strikeouts. Adams is now 5-3, 3.48. Dayle Jenkins and Victor de Jesus carried the offense with each picking up 3 hits, hitting a homer (#9 for Jenkins, #23 for de Jesus) and driving in a pair of runs. Omar Rodriguez was 3-4 with a double and an RBI as well and his .375 batting average is third-best in MLB.

Game 4: The Rays completed the 4-game series sweep and made it 13 wins in as many games against the Yankees this season after a 10-3 rout at Publix Park. The surprise hero today was rookie 2B Robbie Salazar, who had 2 doubles and a 3-run homer, his first of the year, as part of a 3-hit, one-walk, 4-RBI day. Also coming up big was Danny Ayala, who had a 3-run homer of his own (#32) and 5 RBI total to give him 91 going into the All-Star break. Those two accounted for 90% of the offense while Kevin Kerstetter took care of things on the mound. He shut the Yankees out through 6 before giving up a 2-run homer to Mario Aguilar (who else?) and another homer in the 8th to finish 7.1 7 3 3 0 8 to go to 11-0, 2.60. Edgar Rios finished the 8th and Billy Hoyte had a scoreless 9th to wrap things up.

Team record: 72-19. Next up: The All-Star break, which isn't much of a break for this team considering how many Rays will be playing in it, and when we resume Friday it's for a four-game series in Baltimore including a Saturday doubleheader.