[Art Deco]

June 6: Activated P Ron Adams from the 10-day IL, optioned P Vinny Willard to AAA Durham.

Adams comes back to find Alfredo Vega in his rotation spot, so he'll pitch long relief. Willard will be used as a starter at Durham.

Game 1: The Rays' 14-game win streak came to an unceremonious end tonight as Seattle got the best of them 4-2 at Publix Park. Josh Hanna had a very similar start to Josh Carsello yesterday, putting up a full house line of 4 8 4 4 4 8 which dropped him to 8-2, 4.01. Ron Adams, just off the IL, was excellent and finished the game 5 2 0 0 1 6. Unlike yesterday when they overcame a rough outing from their starter, the bats couldn't mount a rally against 4 Mariners pitchers, getting 11 hits but all of them went for singles. Omar Rodriguez was 3-3 with an RBI.

News from Durham: Vinny Willard did not pout about his demotion as he went out and pitched a 9 5 0 0 0 8 shutout in Buffalo.

Game 2: The Rays have started a streak of the wrong kind after losing again to Seattle at home today, 8-7 in a back-and-forth affair which saw a trio of former Rays come back to haunt their old team. Devon Tuley (a Rays prospect whom we traded for Kevin Kerstetter) delivered the game-winning hit, a 2-out double in the 9th off Danny Medina after Danny Ayala had tied the game in the 8th with his 15th HR of the year. Things started well for the Rays - although Nate Thompson gave up a couple of early runs and Seattle was up 2-1, they scored 4 in the 4th thanks primarily to Jeff Hayes' 3-run HR (#8) and looked good with a 5-2 lead behind Thompson. But Michael Valdez, just traded a couple of weeks ago for Alfredo Vega, delivered a 2-run double to cut it to 5-4 in the 5th and in the 6th former Rays star Wander Franco doubled in a run which helped put the Mariners up 7-5. Thompson finished a rough 5.1 9 6 4 2 5, and Billy Hoyte gave up Seattle's go-ahead hit in the 6th. Eric Titcombe earlier hit HR #7 for Tampa Bay, and the loss was compounded when our best hitter this year, Omar Rodriguez, had to leave in the 4th with a strained MCL and will miss 6-7 weeks.

June 8: Placed OF Omar Rodriguez on the 10-day IL with an MCL sprain, recalled OF Jeremy Glasson from AAA Durham.

Game 3: The Rays snapped their mini 2-game losing streak today, holding on to best Seattle 7-5. Jaiden Hardaway had the game's big hit, a grand slam in the 2nd inning (#7) which put them up 5-0. But Seattle chipped away at former teammate Alfredo Vega, and pulled to within 6-5 after 6. Vega still got the win, making him 3-for-3 in his Rays starts as he went 6 6 5 4 0 5 today. Tim Siqueiros had a 1-2-3 2K 7th, Jim Golunski fanned a pair in the 8th, and Kikuo Kawase got save #20 despite putting two men on in the 9th. Jim Gebers hit HR #8 in the 8th to give the Rays some insurance, and the Jeffs (Baez and Hayes) each had RBI hits earlier in the game.

Game 4: The Rays will be glad to Seattle go, even though they won today to split the 4-game series. The final was 13-8 Tampa Bay and just like yesterday they raced out to a big lead (7-0) before the Mariners clawed their way back in the middle innings (8-6). Even after the Rays were putting the game away, Seattle had a rally going in the 9th. So yeah, another big grand slam today for the Rays with Jeff Hayes (#9) supplying it, and Danny Ayala hit #16. Eric Titcombe, Bo Angeac and Jim Gebers each had 3 hits with the first two driving in a pair, as did Jaiden Hardaway and Dayle Jenkins. Josh Carsello was given the huge lead and shut out Seattle through 3, but he gave up 3 in the 4th and 3 more in the 5th and couldn't make it through the inning for the win (4.2 10 6 6 0 6), which went to Bob Sirna, his second. Sirna then ran into all kinds of trouble in the 6th, loading the bases and bringing the tying run to the plate, but Willie Bertone got him out of it and went 2 2/3 before running out of gas in the 9th with Billy Hoyte mercifully getting the final two outs.

Team record: 54-12. Next up: Some interleague action as the Cardinals visit for a pair.