FanNation - The Republic of Sport

Operative description of the day: Right on schedule, the gulls have invaded the left field bleachers here in St. Pete just as the Rays 5-2 win ends. A lively crowd was egged on by Raymond, the giant stuffed Ray mascot, and all the fun team antics, cheerleaders, contests, and t-shirt throwing you could ask for. Hey, at least they’re trying.

The second batter of the game, Shannon Stewart, ripped a liner right into the third base stands, just beyond the dugout and someone was hit pretty hard. Hopefully they’re doing ok.

GOOD IMPRESSIONS: This day was all about Evan Longoria. Inserted for Willy Aybar as a defensive replacement, Longoria didn’t disappoint, stroking a two-run triple to the right center field gap to give the Rays a 3-2 lead. The ball exploded off Longoria’s bat and then he showed excellent speed, legging easily into third. He came into score when Ben Zobrist hit a shot of his own to left field, and although Adam Lind, who didn’t come within 10 feet of it while diving, misplayed it, Zobrist was credited with an RBI triple of his own. How often do you see back-to-back triples? Back to Longoria, he did nothing to show that he’s anything but the future of this organization. Before he even stepped into the batters box there was a buzz in the previously sedate crowd. That’s right, a buzz at a Rays game. Who would’ve thunk it?

Rod Barajas, who is trying to play himself into a platoon with Gregg Zaun behind the plate, scorched an RBI single with the infield in that literally knocked shortstop Jason Bartlett on his back. Regular starting second baseman Aaron hill was today’s starting DH batting cleanup and responded by getting plunked by James Shields his first time up, before hitting a double off of the fence in left on the first pitch thrown by Trever Miller.

Second base prospect Elliot Johnson had an impressive day, cracking two doubles after replacing Akinori Iwamura. One of Baseball America’s top prospects for the Rays in 2007, he dropped out of the ranking following a .207 season at Durham. He looked like an All Star today.

John McDonald legged out an infield single on a routing grounder to Bartlett at short who played it cleanly. McDonald just wanted a base hit more than Bartlett wanted to throw him out.

 BAD IMPRESSIONS: Iwamura had a single in his only at bat but looked shaky all day in the field. He committed an error on a Then on his last play of the day he made a very nice turn of a double play and was greeted in front of the dugout by manager Joe Maddon who had a handshake and a word of encouragement for the man who he needs to perform well for the Rays to have any hopes of being credible in the AL East. The top of the Blue Jays order, comprised of Reed Johnson, Stewart, and Alex Rios combined to go 0 for 7 with a walk against James Shields and Al Reyes.

Ryan Ketchner caught the brunt of the double triple onslaught and gave up four runs on five hits in his only inning of work. The seven year minor league vet was 1-11 with an ERA approaching six last season for the Portland Beavers of the PCL in the Padres chain. You probably don’t have to ever worry about him in your draft. Russ Adams played second for the Jays and committed another error, albeit not charged to him for the second time in two days.

MIXED IMPRESSIONS: The Rays keep churning out outfield prospects. The next could be Justin Ruggiano who came in to pinch run for Cliff Floyd after uncle Cliffy’s single in the fourth. Ruggiano, thief of 26 bases for Durham last year, was promptly gunned down trying to steal.

The discarded popcorn, pretzels and hot dog rolls are all cleaned up from the stands so the gulls have disappeared and now so will I. I probably won’t post tomorrow so I can catch up on a few more of my team-by-team fantasy scouting reports coming soon to SI.com, but will return on Monday from Fort Myers from the Reds-Twins game at Hammond Stadium. Enjoy the rest of the weekend.