Sweeny robs... Kaz fails... Rays lose

In what's becoming a familiar refrain this season, the Tampa Bay Rays came up just short against the Oakland A's tonight at Tropicana Field. The A's used another one of their stable of lefty pitchers to stop the Rays lineup early in the game.  Meanwhile, Scott Kazmir was way too hittable and the A's took advantage putting up 7 runs before Joe Maddon pulled him.

The Scotty Kazmir question is growing. He now has had three bad outings in a row.  Even though I defended him last night, I'm beginning to come around to the fact that we may not see the 2007. After the game, Joe Maddon says they need to continue to grind it out with Kaz.  He says Kaz is a 2-time all star and has talent.

Here are some things I noticed:

• Ryan Sweeny is now public enemy #1 in my book.  That guy was doing all kinds of robbery in center field including that last drive by Bossman. He's going to have to go on my players I love to hate list with Pedroia, Youklis, A-roid, Tiexiera, Victor Martines, etc.
  

• Carlos Pena finally got his groove on.  He's been quiet ever since Pat Burrell went to the DL. Tonight, he came ready to play.  The A's even walked him to get to the red-hot Jason Bartlett. Now, that's fear.
  

• Mediocre lefties are killing the Rays again.  For a couple of games, it seemed the Rays had put the ghost of Steve Carlton behind them. But tonight, the old Lefty reared his ugly head for the 2nd night in a row.  No offense to Brett Anderson, but the guy hadn't won a game... but, the Rays still had trouble.
  

• The .150 brothers are also back. I'll give Dionar Navarro a little bit of credit for getting on base and scoring a run in the 8th.  Also, BJ Upton was robbed in the bottom of the ninth. But, these 2's batting average are dropping faster than the team is in the AL East Standings.  Just a couple of days ago, the .150 brothers seemed poised to make it to the top of the mountain known as the Mendoza line.  But, they couldn't quite do it going 1-9 tonight.

• Evan Longoria's slumping a little.  He had 2 more strikeouts, but he did get a nice hit in the 8th inning.  I think we're just so used to him coming through every time... that we're a little spoiled.
  

• Congratulations to Joe Maddon on his contract extension.  The reigning AL Manager of the Year deserved it.  It looks like we're going to see 3 more years of infield shifts, old relievers, and wine drinking philosphy.  Go Joe!
  

I'd like to invite any of you to join me on Twitter.  We've got some great discussions going during the game.  To join in, go to www.twitter.com/m_weber and follow me.  Then type #Rays in the search box and see what people are saying about the Rays.  You can start following other Rays fans and enjoy the ups and downs that is Rays baseball.  I even talked Todd Kalas into following my twitter feed during Web Wednesday tonight!