Heading Home: Bats wake-up and Shields shines

The Rays avoided a sweep at the hands of the Baltimore Orioles on Easter afternoon thanks to an offensive explosion and some great pitching by "Big Game" James Shields.  Everyone got into the act behind the plate, even Pat Burrell got a couple of hits. Evan Longoria continued his insane start to the season with his fifth home run.  Overall, good performance heading into Monday's big Championship match-up against the New York Yankees.

Here are some things I noticed about today's game:

• Carl Crawford got the RISP monkey off the Rays back with a 3-run triple that opened the floodgates.  I give credit to the warmer afternoon weather.

• James Shields pitched like a man possessed.  You could just tell it was going to be his day when he was able to get Roberts/Jones/Markakis in order in the 1st inning.

• Shields also got caught on camera lobbying Maddon to pitch the 8th.  While I admire his tenacity, I'd prefer him to go out on a good note.

• Longoria continues to swing a big stick. The man is possessed. If we could just get a little more from Pena and Burrell, the middle of the order would be sick.

• Aki seems to be lobbying to stay in the number 1 spot as he continues to rack up hits. I'm beginning to lean toward wishing Maddon would return the order to what we saw last year with Aki/Upton/Crawford/Longo.  I see no problem putting Burrell at 6th, for now.

• All hail the Z-man. Ben Zobrist's three-run homer continues the power surge that he began last year.

• Open note to Joe Maddon: I know you wanted to get Balfour some work, but spare us when the Rays have such a lead. Balfour obviously thrives on pressure. 11-0 in the 9th is not pressure. So, he made his own.

• I love Carlos Pena, but I really hate when he hits pile-on homers.  I want to see him hit one when it matters.

Cold weather, colder bats doom Rays

Jeff Niemann's horrid first inning was all the Baltimore Orioles needed to win their second game in a row against the Rays.  The O's jumped on Niemann early, scoring 5 runs before he could even get an out including a grand slam by Melvin Mora.  After the 1st, Niemann settled down and the Rays gave up only one more run.  The only problem was they couldn't score any to chip away at the O's lead.  Once again leaving RISP is hurting the Rays offense. Maybe we can chalk it up to the cold weather, but the Rays need to start hitting.

Here are some other things in noticed:

• Ground rule doubles? What's the deal with the 4 ground rule doubles in a game? We're not talking about one part of the outfield, it was happening all over the place.  At least twice, Rays runners from 1st had to stop at third when they may have otherwise scored. Just for fun here's the e-how video definition of a ground rule double:

Definition of a Ground Rule Double in Baseball -- powered by eHow.com

• Longo's still swinging a big stick. He seems to be the only one hitting and the pitchers aren't even giving him much to hit.
• Oh, Rockies!!! Why didn't you take Niemann off of our hands instead of Hammell? That 1st inning was just awful.  It was very reminiscent of Ed "winless" Jackson starts. While Niemann was giving up 5 runs in the first. David Price pitched a few down in Durham and only gave up 2 runs.
• Pat Burrell's leash is getting short with me. I know he's a streaky hitter, but I'm ready to see a streak. He had a couple of chance tonight and couldn't come through.
• What is it with the O's and April? For the 2nd year in a row, they look like a real tough team. Of course, over a 162 game season the cream usually rises to the top, but their 1st 4 look more dangerous than the Red Sox 1st 4.