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<channel>
	<title>Tampa Bay Sports Blog &#187; Akinori Iwamura</title>
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	<link>http://tampabaysportsblog.com</link>
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		<title>Someone help me understand.</title>
		<link>http://tampabaysportsblog.com/tampa-bay-rays/someone-help-me-understand/</link>
		<comments>http://tampabaysportsblog.com/tampa-bay-rays/someone-help-me-understand/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 28 May 2009 05:03:16 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>DeezNuts</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Akinori Iwamura]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Gabe Kapler]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Joe Dillon]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Joe Maddon]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Pat Burrell]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Tampa Bay Rays]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Adam Kennedy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[AL]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Andrew Friedman]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://tampabaysportsblog.com/?p=681</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Over the last couple years the Rays have made tremendous strides. They have gone from the perrenial loser to a contender. They have gone from a laughing stock to a respected organization. They are looked upon to contend against the big boys in the AL East. They have been praised for smart trades and drafting. I get all of this. Some of us disagree with some of the decisions (Kapler,Burell), but these are things that could be proven wrong still. I have now been completely lost by one decision and need an explanation. What was the thought process behind the Adam Kennedy/Joe Dillon deal? What the hell happened here? It&#8217;s easy to question a move like this after Iwamura got hurt, I know, but how does this happen? What about this deal was so appealing to the Rays? Follow what I see and tell me what I see wrong. Adam Kennedy is in the minor leagues under team control with no pressure to move him. He is a 32 year old proven 10 year major league second baseman that could provide quality depth and experience at both the minor and major league level. He is traded. A player of this [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>The Rays are smarter than the Yankees.</title>
		<link>http://tampabaysportsblog.com/tampa-bay-rays/the-rays-are-smarter-than-the-yankees/</link>
		<comments>http://tampabaysportsblog.com/tampa-bay-rays/the-rays-are-smarter-than-the-yankees/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 14 Dec 2008 06:47:57 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Scott Brannelly</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Tampa Bay Rays]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[AJ Burnett]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Akinori Iwamura]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Alex Rodriguez]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Andy Pettitte]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Bernie Williams]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[BJ Upton]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Bobby Abreu]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Boston Red Sox]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Carl Crawford]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Carl Pavano]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Carlos Pena]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[CC Sabathia]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Chien-Min Wang]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Chuck Knoblauch]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Darrell Rasner]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[David Ortiz]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[David Price]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Derek Jeter]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Derek Lowe]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Dustin Pedroia]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Edwin Jackson]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Evan Longoria]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Gabe Gross]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[George Steinbrenner]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jason Giambi]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jason Hammel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jeff Niemann]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jeremy Hellickson]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jim Leyritz]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Joba Chamberlain]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Johnathan Papelbon]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jonny Gomes]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Kevin Youkilis]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Kyle Farnsworth]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Los Angeles Dodgers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mariano Rivera]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Matt Joyce]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mike Mussina]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mitch Talbot]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[New York Yankees]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Phil Hughes]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Rocco Baldelli]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Scott Brosius]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Scott Kazmir]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Trever Miller]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Troy Percival]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Wade Davis]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Wilson Betemit]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://tampabaysportsblog.com/?p=456</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[It was a busy week in the AL East and I had to sit down and look at it tonight. I&#8217;ve been listening to the radio and reading about the moves being made and I came up with this. The Rays are much smarter than the Yankees.  There are a few good things about being a small market team and they&#8217;re showing during the winter baseball season. Let&#8217;s break it down. The Yankees signed CC Sabathia to a $161 million deal and brought one of the best pitchers in baseball to New York. But how much did this improve them? I honestly don&#8217;t think it improved them much at all. Think about it like this. They signed a guy that won 17 games last year to replace a guy that won 20. Now I&#8217;ll say that Sabathia is better than Mussina and he would&#8217;ve probably won 22 or 23 games with the Yankees last year with the same run support Mussina got, but that&#8217;s still only a 3 game improvement. Not enough for that kind of money. They also signed AJ Burnett to fill in the rotation but they haven&#8217;t re-signed Andy Pettitte yet. That&#8217;s a 4 game improvement if [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Five moves the Rays should make.</title>
		<link>http://tampabaysportsblog.com/tampa-bay-rays/five-moves-the-rays-should-make/</link>
		<comments>http://tampabaysportsblog.com/tampa-bay-rays/five-moves-the-rays-should-make/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 14 Nov 2008 15:57:14 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Scott Brannelly</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Tampa Bay Rays]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Akinori Iwamura]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Andrew Friedman]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Andy Sonnanstine]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ben Zobrist]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[BJ Upton]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Boston Red Sox]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Brandon Lyon]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Brian Fuentes]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Carl Crawford]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Carlos Guillen]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Carlos Pena]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Chad Bradford]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Dan Wheeler]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[David Price]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Dioner Navarro]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Edwin Jackson]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Elijah Dukes]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Evan Longoria]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Francisco Rodriguez]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Gabe Gross]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Gary Sheffield]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Grant Balfour]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[J.P. Howell]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[James Shields]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jason Bartlett]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jason Hammel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jeff Niemann]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Joe Beimel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Joe Maddon]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jonny Gomes]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Los Angeles Dodgers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Magglio Ordonez]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Matt Garza]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Miguel Cabrera]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mitch Talbot]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Pat Burrell]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Philadelphia Phillies]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Reid Brignac]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Rocco Baldelli]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Scott Kazmir]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Shawn Riggans]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Trever Miller]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Willy Aybar]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://tampabaysportsblog.com/?p=371</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[    In the spirit of trying to keep up with the goings on of the hot stove league I&#8217;ve decided to look at the possibilities and suggest five moves the Rays should make to improve their team. I will try to be as realistic as I can be while trying to view things from both sides. Let&#8217;s roll with it and see how it goes. Sign Joe Beimel: Starting slow and sounding as simple as possible, I know, but the addition of Beimel as Trever Millers replacement would be a huge upgrade to an already good bullpen. Beimel has done very well in the last few years with the Dodgers and, as a type B free agent, there would be no draft picks lost. Beimel could legitimately be used in more situations than just the lefty on lefty matchups if needed, but would be the ideal guy to slot in with Howell, Balfour and Wheeler in shutting teams down from the seventh inning on. There is a lot of competition out there for Beimel but I think it could be done. Re-sign Rocco Baldelli: One of those sentimental moves I think both sides would go for. The only problem that [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Rays season over, sigh.</title>
		<link>http://tampabaysportsblog.com/tampa-bay-rays/rays-season-over-sigh/</link>
		<comments>http://tampabaysportsblog.com/tampa-bay-rays/rays-season-over-sigh/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 07 Nov 2008 18:36:15 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Scott Brannelly</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Tampa Bay Rays]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Akinori Iwamura]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Al Reyes]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Andy Sonnanstine]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ben Zobrist]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[BJ Upton]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Carl Crawford]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Carlos Pena]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Chad Bradford]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Cliff Floyd]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Dan Wheeler]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[David Price]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Eric Hinske]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Evan Longoria]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Fernando Perez]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Gabe Gross]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Gary Glover]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Grant Balfour]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[J.P. Howell]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[James Shields]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jason Bartlett]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jason Hammel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jeff Niemann]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jonny Gomes]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Juan Salas]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Kurt Birkins]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Matt Garza]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mitch Talbot]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Nathan Haynes]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Rocco Baldelli]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Scott Dohman]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Scott Kazmir]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Shawn Riggans]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Trevor Miller]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Troy Percival]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Willy Aybar]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://tampabaysportsblog.com/?p=336</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[   Time to wrap up the Rays season. What a season we had here, never saw this coming. I thought, the same as everyone else, the Rays would improve but not to this extent. Let&#8217;s wrap it up&#8230; The defense: The most dramatically improved thing on this team was the defense. The arrival of Jason Bartlett and Evan Longoria made this into the best left side defense in baseball. I was skeptical of Bartlett in the beginning (no need to bring my stupidity there again) as he had some unexplained throwing errors early but recovered to have a great season (should&#8217;ve got the gold glove over Young in my opinion). Longo was great defensively from day one and that&#8217;s that. Aki transitioned nicely over to second and Pena (won gold glove) was phenomenal. Having Pena at the corner saved Barty and Longo at least 5 errors a piece. Navarro&#8217;s improvement behind the plate was far and away the most amazing difference I saw. He was such a different player all around this year that I want to compare images from last season to see if this is the same guy. Unreal! Crawford and Upton were very good and have the [...]]]></description>
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		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Rays avoid an embarrassing sweep at home.</title>
		<link>http://tampabaysportsblog.com/tampa-bay-rays/rays-avoid-an-embarrassing-sweep-at-home/</link>
		<comments>http://tampabaysportsblog.com/tampa-bay-rays/rays-avoid-an-embarrassing-sweep-at-home/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 05 Sep 2008 02:50:36 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Scott Brannelly</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Tampa Bay Rays]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Akinori Iwamura]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Alex Rodriguez]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[BJ Upton]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Dioner Navarro]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Gabe Gross]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jason Bartlett]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jason Hammel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[New York Yankees]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Scott Kazmir]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Willy Aybar]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://tampabaysportsblog.com/?p=301</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The Rays ended the madness tonight and got away with a 7-5 win to avoid being swept by the retirement home bandits. They had a big inning in the second in which they scored 5 runs on hits by Gross, Aki and Aybar and things looked back to normal on the mound and in the field. The crowds picked up the last two nights also with 25,000 plus at both games. It got scary but it worked out. Anyway, let&#8217;s get to it. Kazmir still isn&#8217;t right. He is slowly improving but there still appears to be something wrong with him. He threw 6 innings of one hit ball with five walks. That&#8217;s right, 5 freakin walks! I don&#8217;t know how he got away with it against the Yanks but he did. I can only hope that there&#8217;s nothing seriously wrong with him and it all is corrected by the time the playoffs roll around. I have given credit to Jason Hammel in the past for having the toughest job on the team. No more. That was completely embarrassing tonight to have to bring in your closer to finish off a game that you were winning 7-0 in the ninth. [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Let&#8217;s get it straight on BJ Upton.</title>
		<link>http://tampabaysportsblog.com/tampa-bay-rays/lets-get-it-straight-on-bj-upton/</link>
		<comments>http://tampabaysportsblog.com/tampa-bay-rays/lets-get-it-straight-on-bj-upton/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 10 Aug 2008 04:06:03 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Scott Brannelly</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Tampa Bay Rays]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Akinori Iwamura]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[BJ Upton]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[bj upton attitude]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[bj upton is an asshole]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Evan Longoria]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[evan longoria attitude]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hanley Ramirez]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Joe Maddon]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[joe maddon accountability]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Kevin Youklis]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://tampabaysportsblog.com/?p=280</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[   I seem to have hit a nerve with my recent rant on BJ Upton. I find this funny because I rip everyone and people only seem to care about a select few when I do. That makes me laugh. Anyway, the biggest problem I have with Upton, isn&#8217;t Upton. You follow? As I pointed out before, Upton is a new wave athlete like pretty much everyone else and it&#8217;s got to be difficult for someone like Joe Maddon, who&#8217;s been around the game for so long, to deal with these guys. There still has to be an accountability factor involved with everything you preach. To Maddon and Upton&#8217;s credit, there has been a benching and public discussion of what I bitched about before and it was handled well by both of them. I give credit to both of them for this. What I have a problem with now is the defense being brought up about Upton and his play. Maddon obviously saw it and finally did something, so my bitching wasn&#8217;t unforeseen. I have read some stuff from some other sites that point out Upton&#8217;s OBP and his K&#8217;s going down and what not, but that is pointing out the [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>The sh*t goes down in the second!</title>
		<link>http://tampabaysportsblog.com/tampa-bay-rays/the-sht-goes-down-in-the-second/</link>
		<comments>http://tampabaysportsblog.com/tampa-bay-rays/the-sht-goes-down-in-the-second/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 05 Jun 2008 23:32:00 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Scott Brannelly</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Tampa Bay Rays]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Akinori Iwamura]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Carl Crawford]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[James Shields]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jonny Gomes]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[TFC]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://tampabaysportsblog.com/?p=235</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[   All hell started to break loose now in Boston. After the incident with Crisp and Joe Maddon last night we all knew something would happen. Well here it is. James Shields hit Dustin Pedroia in the first which I thought would be it, but no! Shields came back in the second and hit Coco Crisp who then charged the mound. Shields took a wild swing at him and missed, after which TFC pulled Crisp to the ground where Jonny Gomes and Carl Crawford went to work on Crisp. It was a pretty brawl as far as Baseball fights go, yet Aki showed us all that is an absolute wuss! Aki stood quietly in the middle of the field being restrained (not really) by one of the Red Sox coaches. I will have a hard time respecting this guy as a man from this point on. Earlier today I pointed out that Aki has not fought his own battles here, now he stands pat while the ENTIRE TEAM fights. There is no excuse for this at all. How can you just stand there while every guy you play with is involved in a brawl? Right or wrong, you NEVER stand pat [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Coco Crisp is a dirty bitch, Aki needs to defend himself!</title>
		<link>http://tampabaysportsblog.com/tampa-bay-rays/coco-crisp-is-a-dirty-bitch-aki-needs-to-defend-himself/</link>
		<comments>http://tampabaysportsblog.com/tampa-bay-rays/coco-crisp-is-a-dirty-bitch-aki-needs-to-defend-himself/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 05 Jun 2008 18:18:33 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Scott Brannelly</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Tampa Bay Rays]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Akinori Iwamura]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[BJ Upton]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[coco crisp takes out aki]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jason Bartlett]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Joe Maddon]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jonny Gomes]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://tampabaysportsblog.com/?p=234</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[  If you watched the game last night you saw the confrontation between Manager Joe Maddon and Coco Crisp. Coco tried to steal second in the eighth inning of a 5-1 game and slid late and hard into Akinori Iwamura while being tagged out. It was a blatant cheap shot attempt and Joe Maddon had plenty to say to Crisp when he went out to the mound to replace Jason Hammel. They shouted at each other and eventually stared each other down from the dugout. I love the fact that Maddon is defending his players but I think it&#8217;s high time that Aki stopped letting everyone fight his battles for him. Crisp says he was mad at an earlier play in which he says Jason Bartlett blocked the bag at which point he said he told Bartlett to watch out. He then retaliates against Aki while trying to steal in the eighth? This is the second time Aki has been involved with dirty tactics at second and he has not even come close to defending himself. This time it was Maddon, the first time it was Jonny Gomes coming in from right field. I&#8217;m all for keeping your composure and [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>The Rays need a real hitter!</title>
		<link>http://tampabaysportsblog.com/tampa-bay-rays/the-rays-need-a-real-hitter/</link>
		<comments>http://tampabaysportsblog.com/tampa-bay-rays/the-rays-need-a-real-hitter/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 05 Jun 2008 03:11:54 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Scott Brannelly</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Tampa Bay Rays]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Akinori Iwamura]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Barry Bonds]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[BJ Upton]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Carlos Pena]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Chris Mason]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Cliff Floyd]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[David Price]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Desmond Jennings]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Evan Longoria]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Fernando Perez]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Heath Rollins]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jake McGee]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[James Shields]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jason Bartlett]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jeff Niemann]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jeremy Hellickson]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Matt Garza]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mitch Talbot]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ryan Royster]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Scott Kazmir]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[tampa bay rays need hitter]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[tampa bay raysneed hitters]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[TFC]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Wade Davis]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://tampabaysportsblog.com/?p=231</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[   The series in Boston is pretty much going the way I thought it would. I&#8217;m not silly enough to think the Rays can go to Boston and sneak out with another series win. I figured they would drop the first two and grab the third behind James Shields. This isn&#8217;t being brought up because of the two losses, I&#8217;ve been meaning to bring this up for a while now. The Rays bats are not very good right now. Aki has picked it up over the last month, TFC and Bartlett are doing better. The problem is the middle of the order. Upton is still taking too many strikes and isn&#8217;t hitting for any power. Watching him at this point he looks to be a better leadoff hitter than number three hitter. Pena has struggled and is now hurt. Longoria hasn&#8217;t burst on the scene like we all anticipated. Looking at the lineup from top to bottom there is absolutely no one that would scare any pitcher out there. The Rays need to make a move to get a legit middle of the order hitter. To take it a step further in my little fantasy here, I want an elite [...]]]></description>
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		<title>Rays win behind Floyd walkoff!</title>
		<link>http://tampabaysportsblog.com/tampa-bay-rays/rays-win-behind-floyd-walkoff/</link>
		<comments>http://tampabaysportsblog.com/tampa-bay-rays/rays-win-behind-floyd-walkoff/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 31 May 2008 02:28:14 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Scott Brannelly</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Tampa Bay Rays]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Akinori Iwamura]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Carlos Pena]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Cliff Floyd]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[James Shields]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://tampabaysportsblog.com/?p=223</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[   Cliff Floyd has now made his mark. Floyd hit a shot to center that barely got over the wall for a walkoff 2-1 win. He&#8217;ll probably have to go on the DL now after running the bases and getting beat down by everyone when he got home. Some notes from the game.    James Shields got away with some average stuff tonight. He left ALOT of changeups up in the zone tonight and thankfully the &#8220;other&#8221; Sox were not killing him.    Aki has 41 hits in May now. That&#8217;s got to be a club record or something. The thing that makes me laugh watching him though is that they all seem to go to the same damn spot. How does he do it?!   Pena needs to hit the bench for a couple days. It has gotten embarrassingly painful to watch him swing and miss all night long. I feel terrible when I watch him and he needs to be sat for a couple days just to get his head straight (it&#8217;s true, sorry Mom). In his last 10 games Carlos is hitting .242 with 12 K&#8217;s in 33 AB&#8217;s. The stats aren&#8217;t showing how ugly it&#8217;s been to see [...]]]></description>
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