<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<rss version="2.0"
	xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/"
	xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/"
	xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
	xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"
	xmlns:sy="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/syndication/"
	xmlns:slash="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/"
	>

<channel>
	<title>Tampa Bay Sports Blog &#187; BJ Upton</title>
	<atom:link href="http://tampabaysportsblog.com/tag/bj-upton/feed/" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
	<link>http://tampabaysportsblog.com</link>
	<description></description>
	<lastBuildDate>Fri, 30 Sep 2011 14:17:41 +0000</lastBuildDate>
	<language>en</language>
	<sy:updatePeriod>hourly</sy:updatePeriod>
	<sy:updateFrequency>1</sy:updateFrequency>
	<generator>http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1</generator>
		<item>
		<title>That was ugly.</title>
		<link>http://tampabaysportsblog.com/tampa-bay-rays/that-was-ugly/</link>
		<comments>http://tampabaysportsblog.com/tampa-bay-rays/that-was-ugly/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 05 May 2009 13:19:22 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>DeezNuts</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[BJ Upton]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Dioner Navarro]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Joe Maddon]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Matt Garza]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Michel Hernandez]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Scott Kazmir]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Tampa Bay Rays]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://tampabaysportsblog.com/?p=662</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The Rays looked awful last night and it really came as no surprise after we saw the first pitched. Kaz sailed one and it just wasn&#8217;t pretty from there. I do believe it&#8217;s time that we start worrying about Kazmir and his erratic pitching. He hasn&#8217;t looked right for a while now and he doesn&#8217;t seem to be turning the corner at all. More concerning to me than the lack of fastball control is the lack of bite that the slider has these days. It just doesn&#8217;t move like it used to. Hope Kaz can get himself correct, but I&#8217;m not very optimistic at this point. BJ still looks like crap and there is no excuse good enough for how horrible he looks. What I can&#8217;t understand is how he can look so nonchalant about being so bad. I keep laughing at all the so called experts out there that continue to defend this guy saying that he will shake this and have a good season. What is it that you&#8217;re seeing? Melvin looks terrible and even worse he looks like he doesn&#8217;t care. Even worse than that is the fact that Maddon looks like he doesn&#8217;t care either. Joe [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://tampabaysportsblog.com/tampa-bay-rays/that-was-ugly/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>More fun within the win.</title>
		<link>http://tampabaysportsblog.com/tampa-bay-rays/more-fun-within-the-win/</link>
		<comments>http://tampabaysportsblog.com/tampa-bay-rays/more-fun-within-the-win/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 04 May 2009 13:34:07 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>DeezNuts</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[BJ Upton]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Carl Crawford]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Evan Longoria]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Tampa Bay Rays]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Boston Red Sox]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jacoby Ellsbury]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://tampabaysportsblog.com/?p=660</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Carl Crawford&#8217;s legs are back. CC has looked like the Carl of old so far this season and yesterday he put an exclamation point on it. It was nice to see the singles turning into doubles and triples yesterday as he pretended he was back in High School or something. Six steals in a game is impressive and it was icing on the cake that he blew by Ellsbury for the league lead in the process. My only problem with all the steals was seeing how many fastballs Evan looked at in allowing CC to do it. Speaking of Evan, was anyone else as happy as I was when Evan gave the fans hell for screwing with that foul ball? When that fat idiot realized what he did he looked so pathetic and stupid that I almost felt bad for him. You can&#8217;t be that ignorant and Longoria had no problem letting him (and the other moron that tried to get the ball) know what jackasses they were. It got even more scary when Ellsbury sent that ball to the warning track. I thought he got it. Finally I will get on Upton. I have decided that I will not [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://tampabaysportsblog.com/tampa-bay-rays/more-fun-within-the-win/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Explain this to me Joe, please.</title>
		<link>http://tampabaysportsblog.com/tampa-bay-rays/explain-this-to-me-joe-please/</link>
		<comments>http://tampabaysportsblog.com/tampa-bay-rays/explain-this-to-me-joe-please/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 03 May 2009 03:02:55 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>DeezNuts</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[BJ Upton]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Desmond Jennings]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Dioner Navarro]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Fernando Perez]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Gabe Gross]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Gabe Kapler]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Joe Maddon]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Matt Joyce]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Michel Hernandez]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Tampa Bay Rays]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Tim Beckham]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ben Zobrist]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[John Jaso]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://tampabaysportsblog.com/?p=656</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[It&#8217;s been a while, but who cares. As I sit and watch my favorite teams in the time that I get in the middle of my hectic weeks, I have decided to finally post something and it will be directed at Joe Maddon. The Rays are struggling in the early part of the season and that&#8217;s not really shocking, but I find something about the lineups that get run out everyday extremely troubling. What does it take to lose or win a job on this team? Seriously, what does it take? The constant days off for regulars has always troubled me, but I get it. What puzzles me is constantly running guys out who are clearly struggling. Let&#8217;s start with the fat catcher. Navarro looks bad in every sense of the word right now. He is not the same guy we saw last year, this is the mope we saw the year before. Weak stick, bad at bats and lazy catching. There is a problem with Navarro and we don&#8217;t know what it is. Now I&#8217;m not saying TFC needs to lose his job to Michel Hernandez, but wouldn&#8217;t it send a nice message to TFC and the rest of [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://tampabaysportsblog.com/tampa-bay-rays/explain-this-to-me-joe-please/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<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>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://tampabaysportsblog.com/tampa-bay-rays/the-rays-are-smarter-than-the-yankees/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<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>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://tampabaysportsblog.com/tampa-bay-rays/five-moves-the-rays-should-make/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<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>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://tampabaysportsblog.com/tampa-bay-rays/rays-season-over-sigh/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</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>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://tampabaysportsblog.com/tampa-bay-rays/rays-avoid-an-embarrassing-sweep-at-home/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Rays lose another 8-4.</title>
		<link>http://tampabaysportsblog.com/tampa-bay-rays/rays-lose-another-8-4/</link>
		<comments>http://tampabaysportsblog.com/tampa-bay-rays/rays-lose-another-8-4/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 04 Sep 2008 03:00:05 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Scott Brannelly</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Tampa Bay Rays]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Alex Rodriguez]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[BJ Upton]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Edwin Jackson]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Gabe Gross]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jason Giambi]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[New York Yankees]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://tampabaysportsblog.com/?p=298</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I can&#8217;t bring myself to say that the Yankees win, so I say we lose. Apparently the Devil Rays have suited up again and the Yankees have found the fountain of juice. There were a ton of broken bat bloopers, bad infield play and just all around bad luck. I don&#8217;t feel Jackson pitched awful, he was more a victim of circumstance tonight. I&#8217;m not saying he was good, just that the Yanks were catching all the breaks. As much as I hate the Yankees, I&#8217;m not going to overreact to all this though. We&#8217;re still down a couple players, the pitching is going to have some bad outings and the defense can&#8217;t be stellar every night. We all have to remember how things have gone for us this year. Most of the year, with guys like Gabe Gross batting .230ish, we got hits at all the right times in all the right places. I don&#8217;t like any slump coming now, but it happens. So let&#8217;s all just chill. Note time&#8230; No one should ever throw a fastball low and inside to Gabe Gross. That was an absolute bomb he hit. You couldn&#8217;t draw up a better pitch for him [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://tampabaysportsblog.com/tampa-bay-rays/rays-lose-another-8-4/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Rays drop first to the Yankme&#8217;s.</title>
		<link>http://tampabaysportsblog.com/tampa-bay-rays/rays-drop-first-to-the-yankmes/</link>
		<comments>http://tampabaysportsblog.com/tampa-bay-rays/rays-drop-first-to-the-yankmes/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 03 Sep 2008 02:38:36 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Scott Brannelly</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Tampa Bay Rays]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Alex Rodriguez]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[BJ Upton]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Brian Runge]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Carlos Pena]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Eric Hinske]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jason Bartlett]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Joe Maddon]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Matt Garza]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mike Mussina]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[New York Yankees]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Willy Aybar]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Xavier Nady]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://tampabaysportsblog.com/?p=294</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I know, I know, but you should all know by now that since my life is chaotic, my postings become chaotic. I&#8217;m trying to slow things down a little now but we&#8217;ll see how it goes. Anyway, the ancient relics in pinstripes came to town and took game one of the series 7-2. I heard their pathetic chants at the game and I&#8217;m sure they&#8217;ll have a whole lot to say tomorrow so I will only say one thing, wait til the series is over idiots! The stat padder in blowout games that is Gay-Rod, oops A-Rod, came out to play and the man who should be wearing a Rays uni hit a bomb to left. It was hard to watch and even harder to listen to. The Yanks may have the oldest, most over-rated and overpaid team in baseball but they still have the most annoying fans. These are fans who didn&#8217;t bother to show up to the game either. I also hate to sound like one of those people here too but did anyone else feel like Matt Garza was being screwed tonight? Talk about an erratic umpire! Now some notes&#8230;. Even though the Rays didn&#8217;t produce too [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://tampabaysportsblog.com/tampa-bay-rays/rays-drop-first-to-the-yankmes/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>The Rays have been blessed and WILL make the playoffs!</title>
		<link>http://tampabaysportsblog.com/tampa-bay-rays/the-rays-have-been-blessed-and-will-make-the-playoffs/</link>
		<comments>http://tampabaysportsblog.com/tampa-bay-rays/the-rays-have-been-blessed-and-will-make-the-playoffs/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 21 Aug 2008 20:43:48 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Scott Brannelly</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Tampa Bay Rays]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[BJ Upton]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Carl Crawford]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Carlos Pena]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Cliff Floyd]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Eric Hinske]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Evan Longoria]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Gabe Gross]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Scott Kazmir]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Shawn Riggans]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Tampa Bay Buccaneers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Tampa Bay Lightning]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Troy Percival]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Willy Aybar]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://tampabaysportsblog.com/?p=289</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[There are numerous reasons to think the Rays will or won&#8217;t make the playoffs. We know them all down here. I have watched and been a fan of this team since it&#8217;s inception and I, along with everyone else here, have been waiting for that breakout year like the Bucs or the Lightning had. The Rays compare more to the Bucs for me as I believe this is the first of many years of relevance. The Lightning had a more of a flash and dash type of thing and have struggled to remain a power since their Stanley Cup victory. The Bucs have been up and down since their Super Bowl run yet were &#8220;almost&#8221; there many times before. It&#8217;s hard to predict what the Rays will be. Here are some reasons to think they won&#8217;t make the playoffs. The Pink Sox will make a run as they&#8217;ve been there before and have the firepower to overcome mediocre pitching. The Rays have yet to really slump yet this year. Aside from the losing streak going into the all-star break, they haven&#8217;t stumbled over themselves too much. Injuries have started to hit at the wrong time. Crawford, Longoria and Percival are [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://tampabaysportsblog.com/tampa-bay-rays/the-rays-have-been-blessed-and-will-make-the-playoffs/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
	</channel>
</rss>

