Matt Moore is in the midst of an incredible run at Bowling Green. In his last 10 games he's struck out 70 guys over 52 inning. For the season he's striking out a shocking 12.78 per nine. He's still walking too many but he's not letting up many hits. His batting average against is under .190 now.

It's got the attention of Baseball America, which gave him some love on their Prospect Hot Sheet.

Anyone seen him pitch live lately?  

Be very excited. Desmond Jennings is absolutely tearing up AA. It is just a month, but wow...he leads the Southern League in extra base hits has an onbase over .400, is stealing bases, including home, and playing a solid CF.

It was enough to get Baseball America to drool over his potential back on Friday.

Here's some of what Ben Badler wrote:

Jennings has an excellent approach at the plate, which has led to his walks being nearly equal to his strikeouts the last two years. He stays balanced at the plate and keeps his head locked in, then has the hand-eye coordination to regularly put the barrel of the bat to the ball.

“Very good strike zone management,” Montgomery manager Billy Gardner Jr. said. “He doesn’t get fooled very often. He gets on a fastball good, he stays on the ball well and he uses the entire field to hit. He’s got some jump in his bat—the ball comes off his bat really well.”

With all that Jennings has done early in the season, perhaps his most exciting play came at Chattanooga on April 15. With Dodgers lefthander Scott Elbert on the mound, Jennings took off and used his explosive speed to steal home.

“He stole home plate, and I didn’t realize until I read some blogs the next day that it was Jackie Robinson Day,” Gardner said.

 Check out the whole article here: http://www.baseballamerica.com/blog/prospects/?p=3589

In a hip-hop age, hearing Fernando Perez stepping to bat with Papa's Got a Brand New Bag by James Brown tells you all you need to know about this kid. Anyone grooving to the godfather of soul can be on my fantasy team.

As if that isn't enough, he lays out for an incredible catch...then throws a laser that ends up getting the big double play in the 4th.

AND....he belt's his third homer? I know...sample size...sample size...but this 50 AB sample is freaking sweet so far.

More reasons to love Perez from the media guide:

-Highest drafted player in Columbia U. history...

-His favorite reading is Herman Hesse's 1927 novel "Steppenwolf"

I know he's not going to really belt 3 homers every two weeks, but his speed alone has me dreaming up next years outfield. Crawford, Perez and Upton in the outfield in 2009 might mean never again giving up a triple in this league.

For what it is worth, the Baltimore Sun is reporting that all three passed through waivers unclaimed. Surely none are great at this point, but Payton and Millar both his lefties well historically, and are a lot cheaper than Huff. Plus Payton could play left until Crawford is back. I wonder if the Rays will kick the tires on Payton. Given the Bradford deal, it seems the O's are willing to deal with us.

The question is whether Payton offers a big enough upgrade over Ruggs defensively to merit the deal.

Payton seems to be the only useable outfielder to have cleared waivers at this point.

I'm not sure I'd advocate this, but if we wanted to upgrade from Jonny Gomes for cheap, the newly released Richie Sexson may be an option. (?)

Now before everyone flames me for it, look at his numbers versus lefthanded pitching.

Avg. .344/OBP.423/ SLG.623.

Gomes meanwhile:

.194/.289/.432

I'd rather turn to a Xavier Nady or similar more dependable option, but Sexson, for as bad as he's been is better against lefties than Gomes this year.

Wow....David Price is getting no challenge in AA. His third start on Sunday: 7 IP, 4 hits, 1 BB, 6 Ks.

Combined on the two levels, he is 7-0, with a 1.68 ERA and a .210 batting average against. And god bless the lefties who dare step in the box. They are sporting a .136 against him in AA. Ouch.

Could he jump another level this quickly? Or could he be in the Rays' pen by season's end?

Okay, I think the Yanks helped Stu and the boys prioritize their needs heading to the trade deadline.

1. Lefties are killing us. Pettitte showed that deficiency last night. For whatever reason, Pena, Crawford and Aki are well below their numbers against lefties last year. Upton, Longoria and Navarro are the only one's really hitting lefties well. When Gomes can't reach base against lefties we basically have three Cliff Floyds (Gross, Cliff, Jonny). So as much as I'm waiting for Gomes to come around, it may be time to just go get right fielder like Nady to replace him.

2. G-Love. He clearly hasn't been effective this year. Maybe Reyes takes his spot after the break. But regardless we need a more trustworthy extra arm. I'm not sold it has to be Fuentes, but clearly we need another guy to work those game where we are down a run or two. Not sure Hammel or Glover should be on this team.

3. This may not be a weakness, but I don't know what Willie Aybar is about. I think he has value....but probably for a team that has a secondbase and thirdbase issues. Obviously he made a lot more sense before Longoria came up and before Hinske made the club. We now have four guys that can back up third base (Hinkse, Aki, Willie, Zobrist).

Now, all of this may be nit picky given we are in first. But I now believe this team could be world champions. I want a full roster for when we are in extra innings against the Angels or White Sox. We have a very good pen....lets make it great. We have the minor league talent to offer up to get that done.

We all do it. We look at the farm system and see they five tool guys hitting .230 and drool over the "potential." Then, there is the guy that just performs at every level and somehow never makes Baseball America's top list or gets a bobblehead in their first year in the bigs.

Then there are 13th round draft picks from Kent State hailing from the baseball mecca of Barberton, Ohio.

When I watch Andy Sonnanstine, I think of guys like Jamie Moyer and David Eckstein. Players the get over looked because of the "raw talents" of Corey Patterson, Mark Prior or Dewon Brazelton (groan here). Marc Topkin of the St Pete Times nails what Andy is all about today. He just wins. Though his fastball barely gets over 90 mph a couple of times a game, Andy controls what he has and thinks his way through games. Topkins drills this home with this graph:

"He was in the minors, compiling a 40-18 record. And after a couple-of-months adjustment period after his June 2007 promotion from Triple A, he has been in the majors, going 15-5 in 27 starts since Aug. 15."

Yet, he's the first guy we all seemingly look at as being in jeopardy as David Price crawls to the Trop. I know I have. But maybe its time we look up and marvel at the idea that we might have the ultimate bulldog pitcher on the mound every 5 days.

David Price continues to roll. He picked up his second win tonight, first in his new home stadium up there.  The Montgomery newspaper has on their blog that Price let up five hits over six innings, walked two and struck out five.

Not lights out...but still Price continues his march to 2009. What you have to like about this guy is that he just wins at every level. He's like Longoria who just seems to win where ever he went from college up the ladder.

Poor relay throws, lousy baserunning, misjudged fly balls, ugly instincts....

That pretty much described last night's Vero Rays vs. Reds game. It was sad watching most of the action....

Then came Desmond.

There was a shot heading for the gap in right-center field and the moment it left the bat, Jennings was on the move in the right direction (very un BJ like). And honestly, it didn't look like he was running that hard....but all of a sudden he was Andruw Jones, circa 1999, tracking the ball down. It was just beautiful. All of a sudden BJ's refusal to sign long term seems less troubling.

Though he had only one hit, each swing was really solid. Even his outs were hard outs. Anyhow, everything he did justified him being our best outfield prospect in the system.

Now for the ugly (and there was plenty):

-If that is the way Rocco Baldelli now has to run...Yikes. I mean there's a beatable infield hit and he is in a deliberate trot. I believe David Ortiz could have beaten him to the bag. Now, maybe he had just given up on the play as he came out of the box, given it is an A ball game. But boy, if that's how Rocco is going to play for now on, he's of no value. Will he be able to get to second on a shot in the gap?

- Evan Longoria shouldn't be worried at all about Cesar Suarez replacing him at third ever. Ranging two steps right or left is clearly asking too much for Suarez who made this silly dive to his left in which I swear if he just made two steps over he'd have had it. All night it seemed like he was in concrete shoes.

-Neil Walton gets lots of praise as having a great infield arm. And he sure does. He took a relay through from right field and launched a throw to the back stop on a rope. It was 10 feet higher than the catcher. I wondered if his eyes were open when he threw the ball.

-And LF Garrett Groce did his best BJ Upton. At the crack of the bat he started going back on the ball, which then dropped in front of him for a run scoring singled...sheesh. And at bat, he looked back at the ump on several called strikes.

Anyhow with David Price and Jeremy Hellickson gone, it appears Jennings is a man among boys in High-A ball.

Cruising BaseballAmerica.com, I came accross this nugget filed over the weekend by Ben Badler. Badler does a very nice job analyzing McGee's problems pitching beyond the fouth inning. Makes me wonder of McGee is really a starter prospect long term. Could his future be the bullpen....anyhow, here's what Badler wrote:

"For McGee, the problems have usually come after the fourth inning. In innings one through four, McGee has a 2.41 ERA and a 54-20 K-BB mark in 56 innings. In innings five through seven, McGee’s ERA is 8.07 in 21 2/3 innings. Part of that could be due to the bullpen allowing an above-average number of its inherited runners from McGee to score, but McGee’s K-BB in those innings of 11-17 indicates that’s probably not the main source of his problems. That’s a small sample size but still noteworthy for a player who scouts believe could excel as a power reliever if his secondary stuff and control don’t develop.

Checking last year’s numbers with Vero Beach, McGee’s ERA took a hit after the fourth inning, but his strikeouts and walks remained similar. In innings one through four, McGee had a 1.85 ERA, 106 strikeouts and 31 walks in 82 2/3 innings. In innings five through seven, McGee’s ERA ballooned to 5.56 in 34 innings, though his 39-8 K-BB mark remained solid."

In both the Tampa Tribune and Vero newspapers they suggest David Price may have made his last dominating start in Single A.  Which is unfortunately only in that his next start was likely going to be in Sarasota next week. Still, the numbers look gaudy.....28 1/3 innings.....23 hits.....4 ER....5 walks....

That double A rotation is just sick....

Wade Davis, Jake McGee, Richard De los Santos , James Houser (2.08 ERA in 13 starts) and Price(?)

Hellickson is killing Single A hitters ( .99 WHIP), yet there clearly is no open spot in the AA rotation to promote him without moving maybe Houser to Durham.

But this does raise an odd question I've never had to worry about in 10 years....how do we manage the logjam of quality pitching prospects effectively when we really don't have an opening in the major league rotation?

I hope the Rays management is preparing to work some deals to turn our surplus of projectable arms into position player prospects. With Garza, Kaz and Shields, we clearly don't have room for everyone coming through....Granted it gives Price time to develop, but Price might be pounding on the AAA door already by seasons end.

Comparing this club to last year never gets old. According to my media guide, the Devil Rays entered Aug. 1 against Toronto with 40 wins. A total I think we all agree will be eclipsed by the end of this weekend.

At the All-Star break (still a month away at this point), they had only 34. Amazing turnaround.

Credit? I'm giving a lot to the front office for bringing in guys like Floyd and Percy...guys who clearly have no stomach for losing.

Night after night, Dioner Navarro is proving he is really that same guy who everyone in baseball wanted in 2004 after Baseball America named him the Yankees top prospect.

Not only is he hitting the baseball well, but let's not forget it was Navarro behind the plate in the last four games with Kaz, Shields, Jackson and Garza throwing gems. He caught all 13 innings in Toronto and just caught two 1-hit performances from the starters. Pitchers look comfortable throwing to him.

Navarro still hasn't made an error. Has no passed balls. Has thrown out four runners already for a 25 percent eraser rate (major league avg. last year was 22 percent).

Need more? How about .350 average with runners in scoring position. Since last August he is hitting over .300 overall.

AND he signed a baseball for my kids.

The entire mood of the coaching staff has to be better on seeing how this bullpen is shaping up. Last year at this time we were wondering if Micelli could close and of Lugo and Camp were going to be handle the 7th and 8th. What a disaster.

Now we have a half-dozen experienced major leaguers as options late. No matter how they line up, Maddon has to be much more comfortable with Wheeler, Balfour, Glover, Reyes, Percival and Salas holding down the back end.

Not great...just respectable.

In a tie game in Yankee stadium my heart won't sink if any of those guys come out of the pen.

They might get beat some nights, but you know all of them are capable, something I'm not sure any of us ever could convince ourselves of with Stokes, Lugo, Camp, Corcoran and Orvella. How'd we survive that? Oh wait...we didn't.

Bulldog mentality. Consumate professional on the mound. Trusts his fastball in any situation. Clocks mid-90s.

These are some of the ways Garza has been describe by scouts and in Baseball America over the last few years.

Kaz, Garza and Shields is a pretty good front three. It's good to see this team finally being willing to trade their depth at one position to address other needs.

Any guesses about the last two rotation spots? Do Jackson, and Sonnestine hold them, or is it time to welcome the next round of kids?

Regardless, there's plenty of reason to his some spring training games in March.

Let me get this straight. A team leaves Tampa, flys to Boston, then to Seattle then to L.A.? Then back to Tampa for a Yank/Sox back to backer....If anyone wanted to see the worlds greatest rectangle on a U.S. map there she is. Maybe they can work Juneau into the schedule next year. Yikes.

Gotta tip a cap to the guys for splitting with the M's who are in a must win situation.

And all hail Carlos Pena. 40 homers.

Bleacher creatures?

Jumping on the opposing right fielder?

Standing ovations?

I went to Saturday's games with two of my kids and thought I had accidently stumbled into Fenway Park or Yankee Stadium.

It was the freakin A's. Two teams so out of the playoff hunt that you'd expect it to be the library-like atmosphere that September Rays games tend to resemble.

But its true. Kazmir had the place rockin' and the fans packed in rightfield were a blast. My daughter now thinks every Rays game is a horn blowing-cow-bellringing-noise fest with great pitching and good hitting.

I know management has done their thing to make the stadium fan friendly (I appreciate the family stuff greatly) but what's clear is the product on the field still is key to getting fans rowdy and having fun.

And its nice to see a glimmer of how dominating Kazmir can be. Through three innings he was Pedro Martinez-esque. Not only was he putting hitter down 0-2, but then he was still throwing strikes, not throwing pitches away.

So where is the power-hitting rightfielder we thought we thought Delmon Young was going to be? He has hit exactly one home run in the last month.

Maybe I'm not remembering the scouting reports on him. I thought for sure this was gonna be a kid that could jack shots out of the Trop. He's getting his RBI still and has 20+ doubles, but I'm a tad disappointed that he's not more of a long ball threat.

Does anyone have scouting projections on him. Seems like he's a gap hitter with pop, rather than a true slugger.

Uncompetitive.

That's where they are now. We have a bunch of guys that just laid down in KC. How do you explain it.

I've been fighting upstream to stay on this anti-bandwagon for close to 10 years, and they are finally making me question the logic of rooting for 9 innings of crap every night. It's amazing that a guy like Stokes keeps coming out of the pen...12 pitches...4 strikes....What the hell is that?

They just won one game on a three-city road trip. Again. Uncompetive. You got guys who just aren't hitting, certainly are embarrassing in the field and there is no need to mention the bullpen. You've all seen it. In retrospect, I appreciated Shawn Camps mess of a season early..he was getting hit all over the park, but at least the guy was throwing strikes. Now, you know the other manager is telling every batter to just let them throw. You have a great shot getting on with a walk....and if you get strikes on you just hit it up the middle....god knows Wiggy and Harris aren't going to be cutting anything off going up the middle...what a funny thought...an infielder that and get to a ground ball (not named Aki).

I wrote Cleveland off to a hot team...Boston just a ton of talent. But the White Sox and Royals? Every one of the guys on this team should be embarrassed to ask any of us to buy another ticket. To see what?

Yes, this is a rant. Look at how dead the board has been the last few weeks. I think others are voting their displeasure in just unplugging now.

Seems everytime the Rays launch into a nice 8 game losing streak, I find myself thinking about them minor leaguers that will save the day.

Checking back in on Longoria, its clear this guy is getting it. He hit .295 in June. He only hit 5 homers, but is still on pace to hit 30-40 for the year. Just consistantly putting up the solid near .300 average and power numbers we all are praying for.

Brignac seems to be struggling though. He finally hit some homers in June (4 for the season), but he's hitting under .220 since May 1. Ooops. That biscuit needs a little more time in the ol' development oven.

They may not be moving through the system together. I'm sure they are gonna have to bump Longoria to Durham and leave Brignac to keep working.

Hey check out our friends over at Boston Dirtdogs as they lament the idea of having to face us "Devil Dogs" for the 18 games in the last three months.

Somehow, we have not played a single game against those guys, yet it's July. Odd. Anyhow check it out, (work past the insults - many probably deserved given how bad the last week was)

http://www.bostondirtdogs.com/

Wow. I didn't see this one coming. The way Joe is talking it almost sounds like he's just gonna let Young keep center and Gomes in right for a while. Joe sounds like he's in love with Gomes all of a sudden.

We might have a nice problem here. When Baldelli comes back this weekend (?) do we put him in center and push Gomes to the DH spot (thus benching Wiggy when Upton comes back) or keep this outfield like this and send Baldelli off in a trade?

It sounds like Young doesn't really like center. Plus his cannon arm in right is a freaking godsend. How many runs has he stopped by just cocking his arm?

Oh, and file this all under Dukes Is Doubly Doomed. In someways, its nice knowing that a good guy like Gomes is giving the final shove to Dukes.

Anyone think we should ride Young in center for a while longer, even when Baldelli returns?

Close your eye's when you get to the 8th inning of the box score, and you see a very nice job again by Howell.

He walked three, but gave up three hits through seven, before handing the bullpen a 1-0 deficit to hold.

Seemingly he's making a mockery of the notion that it once was a close call between him and Edwin Jackson for the No. 5 spot in the rotation.

P.S. Are the Padres scary or what? Geez, their three starts let up 11 hits in the three days.

Despite the gas can gang in the bullpen, our Devil Rays have been playing over .500 ball for the last month. Since May 13, this club is 14-11. Wow. They've done that without Aki healthy, Salas shelved and Baldelli hurt.

(also get this, our guys haven't lost a series now in about three weeks)

Also worth tracking is Carlos Pena. Could he finally wipe Jose Canseco off our single season home run record. Jose had 34 (tied with Huff). Pena's on pace to give it a run.

Also, Upton could make a run at the batting average record. I think its .311.

This is gonna be a fun summer now that Sonny, Howell, Shields and Kaz fill the rotation. Heck, maybe by being around heads like Sonny and Shields and even Howell, maybe Jackson will jump on board.

Okay, we are not in July yet, but I've been struggling with two big questions.

Do you trade Carlos Pena at the break and do you trade Reyes at the break?

First, you know both will be free at seasons end, and there is almost no shot that we could resign these guys, short of one having an undying affection for the Trop (Pena's gotta love catwalks). I assume they are going to want more than the deals they have now based on the numbers they are both putting up.

Anyhow, you look around and can't you see the Dodgers giving us some great talent back for Pena. They've got so little power, that offering them a real 1B with pop my be too hard to resist for them.

Same with Reyes. You could get the Tigers and Indians in a bidding war for a reliable setup/part time closer.

Sure, we can try to deal Wiggy or Norton, but neither can possible bring what Reyes and Pena could bring.

But can we handle selling vets for youngsters again? You know WDAE will kill them, even if they are smart trades (i.e. Gathright for Howell).

I'd hate to see an opportunity to get something just turn into two guys walking away for nothing. But, I also hate the idea of seeing the team mail in another August. Sounds like a poll question, no?

I think I'd prefer them not deal either, but is that the responsible thing to do given our time is at least a year away?

Tuesday's loss is that much more painful knowing this could have been a sweep eh? But, here's to the bullpen working two redeeming games in a row. Both games they held the Jays in check.

Props to the much maligned Camp for throwing 6 of his seven pitches for strikes today while pitching for the fourth consecutive game.

Glover too was pitching for the fourth game in a row. And don't look now, but he's been scored on just once in his last 12 innings.

In the post-steroids era, I think there was a big questions about how many pitchers would be able to come back night after night. Here we have the case of two veterans showing that ability to roll back out. Good news.

And replaced him with some 2-hit shutout like pitcher. Then they did the same to Stokes.

Wow, talk about unexpected. Did anyone in DRays Bay land expect Seo to toss such a nice game.

This may just be the tease that Seo has been in his career, but if he can just be decent this club would be in such a better position. I was in NY when he had a dominent stretch for the Mets so I know he can do it.

Anyhow, we've abused the heck out of Seo here, so it's only right we give him a little love after playing the role of stopper.

If managment really wants to get rid of the Devil from the name, try that one. These boys are just clawing through every stinking game. Down a run in the ninth....you'd better stay tuned, because these guys don't give up.

One of the reason's Reyes and Salas are carry such a big loads, isn't just becuase of the rest of the faulty pen...but it's also a testament to how many games this team has been in.

Those few games where pitching gave up big first innings were such a killer, but even in those games, the Rays kept swinging like they were going to patch some runs together.

It easy to say, but boy, its tough for a team to not "just pack it in and try to get them tomorrow" when you have 162 games on the sked. Maybe it's the youth. But, Wiggy, Crawford, Baldelli...they all say otherwise with each clutch hit.

Regardless of the win-loss records or the lack of bullpen depth, the one thing we should all honor and respect about this club is that they don't pack it in when faced with diversity.

So, looking at the box scores, I've noticed the Durham Bulls rolled Orvella out for his second consecutive save. He's still walking a few too many people, but he's doing OK.

Amazing the McClung is now in the setup roll. And you know, he still stinks. I don't get it. All that talent and he just struggles to keep the baseball in the strike zone. In his nine appearences, he's walked at least one batter in six of them.

He walks the righties, and gets crushed by lefties. Man, I hope he works this out.

But back to Orvella...he's giving me faith that he just might have a shot to contribute to the big club. Hopefully he's building that attitude.