White Sox 5, Devil Rays 4.
Was Elijah Dukes in the news for something earlier this week? We vaguely remember something. This is our attempt to get back to baseball...Remember Dukes' first home run of the season on opening day in Yankee Stadium? It seemed like it was never more than 20 feet off the ground and it left the park so fast that the announcers didn't even have a chance to use their home run call. It left the park so fast that it drilled a fan in the leg in the left field bleachers, presumably because he did not have a chance to get out of the way. Last night's game-tying 3-run home run in the 7th (after Brendan Harris was intentionally hit by Mark Buerhle) was just the latest rocket home run by Dukes. He is starting to remind us of a fellow Tampa product, Gary Sheffield. Incredible bat speed and a line drive hitter that hits the ball so hard that a lot of those line drives will clear the outfield wall before they have a chance to come down. Last night's home run was exactly the same as opening day, with maybe a little more lift. We were watching the White Sox broadcast and Hawk Harrelson announced "and we have a tie ballgame". It seemed like he said it before Dukes even completed his swing. How scary must it be to play third base when Dukes is at the plate? We wouldn't volunteer.

For those of you that want Dukes gone from the team...this is exactly why it won't happen. He is a Devil Ray for at least the near future. He is too talented. And nobody is going to off the Devil Rays anything of value for him now. Tampa Bay is not a franchise that can afford to give up on cheap talent no matter what the baggage. The team will just have to ride out the storm and hope it passes.

Also keep in mind that this is the first incident that Dukes has had as a major leaguer. And what comes with that is national exposure and embarrassment. For the first time, Dukes has taken a hit in the media that may actually leave an impression on him. Let's hope that the all the negative attention will set him straight, because like it or not, he's going nowhere.

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA...

• I know we are preaching to the choir here...but how bad has Casey Fossum been? He is in the top 10 in the AL in run support per start and is the only one in the group with a losing record. Geez. How is the guys expected to win any games if the offense only averages 6 runs of offensive support per start.
• Shawn Riggans started the season in a funk and needed an attitude adjustment. He got one.
• Shawn Riggans could start tonight, but we expect that tomorrow's day game after a night game, makes more sense.
  
• Edwin Jackson says we won't see anything different tonight, despite an extra bullpen session this week. oh great, so we should expect 6 runs in 4 innings with about 63 walks.
• Elijah Dukes has done exactly the only thing he could do this week. He has kept his mouth shut and last night he hit the ball real hard.