THE GOOD: The offense. It was only 5 runs, but we are starting to see signs of the bats coming out of their funk. Carlos Pena homered. Again. His 5th in 14 games since the all-star break. Carl Crawford tripled. Again. His 5th in 6 games. Evan Longoria homered. Again. His 20th and 4th since the all-star break...The bullpen. Knowing early on that the bullpen was going to work overtime, 4 relievers combined to throw 4.1 shutout innings, allowing only 1 basehit.

THE BAD: Scott Kazmir. 4 walks in the first, including one with the bases loaded and 6 overall, led to Kaz being pulled without even completing the 5th inning after 110 pitches. It was Kazmir at his stereotypical worst...Scott Kazmir's shoes? HERE is a picture of Kazmir's shoes last night. And HERE is a photo of Kazmir's shoes from his July 21st start (we could not find a photo of his July 26th start). Are those the same shoes? They are clearly a different color, but are they different models. We ask because Kazmir seemed to really struggle last night with his "landing" foot. Kazmir repeatedly would look down at where his lead foot would land on the mound. Did Dwayne Staats or Joe Magrane say anything about Kazmir struggling with new shoes? It did not appear to be a problem with the mound or Kazmir would have brought the groundcrew out to fix it. It would not surprise us to see Kid K come out in his next start with the old model.

THE TELLING: Jim Leyland of the Tigers thought that Miguel Cabrera's RBI triple in the 3rd should have been ruled a home run feeling that the ball hit the catwalk. BJ Upton disagreed...The Rays picked up another game on the suposedly superior Yankees.

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA...

• There was some confusion over the status of Jonny Gomes. In yesterday's "Pepper" segment, we said Gomes would be DFA'd if Rocco Baldelli is activated. The feeling was Gomes is out of minor league options. This was verified by somebody close to the team...However, Gomes was only in the minors for 16 days in '07. A player must be in the minors for 20 days to count as an optional assignment. We double-checked with the Rays and sure enough Gomes does have an option remaining. Our bad. We blame Mrs. Professor. This is one of the more confusing aspects of baseball transactions. Last season, the Rays optioned Seth McClung to the minors at the end of spring training after his agent told him the Rays were out of options.
  
• Marc Lancaster originally thought Rocco Baldelli could be activated today, but is now reporting that Rocco will be "run through various baseball drills during the weekend" to see how he responds. Lancaster then says that Rocco could be activated at some point during this homestand. [Tampa Tribune]
  
• The Gary Glover era is over in Tampa Bay. After being DFA'd, Glover has cleared waivers and declined an assignment to the minors, instead choosing to become a free agent...Settle down, settle down. Yes, we are excited also. [MLB]
  
• Finally somebody that does not label the Rays "losers" at the trade deadline. [Seamheads]