Longoria returns but Upton wins it for the Rays

The Tampa Bay Rays third baseman made his return to the lineup Monday night against the Toronto Blue Jays. Things have certainly changed since Evan Longoria was last in the lineup. Longoria has been out since the second game of the season against the Orioles when he left after straining his oblique. The Rays then proceeded to go 1-7 in the first eight games. In most of the games the Rays struggled to put runs on the board. Things are much better now for the Rays as their hitting has improved, Sam Fuld has become a force and the Rays pitching has been good. In his return, Longoira made a great throw in the second inning to get out J.P. Arencibia. But the real story of the game was B.J.  Upton's walk-off two-run homer to give the Rays a 3-2 win over the Blue Jays. Three out of four walk-off hits by Upton has been against the Blue Jays. In a post game interview Upton was greeted with a chocolate pudding pie in the face by teammate Longoria. I'm sure the pudding to the face is more enjoyable than the traditional shaving cream pie to the face. At least it tastes better.

Upton after the pie in the face.

The win gets the Rays back on track and improves their record to 16-13 and only 2 games back from the division leading New York Yankees. They are currently tied with the Kansas City Royals for the wild card spot. Longoria coming back is good news for the Rays because he is a force to be reckoned with at the plate and is stellar defensively at the hot corner. Right now the Rays are playing good baseball. if they keep this up and don't go through too many bad slumps they have a good shot at winning the division or at least the wild card. It also currently seems a lot like 2008 for the Rays. They are getting the breaks needed to win games and potentially championships. In sports you have to be lucky to be good but you also have to be good to get the breaks needed. The Rays are getting the breaks necessary now like the Tampa Bay Lightning are in the Stanley Cup playoffs. Strangely enough Tropicana Field showed the final score of the Lightning game (Lightning 4, Capitals 3) in the bottom of the ninth before Upton sent the fans home happy.

Other MLB News:

Minnesota Twins Francisco Liriano gave the MLB season it's first no-hitter. Liriano no-hit the Chicago White Sox in a 1-0 win. Oddly enough previously Liriano had never pitched a complete game in his six year MLB career and his ERA before the game was a 9.13. Liriano had two strikeouts and lowered his ERA to 6.61.