The Devil Rays went 4-3 last week including a home sweep of the hated New York Yankees.  The Rays were still outscored 48-34 last week due to some really shoddy pitching which has been a problem for them all year long.  The D-Rays are now 11-14 on the season which is good for 4th place in the American League East, 5.5 games behind the Boston Red Sox.  The silver lining is the D-Rays are a game ahead of the last place $200+ million dollar Yankees!

B.J. Upton has been outstanding this season with a bat in his hands.  He has played in 19 games so far this season and he’s 20 for 63 (.317 avg, .939 OPS) with 12 runs scored, 3 homers and 15 RBIs so far this season.  The Devil Rays are batting Upton low in the lineup so that he’s not under any pressure to produce and it’s done wonders for him this season.  He looks a lot like Derek Jeter so far this season at the plate and the D-Rays would love for him to keep that kind of production up all season long.

Brendan Harris has taken over the starting job at shortstop for the Devil Rays.  Harris has been on fire with the bat and that’s why manager Joe Maddon had no choice but to make the switch.  Harris has played in 11 games this season and he’s 13 for 41 (.317 avg, .876 OPS) with 7 runs scored, 2 homers and 5 RBIs.  If Harris keeps hitting like he is now, he will be a huge asset for the young, improving Devil Rays.

The Devil Rays have placed Akinori Iwamura on the 15-day DL with a strained oblique muscle.  They expect him to miss 4-6 weeks.  He has played in 18 games so far this season and he is hitting .339 with a .961 OPS.  Iwamura is 19 for 56 with 15 runs scored, 1 homer, 5 RBIs and 3 stolen bases.  The toughest thing to replace about Iwamura will be his glove as he’s an outstanding defensive thirdbaseman.  Ty Wigginton will be the new regular thirdbaseman and Carlos Pena will get the starting nod at firstbase.  Pena has played in 11 games for the D-Rays so far this season and he is 7 for 33 (.212 avg) with 3 runs scored, 3 homers and 10 RBI. 

Elijah Dukes is one of the brightest prospects for the D-Rays, but he’ll need to produce more if he wants to stay in the bigs.  In 13 games Dukes has a .217 batting averaged and a .734 OPS so far this season.  He’s 10 for 46 with 8 runs scored, 2 homers and 2 RBIs this season.  He’s look like he’ll be a good defender in the majors and he has a lot of power, but, he’ll need to be more consistent to keep getting quality PT for the D-Rays.