The Rays have placed closer Troy Percival on the 15-day disabled list with a strained hamstring. Percival has been pretty solid this season for the Rays and they will miss him. He has pitched in 22 games (0 starts) for the Rays this season and he is 1-0 with 14 saves, a 2.95 ERA and a 0.66 WHIP. He has whiffed 21 batters and only allowed 10 hits in 21.1 innings which shows that he still has his good stuff. Dan Wheeler will move into the closer’s job for the Rays while Percival is out. Wheeler has been effective this season also. He has pitched in 23 games for the Rays this season and he is 0-3 with 1 save, a 2.19 ERA and a 0.89 WHIP. He has only allowed 14 hits in 24.2 innings this season for the Rays. Al Reyes will likely take over Wheeler’s role as the setup man and the Rays need him to do a good job if the team is going to keep rolling along.

Edwin Jackson is starting to make all of his talent translate into success on the mound. He should probably have at least 6 wins this season but the bullpen blew 3 of his last 4 leads. He has started 10 games this season for the Rays and he is 3-3 with a 3.47 ERA and a 1.39 WHIP. But, he needs to throw more strikes and trust his stuff as he has walked 30 batters in only 59.2 innings. Jackson can be a big winner on the Rays if he just concentrates more on the pitcher’s mound.

27-year old righty reliever Chad Orvella will miss the rest of the 2008 season as he will undergo surgery this Friday. Orvella has pitched in 69 games in his major league career and he is 4-10 with 1 save, a 5.79 ERA and a 1.87 WHIP. Chad Orvella’s career has went downhill since his rookie season when he was effective. The Rays won’t miss Orvella much as the bullpen has been a very strong point for the season.

The Tampa Bay Rays have designated righty reliever Scott Dohmann for assignment as they have replaced him with Al Reyes who they have activated off the D.L. Dohmann worked in 12 games for the Rays this season and he was 2-0 with a 6.04 ERA and a 1.70 WHIP. The Rays won’t miss Dohmann much as their bullpen is much improved over last season. Reyes has pitched in 10 games for the Rays this season and he is 1-2 with a 5.63 ERA and a 1.38 WHIP. The Rays need to get Reyes back in shape to help them late in games. That being said, Dan Wheeler and Troy Percival have done a really good job this season for the Rays.

The Rays have designated reserve infielder Andy Cannizaro for assignment and they have actived Ben Zobrist from the D.L. Cannizaro didn’t have much of a chance to show the Rays what he could do as he played in 1 game for them and he was 0 for 1. Zobrist is off to a good start in his first two games with the Rays as he is 2 for 6 (.333 avg) with 2 doubles, a run scored and a stolen base. Zobrist should improve the Rays bench but he probably won’t get a lot of playing time behind the regulars of the Rays.