The Rays have designated 29-year old lefty swinging DH/1B/3B Hank Blalock. Blalock played in 26 games for the Rays this year and he was 16 of 63 (.254 avg, .668 OPS) with 8 runs scored, 1 homer, 7 RBIs and 1 stolen base. He didn’t really get a fair shot to prove what he could do. The Rays needed Blalock’s roster spot because they have activated Gabe Kapler off the D.L. Kapler has played in 38 games for the Rays this season and he is 18 of 83 (.217 avg, .582 OPS) with 17 runs scored, 1 homer, 8 RBIs and 1 stolen base.

UPDATE: (7/9/2010) - The Rays have released Hank Blalock making him a free agent.

25-year old righty swinging CF B.J. Upton has got to be driving the Rays’ front office crazy. He has the physical ability to be one of the very best players in all of baseball but he’s just too damn lazy to make it happen. The Rays should be looking to trade Upton as they have a replacement in AAA (Desmond Jennings) almost ready to take over. Upton has played in 73 games for the Rays this year and he is 58 of 260 (.223 avg, .710 OPS) with 46 runs scored, 7 homers, 29 RBIs and 24 stolen bases. He has now played in 586 games in six years with the Rays and he is 564 of 2,159 (.261 avg, .756 OPS) with 335 runs scored, 56 homers, 255 RBIs and 147 stolen bases. Upton is a big tease for the Rays but at this point I think they should trade him as he’s playing like he doesn’t want to be in Tampa anymore.

27-year old righty starting pitcher Jeff Niemann never seems to get any respect just like Rodney Dangerfield. Niemann pitched another great game last night but he was beat 1-0 by Edwin Jackson who he replaced in the starting rotation last season. Niemann has started 15 games for the Rays this season and he is 6-2 with a 2.72 ERA and a 1.07 WHIP as he keeps getting better. Niemann has now pitched in 51 games (47 starts) in his three years with the Rays and he is 21-10 with a 3.59 ERA and a 1.27 WHIP. So while the other starters on the Rays get the hype Niemann keeps getting better.

The Tampa Bay Rays got no hit tonight by 26-year old righty starting pitcher Edwin Jackson. Jackson threw 149 pitches (79 strikes) tonight in putting away the Rays. He walked 8 batters while whiffing 6 to put the Rays away. This is the third time the Rays have been no hit over the last two years (Dallas Braden and Mark Buehrle). Edwin Jackson pitched in parts of three years for the Rays working in 87 games (63 starts) in which he was 19-26 with a 5.08 ERA and a 1.64 WHIP. Incidentally the player Jackson was traded for (Matt Joyce) made his debut for the Rays tonight and he was 0 for 4 with 6 men left on base.

The Rays decided to send 26-year old switch hitting catcher Dioner Navarro to AAA after today’s game with the Padres. Navarro has played in 36 games for the Rays this year and he is 22 of 105 (.210 avg, .576 OPS) with 11 runs scored, 1 homer and 7 RBIs. Navarro just wasn’t performing as well as John Jaso or Kelly Shoppach so he very much deserved this demotion. The Rays have recalled 26-year old lefty swinging outfielder Matt Joyce to replace Navarro on the roster. Joyce has played in 35 games in A+AAA-ball this season and he is 38 of 121 (.314 avg, 1.004 OPS) with 24 runs scored, 5 homers and 20 RBIs. He also was showing solid discipline at the plate walking 32 times while whiffing 29 times. Joyce has played in 103 games in the majors leagues in his career so far and he is 67 of 274 (.245 avg, .824 OPS) with 43 runs scored, 15 homers and 40 RBIs. The Rays hope that Joyce will give them some pop out of RF.