26-year old righty starting pitcher Matt Garza was electric last night as he tossed the first no-hitter in team history against the Tigers. Garza only walked 1 batter while whiffing 6 as he faced only 27 hitters last night. He threw 120 pitches for the Rays last season of which 80 were strikes. Garza improved to 11-5 with a 4.06 ERA and a 1.24 WHIP this season. The big hit for the Rays came in the sixth inning with the bases loaded and two outs. That’s when Matt Joyce came up and ripped a Grand Slam right inside the right field foul pole. It was nice to see the Rays finally on the right side of a no-hitter since Edwin Jackson, Mark Buerhle and Dallas Braden have done it to them the last two years.

32-year old lefty swinging 1B Carlos Pena needs to change his style of hitting a bit. Most teams have the shortstop playing on the right side of 2B along with the second baseman and the first baseman making it very hard to get a ball through the infield. If he could just start swinging late more he would get a ton of hits because the 3B usually plays where the SS would in a normal set-up. He has bunted for a couple of hits to that side of the field but he needs to start hitting the ball on the ground that way as he would get a hit almost every time he did it. Pena has played in 93 games for the Rays this season and he is 68 of 325 (.209 avg, .761 OPS) with 49 runs scored, 20 homers, 60 RBIs and 4 stolen bases. Pena also needs to cut down on how hard he swings to try to make more contact as he has whiffed 103 times already this year. He needs to try to quit hitting a homer every single time he’s at the plate.

The Rays have signed 28-year old righty swinging outfielder Rocco Baldelli to a minor league deal. He has started his comeback in A-ball but his first game didn’t go too well as he was 0 for 4 with 4 whiffs. The Rays just hope that Baldelli gets in shape with the idea of calling him up when rosters expand in September. Baldelli has played in 447 games (five years) for the Rays and he is 488 of 1,736 (.281 avg, .769 OPS) with 255 runs scored, 55 homers, 234 RBIs and 58 stolen bases. This is a feel good story for the Rays but Baldelli might also be able to help them out with some keys hits during the pennant race. After all, he did play in 62 games for the Red Sox last season in which he was 38 of 150 (.253 avg, .744 OPS) with 23 runs scored, 7 homers and 23 RBIs.

Keeping up with the Yankees is going to be tough and with that in mind I think the Rays need a thumper at DH and another lefty reliever for the pen. I would go after Adam Dunn of the Nationals. I would offer them lefty starting pitcher Alex Torres, righty starter Aneury Rodriguez, catcher Dioner Navarro and outfielder Matt Joyce. I think the Nationals would take that offer not knowing if Dunn will re-sign with them after the season. Then I would call up the Cleveland Indians and offer them Andy Sonnanstine straight up for lefty reliever Rafael Perez. I think the Indians would take that deal with the idea of starting Sonnanstine who is from Ohio. Getting Perez would allow Randy Choate to only pitch to lefty hitters which is his most effective role. Making these two trades would put a scare into the Yankees.

Wade Davis has been struggling and he’s also being mentioned as a trade chip for the Rays right now. If the Rays decide to trade Davis or replace him in the rotation look for the Rays to promote Jeremy Hellickson. Hellickson was the Rays’ #2 prospect heading into this season according to Baseball America. Hellickson has started 18 games in AAA-ball so far this year and he is 11-2 with a 2.21 ERA and a 1.14 WHIP. He has only given up 94 hits in 105 2/3 innings this season while whiffing 104 batters in AAA this year. Hellickson also has outstanding control as he has only walked 26 hitters this year. The Rays really think that Hellickson is ready to join the rotation but they will need to make a move before giving him his first chance at the show.