Stephen Strasburg who? People need to start talking about Jeremy Hellickson and the stuff this kid has. In the place of  Wade David being put on the DL with a shoulder strain, Hellickson was able to prove again he deserves to be at the major league level.
Hellickson is the top pitching prosepect in the organization and in his second start of the season against the Tigers he gained his second win. He went seven scoreless innings while striking out seven, no walks and 3 hits. After giving up a leadoff hit in the first inning, the next 18 were retired. [...]

When you go 19 and 7 for the month, you’re not going to have too many bums who are getting any run.  This months version contains only 3 players, and 1 of them I had to reach a little bit for.  Without further ado…
Kelly Shoppach
Awful.  The only word to really describe the hitting of Kelly Shoppach during the month of July. .128 in 46 PA isn’t even laughable it’s so paltry.  46 PA’s, 5 hits, no extra base hits.  Couple that with 5BB and 15K and you have put together about an awful of a month as a hitter could [...]

Carlos Pena
Pena who has been struggling to put the bat on the ball all year other than dropping HR, actually brought his average up above .240 for the month of July (.241). While that seems pretty measly, and it is, Pena still is great at looking at pitches and taking BB (15 BB in July) and by doing so, always keeps his OBP above .350.  For the month of July he hit .241/.365/.506/.871 and hit his 2nd most HR of any month of the season with 7.

Split
PA
AB
R
H
2B
HR
RBI
SB
CS
BB
SO
BA
OBP
SLG
OPS
TB

July
104
87
16
21
2
7
18
3
0
15
26
.241
.365
.506
.871
44

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 8/4/2010.

Matt Joyce
A lot of Rays fans have been [...]

There has been some wild speculation lately involving the Tampa Bay Rays, and the likelihood of us making a trade before the Non-Waiver Trade Deadline of the 31st of July or what is going to turn out to be the actual trade deadline in 2010, which is August 31st.
Almost every viable trade target has been rumored to the Rays at some point and by some media publication. I will take a look at the potential trade targets on our end, as well as the players that we might be willing to move in a deal.
Not Getting Traded, Sorry Rays Fans
There [...]

For the first time in history the Rays seen the other side of a no-hitter. Matt Garza was only one walk away from a perfect game but did only face the minimum 27 batters in his no-hitter against the Tigers last night. The Rays also made history by being involved in three official no-hitters in one season since 1917.
“It’s the first no-hitter I’ve ever had,” Garza said. “It’s great I was the first one to do it [in Rays history]. It’s a young franchise and I have a feeling they’re going to have many more to come. But I can’t put enough emphasis [...]

Rocco Baldelli is back and ready to regain his major league form. Baldelli initially rejoined the Rays at the beginning of the season as an instructor to help out the youngins but is now on the Single A team for the Rays, signing a minor league contract earlier in the day.
Baldelli has suffered from numerous injuries and fatigue since joining the bigs in 200o, where he was picked 6th overall by the Rays. He finished 3rd that year in Rookie of the Year votes.
I personally dont get the signing, but Baldelli was a fan favorite in Tampa and if he [...]

Carl Crawford has been ripping the shit out of the ball and  put on a show of his own, in a 5-2 win over the Indians, with 2 longs balls in the 1st and 3rd innings. The first one went 438ft and the other  went 445ft. This was the first time CC had a multi homerun game at the Trop and the 5th of his career.
During the month of July, he is hittng .405 with 3 hrs,10 RBI’s, has an OBP .421, while slugging .730. If you dont know what this means… its pretty damn good.
Crawford leads the team now in batting average (.321) [...]

The Rays extended their win streak to five, with the sweep of the Red Sox beating them 6-4. This was the second time the Rays have swept Boston this year, with the first one coming in Boston near the beginning of the season. But the Sox did come back in the second series of the year to sweep the Rays at the Trop at the end of May, which started the Rays midseason slump.
I feel it is safe to say the Rays have found their swagger and are ready to take back what is rightfully theirs; The AL East. The [...]

Rafael Soriano was added to the 2010 American League All-Star team due to a left oblique injury and right knee inflammation  to Mariano Rivera.
Soriano was the next player on the list by player voting behind Rivera. Soriano has 23 saves in 24 opportunities and has the best save percentage in the majors at 95.8. Soriano is 2-0 with a 1.65 ERA and has 29 strikeouts  and just seven walks in 32 2/3 innings.
He is tied for 2nd in the majors for saves behind Joakim Soria and for him not to be voted on the team first ballot, was astonishing to me. Soriano has been the most [...]

The Rays beat the Red Sox for the second straight night in a 3-2 win. The win moves the Rays 1 1/2 lead for second place in the AL East over the Red Sox. By winning tonight, they also become the only other team than the Yankees to record 50 wins on the season. If the Rays keep up this pace they will end the season with over 100 wins. As of now, they are only 2 games behind the Yanks in the east.
A highlight in the game was when Kevin Youkilis stepped into the batters box, moved some dirt [...]