James aka "Big Game" aka "Juego G" Shields went the distance for his fifth complete game of the season. On Family Fun Day the Rays swept the Marlins to take the Citrus Series and it was a great day to be at the ballpark:
- James Shields racked up 10 strikeouts to get the win and send the fans home with free pizza, four-hitting the Marlins with only one unearned run (Longoria error in the third). The Rays won 2-1 on a Casey Kotchman single that snuck up the third base line in the eighth to plate the speedy Matt Joyce.
- Super Sam Fuld had two diving catches in the eighth:
- On his own bobble head day, B.J. Upton stole second twice and leads the Rays with 18.
- And of course, it was Father's Day!
Floundering Fish
Today was certainly hard for the Marlins. They've now lost 18 of 19 and are on a 10 game losing streak, one shy of the franchise record. Ace Josh Johnson is still on the disabled list, rookie hotshot Ricky Nolasco has been falling apart, Chris Volstad has yet to win in ten starts and those are the stars of the pitching rotation. Additionally, the face of the Fish, Hanley Ramirez, is batting .204 with only 17 RBIs after spending two weeks on the disabled list with an injured back and the club manager Edwin Rodriguez filed his resignation this morning.
Rodriguez was the first Puerto Rican manager in MLB history and a real gentleman. "He's one of the nicest, most decent men I've met in this game, and it's unfortunate that he has to feel the weight of this whole moment because it's not his fault," said our manager Joe Maddon. You can read a full article at ESPN.