Dan Wheeler News

Tampa Bay Rays manager Joe Maddon made the right call to Grant Balfour in the pivotal seventh inning.

ST. PETERSBURG, FLA.a 'With two out in the top of the ninth and his team trailing by a run, Blue Jays second baseman Aaron Hill tried to check his swing at Rays' reliever Dan Wheeler's first pitch.

The Tampa Bay Rays offer a simple explanation for their success against . Some pretty good pitching of their own.

Published: Tuesday, July 7, 2009 at 10:43 p.m. Last Modified: Tuesday, July 7, 2009 at 10:43 p.m. ST.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Pat Burrell hit a two-run homer in the 11th inning to give Tampa Bay a 3-1 victory over Toronto on Tuesday night.

Pat Burrell drilled a game-ending two- run homer in the 11th inning to lead the Rays out of their slump, as Tampa Bay posted a 3-1 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays.

The Rangers must have really wanted to end the game so badly, they just came up hacking in the bottom of the eighth against Rays pitcher Dan Wheeler.

Not blaming the Rays for being unlucky for their lost, but it helps a team win when half of their hits came from weak hits in the infield.

When you think "closer," you think intimidation. A big, nasty hombre striding purposefully out of the bullpen a ' preferably to a nerve-rattling theme song a ' prepared to shut down the opposition by force of will if nothing else.

Last season, the Rays had the fifth-best bullpen ERA in all of baseball, which was quite a surprise to many.

You can make a baseball dip, curve or slow down, but Rays pitchers know the one true thing about pitching: The fastball is king.

The Rays didn't need to hit the Marlins with their best shot. A ninth-inning bloop single and stolen base by , a wild pitch and a sacrifice fly by were enough for a thrilling 3-2 win that extended their perfect Saturday night concert series record to 11 straight over two seasons before '80s rocker Pat Benatar took the stage.

Jeff Niemann outdueled a returning Roy Halladay in Tampa Bay's 4-1 win over the Blue Jays in the opener of a three-game set at Rogers Centre.

To LHP J.P. Howell, strong outings by relievers have become contagious. The Rays bullpen continued its impressive run Saturday night, with four pitchers combining for four scoreless innings, playing a big role in the walkoff win.

Rays 3, Mets 1 - Carlos Pena hit a tiebreaking homer off Johan Santana in the seventh inning, sending James Shields and visiting Tampa Bay to a rainy win.

FISHKILL - The wait is over. For the Tampa Bay Rays. For their short-season, Class A team, the Hudson Valley Renegades.

Colin Wyers ran a fantastic piece on predicting ERA a few days ago. Read it here .

FISHKILL -It all started to sink in for Brett Nommensen early Tuesday afternoon.

Shields allowed three hits in seven innings and retired his final 14 batters. He outpitched Santana, who was back in fine form following the worst start of his career.

The best-kept secret during the Rays' recent six-game winning streak had been the brilliance of the bullpen.