Morning Juice: Rays can't win 'em all, but they should

This and every weekday a.m. let's rise and shine together with the most recent and decent major league happenings. Today'sRoll Callstarts inside Tropicana Field, where John Buck and Mike Aviles each hit an extra-inning homer to really put a damper on runaway Rays Fever. We had won seven in a row, too.

Game of the Day: Royals 7, Rays 4 (10 inn.)

CarlSpackler.com: Focusing on some details makes it easier to ignore a defeat to the Royals, who weren't supposed to win outside of the NL (I thought that was the deal, no?). I've always kind of wondered why Carl Crawford never started in center and this might be a hint: He said he was "lackadaisical" on a single up the middle that cost the Rays a run when Mark Teahen scored from first. That's not how we got to 55-32, Carl.

Achy breaky bod: The Royals rested Mark Grudzielanek because of "body soreness" which I understand but had never heard diagnosed so explicitly (until I did a search). Jose Guillen had the day off so he could go to Busch Gardens with Bob McClure and then maybe campaign a little for AL vote-in votes.

Nitroburningfunnycar!: The Rays were 1-for-19 with RISP but Joakim Soria blew a save on a ninth-inning homer to Carlos Pena. "That fastball caught just a little too much of the plate," Royals manager Trey Hillman said. "It was kind of right in Pena's nitro zone and he got it out of the ballpark."

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Feelin' Rundown (Monday's other games):

Red Sox 1, Twins 0 — Jasons other than Varitek who deserve an All-Star invitation: Alexander, Argonauts, Bay, Bartlett, Bateman, Bergmann, Botts, Deli, Frasor, Giambi, Grilli, Isringhausen, Jennings, Jennifer Leigh, Kendall, Kidd, Kubel, Lane, Lee, LaRue, Marquis, Mewes, Michaels, Of Star Command, Priestley, Robards, Repko, Segel, Schmidt, Schwartzman, Simontacchi, Statham, Taylor, Tyner, Voorhees and Werth.

Angels 9, Rangers 6 — Two ii's in Torii, two homers for Hunter. Ervin Magic Santana slips a little in the Santana Raza. Johan and Carlos, fool, exclaim in joy.

Here are the latest Santana Power Rankings:

1. Erv: 10-3, 3.53 ERA, 122 IP, 1.13 WHIP, 112 K, 32 BB, .285 OBP, .357 SLG., All-Star.

2. 'Los: Cover of the Rolling Stone Magazine, "Fuego en el Fuego" reaches #19 in Spain.

3. 'Han: 7-7, 2.96 ERA, 121 IP, 1.19 WHIP, 109 K, 32 BB, .294 OBP, .381 SLG., All-Star snub.

Athletics 4, Mariners 3 — The A's made history by not putting anyone on the DL yesterday. The win was gravy. Mmm, gravy.

Mets 10, Phillies 9 — Homo erectus! Australopithecus africanus! It's a race of backward evolution in the NL. It's not as bad in this division as in the West, where they'll be growing tails and using their appendix for more stuff before the trade deadline.

Rockies 4, Brewers 3 — The Broo Croo gets so jiggy with it because "No Dots, Please" Sabathia hits town to take the Miller Tour that they forget they're playing the Rockies. Colorado's first baseman last night was Joe Koshansky, whom they brought down from legal.

Marlins 3, Padres 1 — Greg Maddux just can't win No. 351; he's gone 11 starts and almost two months since a victory. He's slowly turning into "Red," Morgan Freeman's character from "The Shawshank Redemption," who was denied, denied, denied parole for years and years and years until the script gave in. "I knew the first time that I laid eyes on Andy Dufrense that I wouldn't shut up for 2 1/2 hours telling you about him."

Pirates 10, Astros 7 — The SPs combine for 17 runs and 22 hits. Bucs pen: 5 2/3 shutout innings with one walk. 'Stros pen: hung over, man, from the 17-inning game the day before. Except for Chad, man. Chad was great. Back to sleep now.

Dodgers 3, Braves 0 — Hiroki Kuroda scares the bleep out of the AP writer by taking a perfect game into the eighth. He finished with a one-hitter. No, Chipper (.384) did not get the hit.

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Photo of the Day: "Hey dude, looking for this?"

Ben Stiller doing Tom Cruise doing Robert DeNiro holds up Jarrod Saltalamacchia's bat — deadly maple turned into friendly ash — in the "reveal" part of a magic trick Monday night.

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Fantasy Freaks

David Wright (Mess) 2-4, HR, 4 RBI

Scott Baker (Twins) 7 IP, 5 H, 2 BB, 7 K, Loss ND

Dice-K (Red Sawx) 7 1/3 6 H, 3 BB, 5 K

Hunter (Angels) 3-5, 2 HR, 3 RBI,

Ian Kinsler (Rangers) 4-5, R, .338 BA

Dustin Nippert (Rangers) 7 IP, 4 H, ER, BB, 4 K (of relief, which raised or lowered? LOWERED his ERA to 9.77)

Ubaldo Jimenez (Rockies) 7 IP, 3 H, 5 BB, 7 K, Win

Adrian Beltre (Mariners) 4-5, R

Ricky Nolasco (Marlins) 8 IP, 5 H, ER, 7 K, Win

Kuroda (Dodgers) 9 IP, H, 6 K, Win

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Fantasy Flakes

Adam Eaton (Philly) 2 2/3 IP, 10 H, 6 ER, BB, K, Loss

Run! Hernandez (Astros) 4 IP, 13 H, 10 ER, 4 BB, 3 K, Loss

Phil Dumatrait (Pirates) 3 1/3 IP, 9 H, 7 ER, 2 BB, K

Luis Mendoza (Rangers) 1 1/3 IP, 9 H, 8 ER, 2 BB, Loss

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Words of Mouth