How many of you expected to wake up this morning and see the Tampa Bay Rays in first place by 1½ games. Unless you’re a diehard Rays fan, I didn’t think so. Judging by the crowd last night, neither was about ¾ of the fans at Tropicana Field. A lot can change over the next 3 months but the Rays are for real people and they showed the Boston Red Sox just that last night.

Justin Masterson wasn’t at his best again last night as he gave up 4 runs on 5 hits and 5 walks while striking out 5 in 6 innings of work (note to self: play 4555 in the CT Daily Numbers). Most of what young Masterson is having trouble with getting lefties out. If he can find a way to get them out, he’s going to win many big leagues games. We do have to remember that he is still in his development phase and most likely would be honing his craft in Triple-A if not for the rash of injuries to the Red Sox rotation.

If you missed the 9th inning last night, you missed quite a strange inning. After a Manny Ramirez strikeout, Mike Lowell doubled and Kevin Youkilis reached on an infield single. Then Troy Percival got Brandon Moss to hit a fly ball to right field where Gabe Gross was camped out waiting and waiting for the ball. The ball never got there though as it hit the catwalk and dropped in for a double and a RBI for Moss.

To top it off, Percival got hurt covering third when Jason Varitek hit a sacrifice fly. He comes out of the game and then Sean Casey gets called back after he was going to bat for Julio Lugo (he was never announced) and Lugo ends the game when J.P. Howell gets him to line out to short.

David Ortiz has decided that he will represent the Red Sox at the All-Star Game but will not play as his injured wrist won’t be ready in time.

“I’m going to go to the All-Star Game, but I’m not going to be able to play,” Ortiz said. “I’ve got to bring myself out there and show my respect to the fans, since they voted for me. But I wish I could be in the Dominican, on the beach, especially now with three days.”

“I’m still working my way up,” Ortiz said. “I feel better everyday, but there’s still a way to work. I’ve seen progress since the time I got hurt and what I’m doing now. I’m not going to tell you when I’m going to be 100 percent, because that I don’t know. The healing process is something you can’t control.”

Rays rookie 3B Evan Longoria was named American League Player of the Week for the week ending 6/29.

Manny Ramirez and Terry Francona say the incident where Manny shoved the Red Sox traveling secretary is in the past and will be handled internally. Odds are he will be fined and may even have to make a contribution to a charity.

Mike Lowell said he can see the Rays being in the playoff hunt all the way to the end of September.

“I’d be surprised if they’re not in the hunt the whole way,” Lowell said. “They’ve got good pitching. Not to take away from their offense, but without pitching, you can’t slug every night. Their pitching keeps them in the game. They have a couple guys in the bullpen that are doing a really nice job.”

“It’s no secret. They’re not doing this with smoke and mirrors. They’re a talented group, and I think a lot of times when you have a lot of young guys, you don’t know how to measure (them), because there’s no track record. I think the talent’s there, and you’ve got to respect that.”

As scary as the prospect sounds, Lowell is right. This team isn’t going anywhere. I’m sure we had all expected them to collapse and they haven’t. You can also expect for the first time ever that the Rays won’t be sellers during all the upcoming trade talks.

Brian Daubach, who named hitting coach of the independent league Nashua Pride yesterday, reflected on the brawl between the then Devil Rays and Red Sox 8 years ago.

Tom Jones of the St. Petersburg Times gives the Tampa/St. Pete area readers 10 reasons to hate the Red Sox.

Former Red Sox GM Dan Duquette is in some hot water for selling two 2004 World Series tickets.

For more slices of Boston Red Sox goodness, head over to the Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Hartford Courant and Providence Journal websites.

And if you must see what the enemy papers are saying you can check out the Tampa Tribune and St. Petersburg Times websites.