Jackson Dominates in 3-1 Rays Victory

I hate Edwin Jackson

I love Edwin Jackson

I hate Edwin Jackson

I love Edwin Jackson

This is how I feel every other start with Edwin Jackson. Today I love Edwin Jackson. Behind a dominating effort today by Jackson, the Rays beat the Phillies 3-1. Jackson went 5.2 inninngs giving up three hits, one walk, one run and seven K's. Today's performance basically locks his spot in the rotation. Troy Percival and Scott Dohmann had perfect innings. Grant Balfour gave up a walk in his scoreless inning.

The Rays were pretty quiet at the plate, but scored three runs on seven hits. Evan Longoria was 0-2 with an intentional walk to load the bases, He's that intimidating. Jason Bartlett was the only Ray with a multi-hit game going 2-3. Cliff Floyd left five men on base.

On to Injury News:

Scott Kazmir worked inside with Ron Porterfield today and it's still unsure if he will throw a bullpen session tomorrow.

Willy Aybar, Longoria's biggest competition, will be sidelined until Monday at the earliest with hamstring problems. I don't think Aybar's status had any affect on Longoria's status. If Aybar is unavailable, Joel Guzman is more likely to see time at 3B than Longoria.

Shawn Riggans and Ben Zobrist appear to be on track for opening day and may see some action in a spring game soon.