Starting Five: Rays-ing Their Game

Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action, with a quick nod to what is ahead.

You Oughta Know ...
That the Rays seem to be putting it all together. The reigning American League champions left New York with a series victory over the Mets thanks to a big Sunday afternoon from B.J. Upton, who homered and had four hits. Tampa Bay is now 12-6 in the month of June and two games back of the Yankees in the AL wild-card race.

Upton has played a big part in the surge after slumping for the first two months of the season. The center fielder came into June hitting .204, but he's hitting .329 this month.

---

---

"It's starting to come around, slowly but surely," said Upton, who tied a career high with four RBI and finished a triple shy of the cycle.

The Rays' recent run of play isn't the only reason to be optimistic about their chances the rest of the way. Tampa Bay has the best run differential in the American League at plus-76.

From the Trainer's Room ...
Justin Morneau was not in the Twins' lineup Sunday as Minnesota fell 4-1 to the Astros. Morneau, who had played in 319 consecutive games (the second-longest active streak in the majors), is dealing with what Twins manager Ron Gardenhire called "general soreness." The Twins are hoping to get the 2006 AL MVP back Tuesday for the opener of a three-game series against the Brewers, but for now the team is being cautious.

"He plans on being in there everyday, but he knew when he came in that he was not feeling very good," Gardenhire said. "He was going to try to get loose, and we walked over and checked him, and it was not working out.

"We saw that at the end of last year, when he played through everything -- the bad back, the whole package -- and we don't want to get into those things, not in the middle part of the year."

Numbers Game ...
Tony La Russa picked up his 2,500th career managerial victory Sunday as the Cardinals pounded the Royals 12-5 to complete a sweep of their cross-state rival. Predictably, the driving force behind the victory was Albert Pujols, who hit two home runs -- including his third grand slam of the year -- and drove in six runs in all. He's now on pace to hit 60 home runs (60 2/3, actually, but who's counting?) this season.

In Their Own Words ...
"As soon as [Joe Girardi] went out, I looked around wondering, 'What happened?' I looked around, and I see [Chris] Coghlan out there in left. My heart dropped -- it really did. It's an embarrassing thing in the major leagues. It's not good. It's my responsibility." - Marlins manager Fredi Gonzalez on a bumbled double switch he made in the eighth inning of Florida's 6-5 win over the Yankees. New York has filed an official protest with the league. If upheld, the Yankees would have to return to Miami later this year to finish the game from the point where they began the protest.

Advance Scouting ...
Here's a good test for the red-hot Rockies: a team that's nearly as hot as they are. Colorado, winners of 16 of its last 17 games after a 5-4 defeat of the Pirates Sunday, heads to Anaheim to face an Angels team (10:05 PM ET) that seems to be finally hitting its stride. The Halos have won eight of 12 and are just a 1/2 game back of the Rangers in the AL West.