The Tampa Bay Rays are one game above the .500 mark entering play on Tuesday, July 29. They are 2.5 games out of nabbing one of three American League Wild Card spots, but Tampa Bay needs help.

He is one of a handful of Rays veterans whose status is up in the air as the team considers its deadline approach.

The two trades the Rays made Monday night were technically separate transactions. Viewed together, they represent the complex and conflicting dynamic facing Rays president of baseball operations Erik Neander this week.

The Reds did all their scoring in the first inning. Austin Hays and Gavin Lux had back-to-back RBI singles to drive in T.J. Friedl to get on the scoreboard, and then Matt McLain for an insurance run, respectively.

The Miami Marlins today announced that the team has acquired Minor League outfielder Matthew Etzel from the Tampa Bay Rays in exchange for catcher Nick Fortes. Etzel (ET-zull), 23, is ranked the 28th-

Cincinnati Reds Pitch Their Way to a Sweep of Tampa Bay Rays. Singer was magnificent as the Reds swept Rays on Sunday to improve to 56-50 on the season.

The Reds' hat was blue with a red wishbone "C" intended to call upon Reds uniforms from 1947-54. The Rays wore a black hat that contrasted against the navy uniform tops they wore on Saturday. The front of the cap featured Tampa's original green and yellow "TB" logo from their 1998 expansion season.