It just keeps getting worse...

Now Evan Longoria is on the 15-day DL with a fracture in his wrist. What was thought to be just a bruise that would have had him back in the lineup today has turned into a 15-day trip. Longoria will be eligible to come off the DL August 23.

It's looking more and more likely that Carl Crawford is done for 2008.

What does this mean for the Rays?

They play 3 @ Oakland and 3 @ Texas before returning home for 3 with the ML-leading Angels. Then they get a day off before heading to Chicago for the Central-leading White Sox.

Longoria will be eligible to come off the DL at the end of that Chicago series. Hopefully he's able to play by then.

To finish August they get 6 games at home against Toronto and Baltimore and then we hit crunch time in September. Aside from a 4-game visit from Minnesota and a 4-game trip to Detroit to end the season, all of their games in September will be intra-divisional games. They have 6 each (3 home and 3 away) with both the Yankees and Red Sox. Those 12 games will likely decide the division and who gets to play in October.

It's time for players like Akinori Iwamura, B.J. Upton and Carlos Pena to step up and play like we know they can. Aki and Pena have been showing signs of breaking out over the last two or three weeks. The batting averages of both have been steadily climbing, and Pena's driving in runs again.

Pitching and defense has carried them all year. It will need to continue to be that way. They need Scott Kazmir to recapture his form from April and May and Shields, Jackson, Garza and Sonnanstine to continue pitching as they have been. The bullpen needs to keep it up - Wheeler, Balfour, Howell and even Trever Miller to continue pitching well. And they need Troy Percival to time-warp back to 2001 and start blowing hitters away.

They need Jason Bartlett back at shortstop - they're infinitely better up the middle with him in there.

Their best player this year has been Longoria.

Their best player in club history has been Crawford.

Missing them both at the most important time in club history... either it's disaster, or they step up and finish what's been the best story in baseball this summer.