BALTIMORE -- B. Cheap Jerseys .J. Upton was far more delighted with a victory than etching his name in the Tampa Bay record book -- twice. Upton doubled twice and took two walks to set a team mark by reaching base in nine straight plate appearances, and the resurgent Rays beat the Baltimore Orioles 5-2 on Monday night for their fifth straight victory. Upton went 4-for-4 with a walk on Sunday against Boston, then reached base four successive times against the Orioles before striking out in the eighth inning. Eight times previously a Tampa Bay player got on base in eight straight plate appearances, the last one being Upton in May 2008. The two walks made Upton the Rays career leader with 375. Carlos Pena held the record with 373. Upton was pleased with his accomplishment, only because it contributed to Tampa Bays eighth win in nine games. The Rays moved within three games of idle Boston in the AL wild-card race after trailing by nine on Sept. 2. "I just want to help this team whether its offensively or defensively, and right now it happens to be on the offensive end," Upton said. "I feel good right now, and Ill just try to feel good as long as I can. The hits are just falling." And manager Joe Maddon is loving it. "Thats pretty impressive. Hes getting good at-bats," Maddon said. "Hes been taking his walks and when they come in the zone hes hitting it. Hes been fantastic, hes been really high-end of late, maybe as good as Ive seen him. Hes playing with a lot of focus and intensity." Ben Zobrist had three hits and three RBIs for the Rays and Jeff Niemann (10-7) gave up two runs and six hits in 7 2-3 innings. Neimanns previous outing, a defeat against Texas on Sept. 6, was Tampa Bays lone loss in nine games. Joel Peralta worked the ninth for his third save. After playing Baltimore twice more, the Rays head to Boston for a four-game series. They would love to arrive at Fenway Park down by three games or fewer. "It will be more exciting," Peralta said. The victory assured the Rays (82-64) of their fourth consecutive winning season. Only the New York Yankees (19), Red Sox (14) and Philadelphia Phillies (9) have a longer current streak. But Tampa Bay is looking for more, such as its third playoff appearance in four years. "Theres nothing to complain about right now," Maddon said. "Weve worked ourselves back into a good spot." Matt Wieters homered for the Orioles, who have dropped three straight. Baltimore needs to go 5-11 the rest of the way to avoid the third 100-loss season since the team moved from St. Louis in 1954. Rookie starter Zach Britton (9-10) gave up five runs, five hits and four walks in five innings. He was 3-0 in his last four starts. "It starts and stops with fastball command," manager Buck Showalter said. "Thats one of the reasons Tampa is doing a good job with their starters. They have guys with good command of the fastball. Zach didnt have it tonight." The Rays went up 3-0 in the third. Brandon Guyer doubled and Upton walked before Zobrist hit a two-run double and scored on a two-out single by Sean Rodriguez. Upton hit a leadoff double in the fifth and scored on a sacrifice fly by Johnny Damon for a 4-0 lead. Robert Andino doubled in a run for Baltimore in the bottom half, and Wieters hit his 18th homer in the sixth. Upton doubled off Jeremy Accardo leading off the seventh and Zobrist delivered an RBI single. NOTES: The Rays have won 22 straight when scoring at least five runs. ... Tampa Bay purchased the contract of LHP Matt Moore from Triple-A Durham, giving the Rays 32 players on the active roster. ... Baltimore activated RHP Jason Berken (forearm strain) from the 15-day DL. ... Tampa Bay is 6-1 in Baltimore and 3-6 against the Orioles at home. ... The Rays send 12-game winner David Price to the mound Tuesday night against Baltimores Alfredo Simon, who is 1-0 lifetime in five appearances against Tampa Bay. Jerseys Cheap .Y., Kevin Shattenkirk watched Rangers defenceman Brian Leetch score many big goals. Cheap Jerseys Free Shipping . The Royals dropped their 11th game in their last 14 on Wednesday in San Diego, when Anthony Rizzo had a two-run single and Tim Stauffer tossed seven innings of one-run ball to lift the Padres to a 4-1 win that completed a three-game sweep.ST. LOUIS -- The St. Louis Blues won a franchise record 52 games this season and general manager Doug Armstrong cant help but sum it up as a disappointment. "Were in the winning business and were not winning at the appropriate time of the year," Armstrong said Tuesday. "We have to fix that." The past two playoffs have been a carbon copy for the Blues. In 2013, St. Louis won the first two games against Los Angeles at home and then dropped the next four to the then-defending Stanley Cup champions. This season, St. Louis got the jump on defending Stanley Cup champion Chicago, then again lost four straight to end the season. Armstrong said that this years loss to the Blackhawks was worse. "I felt last year that we were coming off of a year where no one expected us to be good the year before and we wanted to prove that we were a good team," Armstrong said. "I expected us to take it to a higher level this year and the higher level was going to be a consistent regular season followed by a longer playoff run. So, this year, theres a true sense that we have squandered an opportunity and opportunities dont come a lot in this league." While the Blues have been one of the best teams each of the past three regular seasons -- St. Louis had 60 points in a lockout shortened 2012-13 campaign and 109 points in 2011-12 -- it has been a different story in April. Armstrong and coach Ken Hitchcock said that the Blues need to develop a killer instinct if they are to get over their post-season hump. "We werent able to create the gap in Games 3 and 4 and win on the road, which you have to do in the playoffs," Hitchcock said. "Thats the killer instinct that you need to have. We werent able to do it in either series, aand it hurts. Cheap Jerseys China. "Thats everyones responsibility. Mine, Dougs, the players, other coaches, everybody. Thats the part that hurts. We couldnt apply the killer instinct in Games 3 and 4 when we needed to in both years." Several players have been a part of the past three seasons, and figure to be part of the puzzle moving forward: forwards T.J. Oshie, Alexander Steen and David Backes, and defenceman Kevin Shattenkirk and Alex Pietrangelo. Armstrong said it his responsibility to see if this core group can get to a new level or whether changes are needed. "I look at the regular season success this team has had over the last three years," Armstrong said "I think our point total is probably in the top three or four in the NHL over that time frame. So, were doing some things correctly. But were not doing enough correctly to win in April, May and June. Quite honestly, I got to quit worrying about May. We got to get out of April first and were not doing that." One area that will need to be addressed is goaltending. The Blues thought they had added the final piece when the traded for Ryan Miller just before the deadline. But Miller, who is a free agent, allowed 19 goals against the Blackhawks and his save percentage was just .897. Armstrong said that Jake Allen, who had another strong year in the American Hockey League, will be one of the teams net minders. Who the will partner with Allen is up in the air. "Its a two-way street with Ryan right now," Armstrong said. "He has opportunities. I want to sit and talk with him and get his feelings about our organization. See where he thinks were at, see if he even has any interest in being a St. Louis Blue." wholesale jerseys wholesale nfl jerseys china jerseys from china nfl jerseys cheap authentic cheap jerseys ' ' '
