rays of hope

The Desmond Jennings Highlight Show rolls on. The former Itawamba Community College star hit two homers on Sunday — he told the Tampa Bay Tribune he can’t remember doing that before at any level of the game — and went 4-for-5 to raise his average to .354. Oh, and Tampa Bay, which refuses to quit in the American League playoff race, beat Toronto 12-0. Jennings, in 34 games this season, has eight homers, three triples, 19 RBIs, 22 runs, 14 stolen bases and a .646 slugging percentage. With Jennings at the top of the order, the Rays have won 17 of 25 and are just 6 1/2 games behind New York in the AL wild card standings. According to MLB Network, Tampa Bay leads the league in ERA (3.00) and batting average against (.221) during August. The Rays are second in the AL in ERA on the year, a tribute to the good work done there by former Jackson Generals pitching coach Jim Hickey. Hickey had to rebuild the Rays’ bullpen this season.