Price looks right

Grant Balfour received the biggest ovation of his life Saturday. Nearly 30,000 inside the Trop stood and cheered as the Rays reliever entered the game.

Oh, wait. They were cheering for David Price, who was headed to the dugout.

My bad.

Price's good.

The lefty struck out 11 and allowed one run in 5 2/3 innings Saturday against the Twins.

It was a heck of an improvement over his first start last Monday when he walked five batters and struck out six in 3 1/3 innings at Cleveland.

Rays manager wanted to see Price pitch deeper into the game and have better command of his fastball. Check and check.

Price left with the Rays up 4-1.

The rookie, so big in last year's postseason, isn't the savior of this team. But a few more outings like the one he turned in Saturday will go a long way toward getting the Rays above .500 and challenging for another trip to the postseason.