It's the Orioles, but still a good start for Rays

It's Tax Day, and though the Rays could list Pat Burrell, Randy Choate and Mike Ekstrom as dependents, there are worse ways to start a ball season.

Joe Maddon and the lads jetted out of Baltimore on Wednesday, but barely needed a plane for the short hop to Boston after a 9-1 laugher and a three-game road sweep, something that happened only once all of last season.

The Rays are 6-3 going into four games with the Red Sox at Fenway Park beginning Friday night. Maddon and his players talked all spring about avoiding the 9-14 April that began digging their 2009 grave.

True, it's important to remember that the Rays' victim, for the fifth time already, was Baltimore, which sleeps with the crabs. In real games vs. the Yankees, the Rays are 1-2.

And, yes, the bullpen still hangs like a sword over playoff prospects. Choate did little to ease tension by serving up that two-run homer after Maddon over-managed and inserted him in the eighth inning Tuesday.

Only the Rays didn't lose. Carlos Pena hit a three-run homer in the 10th. He hit another three-run homer in the first inning Wednesday to begin the sweepage. Pena has 10 RBIs this season, Evan Longoria has nine and Carl Crawford has eight. Nice.

David Price went seven more innings and is 2-0 just like Matt Garza, a regular lefty-righty duel for No. 1. Good thing, since James Shields hasn't thrown down yet. Jeff Niemann looked good Tuesday in his first start without getting nailed by a liner.

And this just in: B.J. Upton.

He hit two homers Wednesday and drove home four runs. The first homer, a three-run job, came after the O's intentionally walked Pena to get to him.

This from the same Upton who didn't hit his first homer last season until mid-May and whose average was never above .250 after Opening Day. Maybe this is a different Upton. It is going to have to be.

Upton back on track, if not back to his 2008 postseason, is what the Rays need in the No. 5 spot in the order to protect Pena, seeing as Pat the Bat failed miserably at that. Burrell had a hit Wednesday, but he is squatting around .200 with no RBIs.

And Kelly Shoppach is on the shelf and no one knows when J.P. Howell is coming back and the Rays are off to another inauspicious start against left-handed starting pitching. Sean Rodriguez, spring training sensation, is scuffling at the plate. We've yet to see that electric stuff from closer Rafael Soriano. And we'll see what the Rays get from Wade Davis on Friday in Boston after he got his ears pinned back against the Yankees.

But the idea was to get off to a good start, and this counts as one. The Orioles were begging to be beaten. The Rays obliged. That's a big part of any successful season: pounding the guys you should pound. The Rays went 15-3 against Baltimore in the pennant year, but were only 10-8 against last-place Baltimore in 2009.

Five of six against the O's does not four days in Fenway make. And don't forget the three games in Chicago after that. It'll be interesting to see if the Rays will hold serve - or better, or worse - in Boston. You have to love Sunday's pitching matchup, Garza against Jon Lester.

It's only April, but it's never too early to make a good start better.