ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddons new approach had a successful first day. Jeremy Hellickson allowed six hits over eight sharp innings, Evan Longoria hit his 20th homer of the season and the Rays beat the Seattle Mariners 8-0 on Saturday night. Maddon decided to have his team take a road-like setup for the rest of a homestand that ends Thursday. The players have a later arrival time, onfield work is being cutback and batting practice for those that want it will take place in a cage. "It was a nice day ... We did a nice job with that," Maddon said. "Again, I still truly believe thats such an overrated part of baseball, especially the later part of the season. Right now I want fresh bodies and fresh minds. Youre not going to get a whole lot out of extra work right now." The Rays have a better road than home record. Tampa Bay has scored 312 road runs this season, compared to 218 at home. Longoria finished with four RBIs, including a two-run homer in the first. He joined Hall of Famer Eddie Mathews as the only major league third basemen to have 20 or more homers in each of their first four seasons. "Were on a nice little roll right now and its because of him," Hellickson said. "If he keeps doing that, were going to win a lot of games." Hellickson (11-8) was coming off the shortest start of his 32-game career, a 9-2 loss last Saturday to the New York Yankees in which the rookie gave up four runs and eight hits in 4 1-3 innings. Joel Peralta pitched the ninth and completed a seven-hitter for the Rays, who have won nine of 11 and improved to a season-high 12-games over .500 (68-56). Tampa Bay moved within 7 1-2 games of the AL wild card-leading Boston. The Rays are eight in back of the first-place New York Yankees in the AL East. "Keep sneaking up from behind and see what happens," Maddon said. Seattle has lost four in a row. The Mariners, who entered hitting a major league-low .231, didnt advance a runner past second base until one-out in the eighth. After Johnny Damon tripled, Longoria put the Rays ahead 2-0 on a two-run shot off Charlie Furbush (3-5) during the first. Longoria has 59 RBIs over his last 60 games. Damon and Sean Rodriguez each had run-scoring singles, and Casey Kotchman hit a sacrifice fly in the third to put Tampa Bay ahead 5-0. Furbush gave up five runs and eight hits in three innings. The left-hander has allowed 12 runs over seven innings in his last two road starts. "His secondary stuff was up a little bit," Seattle manager Eric Wedge said. "They did a good job against him, too. They kind of took what he gave them. They didnt try to do too much with it. They were wearing him out back up the middle." Elliot Johnson had an RBI single and Longoria drove in a pair with a single that made it 8-0 in the eighth. Ichiro Suzuki had been hitless in nine at-bats, including his first three plate appearances Saturday, against Hellickson before getting an eighth-inning single off the right-hander. Seattle first baseman Mike Carp extended his hitting streak to 19 games with a single in the fourth. Mariners shortstop Luis Rodriguez got hit on right elbow by Hellicksons pitch in the second and left the game after running the bases. Wedge said the infielder is day to day. NOTES: Rays LF Desmond Jennings had three stolen bases. ... Seattle SS Brendan Ryan, who returned Friday after being out with a sprained left shoulder joint, could be back in the starting lineup in the next couple days. ... Tampa Bay RHP James Shields (11-10) will look to increase his major league-best nine complete games this season on Sunday. .... Mariners RHP Michael Pineda (9-7), Sundays scheduled starter, leads all AL rookies with 143 strikeouts. Opposing batters are hitting just .209 against him. ... Kotchman was credited with a seventh-inning infield single in Friday nights game as part of a scoring change. Mariners 3B Adam Kennedy had originally been charged with an error for misplaying Kotchmans grounder. cheap jerseys . Reports from both ESPN and NFL.com indicated that the NFL rejected an extension Payton signed with the Saints in 2011 that would have kept him with the team through the 2015 season. cheap jerseys free shipping . Keefe becomes the 18th head coach in Greyhounds history. "This was extremely difficult decision," said Greyhounds general managaer Kyle Dubas. [url=http://www.cheapjerseyfreeshipping.us/]http://www.cheapjerseyfreeshipping.u... . Titans coach Mike Munchak threw the position open for competition during the off-season. Hasselbeck had a solid year as a free agent addition in 2011 and has been mentoring Locker, the former first-round pick.ATLANTA -- Matt Ryan gave Atlanta the early lead, then Baltimores backups, led by Curtis Painter, took over from there. Painter threw three second-half touchdown passes to lead the Ravens to a 31-17 preseason win over the Falcons on Thursday night. "I like the way our young guys competed and executed," said Baltimore coach John Harbaugh. "Curtis Painter made some big plays with three TD passes." Painter started eight games for Indianapolis in 2011 before signing with the Ravens. "Obviously, scoring three times while we were in there was a good thing," Painter said. "Just getting some momentum going. ... It was a good first showing. Ive just got to keep going from here." Ryan led two touchdown drives, including a scoring pass to Julio Jones. Ryan completed 9 of 13 passes for 155 yards, one touchdown and one interception. He was 5 for 5 for 71 yards, including the 7-yard touchdown pass to Jones, on the opening drive for Atlanta (No. 13 in the AP Pro32). "I thought the first couple of drives, especially the first drive, we got out to a good rhythm," Ryan said. "We were in the no-huddle in the first series, and it was good for us to work that package." Jones had six catches for 109 yards and a touchdown. Joe Flacco completed 9 of 12 passes for 88 yards and a touchdown for Baltimore (No. 5). The Falcons led 14-0 before Flacco threw a 9-yard touchdown pass to Ed Dickson midway through the second quarter. Each starting quarterback left the game in the second quarter. Ravens safety Omar Brown, an undrafted rookie from Marshall, had two fumble recoveries and an interception. Atlanta starting linebacker Akeem Dent (knee) and rookie backup fullback Bradie Ewing (head) left the game with injuries. Ewing hurt his right knee when blocking on Dominique Franks 45-yard punt return midway through the first quarter. Ewing, a fifth-round pick from Wisconsin, was helped off the field before being placed on a cart and driven to the locker room. Dent walked off the field with the head injury he suffered when blocking on a Falcons punt. He is expected to take over at middle linebacker after Curtis Lofton signed with the Saints and Lofa Tatupu suffered a season-ending pectoral injury in training camp. Baltimore backup defensive tackle Ryan McBean was carted off the field late in the first half with a left leg injury. Painter, who played behind Flacco and Tyrod Taylor, completed 7 of 14 passes for 76 yards and the three touchdowns. Taylor completed 8 of 17 passes for 64 yards and had five carries for 51 yards. The replacement officials included only two with Division I college footballl experience: referee Craig Ochoa and field judge John OBrien.dddddddddddd The other members of the crew have worked Division II, Division III and other professional leagues. The crew seemed comfortable for the most part and even withstood the test of a replay when Falcons coach Mike Smith made an unsuccessful challenge on a sideline pass from Matt Ryan to Drew Davis. The officials ruled Davis was out of bounds and the call stood after review. The officials referred to the Falcons as "Arizona" twice during the game, drawing chuckles from some fans. The game matched two franchise quarterbacks from the 2008 NFL draft. Flaccos 44 wins are the most by an NFL quarterback in his first four seasons. Ryan is second with 43 wins. Flacco has won at least one playoff game in each of his four seasons. Ryan has posted four straight winning seasons -- a first for the Falcons -- but has yet to win in the playoffs. Ryan, operating in first-year offensive co-ordinator Dirk Koetters attack, had completions of 13 yards to Roddy White, 26 yards to Jones, 19 yards to Jones and 6 yards to Jones on consecutive plays on Atlantas opening drive. After Michael Turner ran for 3 yards to the Ravens 7, Ryan went back to Jones for the touchdown pass. The Falcons had a first down at Baltimores 15 later in the first quarter when Ravens linebacker Brendon Ayanbadejo intercepted a pass from Ryan. "Thats just poor play in the red zone," Ryan said. "Thats something I have to be better at, and I cant take points off the board." Matt Bryants 31-yard field goal gave Atlanta a 17-7 halftime lead. "It was obvious in the first half that we have a lot of things to work on," Harbaugh said. "Really, we need to be better on offence, defence and special teams. There were times we played like the Ravens, but we were not consistent." Justin Tucker kicked a 36-yard field goal for Baltimore in the third quarter. A fumbled handoff by Atlanta third-string quarterback John Parker Wilson at the Falcons 10 was recovered by Baltimores Brown midway in the third period. Three plays later, Painter threw a 4-yard pass to Billy Bajema for a 17-17 tie. Painters 22-yard pass to Deonte Thompson late in the third quarter gave Baltimore the lead. Brown intercepted the first pass thrown by Atlanta fourth-stringer Davis to set up Painters 18-yard TD pass to Bobby Rainey in the fourth quarter. Brown recovered a fumble by Aron White following a catch later in the fourth quarter. Atlanta backup Chris Redman couldnt move the offence as he completed only 1 of 6 passes for 8 yards. Wilson was 8 of 13 passing for 69 yards. ' ' '