C’mon Guys, You Can Do This!

I love the Simpsons, always have. And though I haven’t kept up with the more recent episodes, I still feel as though that even the more conflated scenarios in any given episode are relevant to daily life. Case in point, an episode titled the Boys of Bummer back from season 18. I know that some of you may be scratching your head and asking, “what does this have to do with the Rays?” Bear with me, I’ll get there.

In that episode, Bart is the centerfielder for his local little league team. Bart finds hero status in Springfield because of a great catch, a catch that won the game for his team. His community turns on him after his team loses the championship, all because of a dropped a pop fly which scored four runs for Shelbyville. When Bart’s self-esteem drops off of the chart following the botched play, Marge decides to re-create the situation over and over again until Bart is able to make the final out, in an attempt to convince him that he and his team won the championship.

I’ve found myself becoming increasingly agitated, neigh…infuriated with the Rays over the course of the last three games. The Red Sox have all but submitted and handed our boys the wildcard, yet the Rays have done nothing (unless you consider four runs in 27 innings something) to capitalize on the situation.

In a sense, the Rays are Bart Simpson. They keep making the same mistakes over and again. The mistakes? A consistent lack of run production and run support for the starting pitching staff; a problem that the Rays have been faced with since game one.

The pitching and the defense have been there over the course of the last two games. I could care less how many of you bemoan JP Howell or any of the other pitchers in the pen for allowing the bottom to fall out yesterday. Sure, Howell blew the Rays tie in game one. BUT the hitters preemptively blew any chances of winning the game by scoring only two runs. Mind you, a two run deficit should not be something that is hard to overcome…it is not something akin to climbing Mount Everest. I know, they gave up the winning runs late in both games yesterday, and there really wasn’t a chance to score any runs after that point. Yet, is it too much to expect them to produce five runs or more considering how the Yankees can quickly change the outcome of any game? Hell, what’s the stat? The Rays are 24-0 when they score five or more runs in a game?!?

At 2.5 games behind the struggling Red Sox, the Rays are still in the race. But for how long? Sure, the Red Sox are on the trajectory to Crapsville, USA, but what if they go into the next six games with the fire that they’ve exhibited prior to their August breakdown? What then? What if both teams falter and the Angels, who are now tied for the Rays at 2.5 back, sneak in instead? In the end, the Rays control their own destiny. They can no longer depend on the petering out of the aforementioned teams (especially the Angels, who are playing really good ball at the moment) like they have. Do the Rays still have an opportunity to get into the playoffs? As I mentioned before, yes. Weirder things have happened. However, I’m still approaching the next seven games with guarded optimism. Guarded, more so than optimistic that is. I mean, the Yankees pitchers (Grimace included) practically handed the Rays the proverbial keys to the kingdom, and the Rays found a way to drop them down a sewer grate in the middle of the road.

Let’s talk about the pitching for a bit, shall we? Hellickson and Shields both pitched a hell of a good game in their respective starts. The four runs that Shields earned, by and far, do not give justice to the solid game he pitched. I won’t bore you with the details of either pitching performance. I will say however, that the lack of run support for both Hellboy and Shields was criminal to say the least.

On the other hand, New York collectively, over the course of two games, went through 11 pitchers who got knocked all over the place. The Yankees gave up 17 hits and four walks, and they beaned two Rays batters. Hell, even Shoppach had a home run! Yet, they could score no more than four runs!

To say that the Rays need to win, neigh…it’s imperative that they win the tonight, would be akin to saying that cement is hard, or Boston sports fans are sub-human assholes.

Jeff Niemann, who reportedly was “abnormally stiff or sore” after his last start, has had his start pushed back to Saturday against the Blue Jays. Uber prospect Matt Moore will make his first big league start tonight in Niemann’s place. Moore was 12-3 with a 1.92 ERA  in 27 starts for AA Montgomery. Those impressive numbers also included a no-hitter. In AAA Durham, he struck out 210 hitters in 155 innings. Though he gave up an unfortunate home run in his first appearance against Baltimore, he looked very impressive in his last appearance Saturday against the Red Sox. Moore went three strong innings, giving up one run on two hits while striking out two along the way. Moore has a very good upper 90’s fastball, but the Yankees are very good at hitting fastballs. Moore will need to make sure he is spot on with his location.

Tampa Bay will need to make sure that they look more like a big league team, and less like a AAAA team at the plate. Their post season hopes hinge on it. Starting lineups will be posted as they become available. As always, Go Rays!