I’ve got to give credit where it’s due. The Rays had a very successful 10 game home stand going 7-3, and out scoring their opponents 47-36. The good guys scored five or more runs in four of those games which doesn’t sound that amazing, but it’s promising considering they’re averaging about three runs per game at home. More so, the Rays are now 10-4 in their last 14 games and will leave the area with a fair amount of momentum.
The Rays will need to feed off of that momentum on this upcoming road trip, aptly titled the Gauntlet, Part II, as they’ll be facing the Yankees and Red Sox over the course of the next six days. A road trip that includes a double header on Tuesday in Boston.
Though I have come to terms with, and accepted that the Rays probably will not be a playoff team this season, if they still seriously consider themselves to be in the hunt for October, they will need to come out blazing against the ever hot Yankees and Red Sox. At the moment, the Rays are 8.5 games behind the Yankees, and .5 games behind the Angels in the wildcard race.
At 32-26 (on the road) the Rays are still one of the top road teams in baseball, however they are only 21-19 against their division rivals. To put that into comparison, the Yankees are 39-23 at home and 23-20 against their division rivals, and the Red Sox are 37-22 at home, and 30-13 against their division rivals. Weirder things have happened though, and the Rays have found success against Grimace (CC Sabathia), Butthead (AJ Burnett), and Lackey. BenZo, Jennings, Kotchman, Damon, and Longoria will need to continue hitting the ball well. Upton, who’s hit better on the road, will need to keep his stupid diatribes to a minimum and hit the ball, period.
In the end, if all we can hope for is a strong finish in the last couple months of season, then here’s to hope! There was a band in the 90’s that wrote, “if you don’t expect too much from me, then you might not be let down.” Perhaps that’s as good of an unofficial theme for the Rays as their official theme “another way”. Nevertheless, this is baseball, it’s a long season, and crazier things have happened.
Of interest; tonight’s pitching duel comes courtesy of 1/2 of the Shields/Price firm. Price (9-10, 3.89 ERA), has something to prove after a few…uh, less than stellar starts, will take the hill against CC “Grimace” Sabathia (16-6, 2.81 ERA), who’s also got something to prove after a loss to the Red Sox, and a season record of 0-4 against those dastardly gents.