The game last was hard to watch. It was another one of those games, where you were nervous when the opposing team had men on first and third, because you had that gut feeling that a run was going to cross the plate. That same nervous feeling was felt when Rays had men on first and third, because you had the sickening feeling that they’d do nothing with the opportunity. Those fears are well placed.
Coming off of the Royals series where the Rays went 4-28 with men in scoring position, Tampa Bay again couldn’t get men across the plate when given the opportunity. The Rays went 1-6 wRISP on Thursday, stranding seven on base. I’d argue that Carlos Pena was responsible for some of the most frustrating doing nothing wRISP situations, by striking out twice with men in scoring position and two outs. Let’s speak hypothetically a bit, shall we? Had ‘Los gotten a base hit in the fifth, Elliot Johnson would have easily scored from second, and the difference is cut by one. Then had ‘Los gotten an extra base hit, or even a single, in the seventh, both Conrad and Jennings score, inevitably tying things. Now, I’m hesitant to put all of the blame on Pena. After all, Jose Lobaton went 0-2 with men in scoring position as well. However, let’s be honest; who really expects Lobaton do be productive? I mean, the sheer fact that Lobaton is producing more than he was projected to, is a miracle in and of itself. The Rays passed on Kotchman, and re-signed Pena, for production purposes. And in the last month and a half, ‘Los hasn’t been so hot. Then again, Desmond Jennings and BJ Upton haven’t been too hot in their own rite, especially lately.
The numbers speak for themselves, so let’s take a peak at those for a moment. For this, we’ll take a look at who could, or should, be considered the most the most productive players on the active roster: Brooks Conrad, Jeff Keppinger, Carlos Pena, Ben Zobrist, Sean Rodriguez, Elliot Johnson, BJ Upton, Desmond Jennings, and Luke Scott. We’ll look at their production over the last seven days, and in high leverage situations.
Rays Production Over the Last Seven Days
The Rays in High Leverage Situations
In short, with the exception of Ben Zobrist, the players that have kept the Rays afloat over the last seven games, by driving in, and scoring runs, are the ones that more typically get on base to set things up for Pena, Upton, Jennings, and Scott. Yet, with the exception of Luke Scott who just returned from the DL, the trio above have been fairly quiet over the last seven games, if not longer. I say fairly, because Pena hit homers in the Philly and Washington series. He was also more productive, reaching base safely and scoring runs up until last week.
Brooks Conrad, Jeff Keppinger, and Ben Zobrist should be given gold medals for stepping up and putting the ball in play. Without them, and Elliot Johnson who has consistently put the ball in play over the long run, I fear that we’d see more shutouts or less competitive games. Please, don’t get me wrong, I love me some Carlos Pena. But, when you look at the May and June drop off compounded with how non-clutch he has been, you have to wonder how or if things might be different had the Rays made an off-season trade for Mark “19 HR/36 R/53 RBI” Trumbo.