Jun 20 2008
Tampa Bay Rays, Friday Notes
One of the more interesting stories at this point in the year is the rise of the Tampa Bay Rays. Longtime doormats in the AL East they are looking like bona fide contenders after sweeping the NL Central leading Chicago Cubs. Their latest 8-3 win was especially compelling with a 7 run explosion in the 7th, including 4 off previously untouchable (2.09 era, 63 k’s in 43 ip) setup man Carlos Marmol, who failed to record an out and saw his era rise nearly a full point to 2.93.
While it’s only June, these Rays are no joke. The lineup is strong with young, talented players. BJ Upton has been a catalyst, with 22 steals and a .291 avg. What makes them appear to be true contenders is that several of their position players are actually under performing. LF Carl Crawford has been dealing with a knee injury and although he hit a grand slam Thursday he is hitting just .272, or .20 points lower than his career average. He has also been running less than usual and has a respectable, but un-Crawford like, 19 steals. Aki Iwamura is hitting only .271 and rookie Evan Longoria, who is second on the team with 11 hr’s, is hitting only .250. 46 HR hitter Carlos Pena has been out for most of June with a fractured finger.
Despite all of this, the Rays are in 2nd place in the AL East, which is shaping up to be by far the strongest division in baseball. They have the best inter-division record at 21-15 and considering the fact that four of the five teams have winning records that is certainly an achievement. The returns of Scott Kazmir and Matt Garza have been a huge boost to their staff and the bullpen has been outstanding.
The Rays are not some one year wonder either, they have what has been ranked by Baseball America the best farm system in MLB the past two years running. Pitchers David Price (Last years #1 pick) and Jake McGee are power lefties with 95+ mph fastballs. #1 Overall pick Tim Beckham is signed and likely going to get 1-200 ab’s this season which should definitely help his development.
It’s refreshing and scary to think about how good this team is already and how the impact of these young players can improve them in the future. While the Red Sox and Yankees aren’t going anywhere, Tampa Bay looks like they are poised to make the AL East more than just a two team race for the first time in over a decade.
Other notes:
Baseball is really kicking it into gear now with another busy weekend with Major League games, the college world series, and of course 5 games in 3 days for the Bay Area Giants. Some things to keep an eye on on Friday:
NL era leader Edinson Volquez faces the red hot (7 wins in a row) NY Yankees with 10 game winner Mike Mussina on the mound. Volquez is coming off an excellent start vs the Red Sox so this should be quite a collision.
AL era leader Cliff Lee faces top Dodgers prospect Clayton Kershaw in a matchup of lefties. Kershaw is still looking for his first MLB win and has been solid but unspectacular in his first five starts. He did cut down his walks his last start and Lee hasn’t been going deep into games lately like he was early in the year.
College World Series Notes - The LSU - UNC game will be concluded at 4pm pacific on Friday after being rained out Thursday at the same time. UNC leads 2-0 in the 1st. The Georgia - Stanford game has been moved to Saturday.
The Bay Area Giants take on the San Francisco rival Seagulls at Big Rec Field in Golden Gate park tomorrow. The Seagulls have taken 3/3 so far from the Giants, with the last game a 1-0 pitchers duel. The Giants are coming off a rough 13-1 loss vs the Maxim Yankees on Wednesday, and have struggled mightily with the bats scoring only 2 runs in their past two games. They’ll look to turn things around at home, game time is 5pm.
