Rays Roll into August

By on August 3, 2010

Rays Roll in August

Tampa Fl. (RSE) –The Ray’s are rolling.  An outstanding 12 wins and 5 losses since the All-Star break which includes a winning road trip and a current 7-1 home stand.  The Ray’s also sit atop the AL East tied with the dreaded Bronx Bombers aka The Yankees.

The recent debut of pitcher Jeremy Hellickson (Hellboy) was stellar as he fanned 6 Twins batters and gave up only 2 runs in 7 well pitched innings.  The rookie showed confidence on the mound that belied his first MLB appearance at the ripe young age of 23 years old.  The debate now seems to be whether he will become a regular part of the rotation or be sent back down to Durham to await the September call-ups.  Madden has a decision to make.

The bats have been constant and steady in this latest stretch of wins and although The Ray’s have seen both Carlos Pena, who has been surging, and the steady Ben Zobrist go on the injured list, players such as Matt Joyce have really stepped it up and contributed big time hits to propel the Ray’s to the Major’s best record (along with the Yankees).

[media-credit attachment_id=145 name=”Greg Nelson /Sports Illustrated/Getty Images” align=”alignright” width=”200″][/media-credit]

All-Star Carl Crawford has been the most consistent Ray this season; In above photo he gets ready to rip the ball in Texas

Evan Longoria has struggled a bit with the bat, including an 0 for 18 skid, but still holds a very respectable average and leads the club in RBI’s.

Even B.J. Upton seems to be making better contact as of late although in my humble opinion; I still think The Ray’s would be a better club without him on the field or in the clubhouse.  Over the years his attitude has been shaky at times and although I gave him the benefit of the doubt this year, the dust-up with Longoria after B.J. dogged a play that turned an opponent’s double into a triple and ultimately cost the Ray’s the ball game was the final straw for me.  I am not alone in this opinion.

So, as August gets under way with The Ray’s red hot and looking towards the post season, let’s all get out to Tropicana Field and support our hometown club.  They have worked hard to be where they are and they truly deserve better attendance than they’ve been getting.  Of course, I realize that this is mostly due to a lousy stadium in a remote part of the Bay area…but I’ll leave that argument for another article. 

Go Rays!

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