Rays Bull Not Full This Year

The 2008 rendition of the Tampa Bay Rays (American League Champs) were a lean, mean fighting machine. The scratched and clawed wins from behind on a regular basis. Their bullpen held many times from early innings on multiple occasions to get tough wins. They seemed more interested and excited when they won. That always happens as you begin to expect to win instead of just being happy to win.

Martin Gramatica started out kicking for the Buccaneers and he was jumping and running all over the field after every extra point early in his career, but settled down considerably as he realized he was supposed to make all of his extra points. With the Rays though, I think some of their excitement loss is due to the top of the lineup. B.J. Upton is this year’s lead-off hitter and I think it is hurting them. Some are making excuses for him because he is coming back from shoulder surgery. I would argue that his strikeout habits and general lack of enthusiasm creates an atmosphere of ho-hum baseball. His on-base percentage isn’t terrible, but his batting average is. That creates a feeling for the team in the first inning, an expectation of low results.

On the defensive side of the ball, they are still one of the best and fastest units in baseball. But, the bullpen has already struggled quite a bit. DAn Wheeler hasn’t gotten off to a great start and he was strong last year on many occasions. J.P. Howell is still rocking, thank goodness, and thankfully they haven’t been in that many save opportunities for Troy Percival to screw things up in the ninth. That situation will be the undoing of this solid club in 2009, unless Joe Maddon finds a suitable alternative.

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