| Craig Castille. 5th May, 2008 - 6:40 pm
 When does optimism give way to expectations for the future?
The Tampa Bay Rays may be making strides in the coming months by having to answer just that question.
The month of April has been completed, and the Rays' management must be at least somewhat happy with the results. Twenty-six games played, with fourteen wins, does not seem like much for most major league clubs, but for the Rays it created a precedent.
A precedent in that the Rays had their first winning April of their short history.
A precedent that the Rays crushed team marks with a staff ERA of 3.74 and with a bullpen ERA of 2.59. This, coming from a team that was dead last in the major leagues last year in many pitching categories.
The schedule was more home based than not, but their opponents were mostly AL East division rivals, to which the Rays held a 10-7 head to head advantage. Not bad.
Not bad at all considering that the Rays were missing two of their top three starters for most of the month. Scott Kazmir did not throw a single pitch while Matt Garza made only two starts during April.
Also missing for the month of April (missing offensively, that is) were the likes of Carlos Pena, Aki Iwamura, and Jason Bartlett. Pena and Iwamura have struggled to stay batting above .200 most of the season while Bartlett struggled at .220 and seemingly never got the ball out of the infield.
Bartlett's offensive productivity is still an unknown to the Rays, but Iwamura, the new lead off hitter, and Pena, last years' AL Silver Slugger Award winner, have struggled mightily for the month. Not only is Iwamura's average low, his average with runners in scoring position is worse, at .118. Pena had gone the last three weeks of April without a home run.
So how did the Rays do it?
Two words......
Defense and depth.
These are two words that would never be associated with earlier Rays' teams. Solidifying the middle infield with Bartlett and Iwamura has resulted in numerous ground balls not getting into the holes as in years past and has shown the ability of both players to turn even the most difficult of double plays routinely.
No doubt these are two key contributors to the Rays' record setting pitching staff. Short innings have become common place.
Depth has dramatically improved across the board.
Pena in a slump? In steps Eric Hinske, a non roster invite this year, whose timely hitting and six home runs have saved or won several games.
Dioner Navarro on the DL? Shawn Riggans plays hero on a couple of occasions, most dramatically with a four RBI performance against the Yankees.
Two starters out? In the Exhibition season, Andy Sonnanstine, Jason Hammel, and Edwin Jackson were playing musical chairs battling for the 4th and 5th rotation slots, with the odd man out. So, Sonnanstine throws a complete game 3 hit shutout, going 4-1 for the month, and Jackson precedes that with an 8 inning 2 hit effort. Hamel has mostly held his own but is probably the odd man out.
Where this leads nobody knows. But this much is in evidence now: the Rays are now in the painstaking process of eliminating the proverbial monkey on the back and appear to be moving forward, and far, far away from their past. |
