Rays staying alive..barely
After hanging on for a 6-5 win over the Toronto Blue jays last night at Tropicana Field, The Rays playoffs hopes are still clinging to life support as they try to get the offense out of the biggest slump of the year.
What a time to go into a funK. The Rays are 7-13 the month of August and have show signs of life offensively for a game or two, and then slid right back into the funk the offense has been in since the all-star break. The Rays are four games behind Minnesota for the final wild-card spot in the AL. The Rays are 11 games behind Boston in the AL East. Barring a major collapse from the Red Sox, the Rays will have to try for a wild- card spot to play baseball in October.
Last night the offense again showed signs of life as Corey Dickerson homered and Kevin Keirmaier continued to hit the ball with authority since his return from the DL. But it is going to take more than just the consistent hitting of Keirmaier and the occasional homer from Dickerson or Souza to get the Rays off of life support and back in contention for a playoff spot.
Wilson Ramos is now hitting above the Mendoza line as he is at .250 with 5 HR's and 17 RBI's. Brad Miller continues to be in the abyss hitting just .187 with 4 HR's. Evan Longoria continues to be just an average everyday player hitting in the .260's with 17 HR's. The thing that bothers me with Longoria is that he rarely comes thru in the clutch. He will hit a HR with no one on base and the Rays trailing trailing 8-1.
Over the weekend he was up with the bases loaded with a chance to give the Rays the lead and struck out. He just can't seem to deliver in a tight spot when the Rays need his bat.
The pitching continues to be solid with a 4.08 ERA. It looks like Blake Snell has finally started to figure it out getting wins in his last two starts. The Rays will also need a turn around from Jake Ordorizzi who has been shall we say not sharp at all in his last couple of starts. Matt Andriese is finally doing some rehab work at Durham and should be ready to help the Rays sooner rather than later.
The releif pitching has been up and down. The revamped bullpen has settled down a bit and been more consistent as everyone has settled into their roles.
If the offense can regain its firepower that they showed before the all-star break, the Rays have a good chance of climbing back into contention for a wild-card spot. With a trip to St. Louis, Kansas City and Chicago coming up, it will be a challenge. Both KC and St. Louis are in contention for wild card spots in their respective leagues, and the Rays and KC are two of the many teams trying to nail down one of those two spots In the AL.
After this road trip we will have a much clearer picture of the Rays chances for playing baseball in October.
