The Tampa Bay Rays opened a 3 game set against division leading New York Yankees Monday night in an effort to gain some ground. Toward that goal they sent their “Ace” SP “Big Game” James Shields to the mound. Too bad “Big Game” never showed up! The Yankees took it to James early and often. He lasted only 5.1 innings giving up 9 hits (2 HR), 5 ER, 3 free passes while striking out 2. The Yankees never looked back as they easily took game 1. Shields has not looked good on the mound since his last victory on June 20th. In his last 7 starts he has allowed 25 ER – an average of almost 4 ER a game! Doesn’t seem like a staff #1 to me…. Regardless of what the offense has or has not done during his starts this number is too high to be expected to win many. Remember he is usually pitching against the opposition’s staff “ace” as well. Therefore it may only take a run or 2 to win.
The offense was non existent as well. They barely hit Yankee SP Burnett managing only 2 hits in 7 innings off him and 1 ER. They made a little noise on the BP scoring 3 times off them but were quickly dismissed.
Here’s the deal – NO MORE PASSES! I am tired of praising the outstanding pitching the Rays have seen – BS! No More! I am tired of giving free passes to poor pitching performances – no more! Theses guys need to own up to their poor performances and find some intensity and sense of urgency. These guys see the same pitchers series after series, they know what is coming and yet no one can seem to make any sort of adjustment. Last night I watched Carlos Pena try to pull and out and down pitch for strike 3 – are you kidding me?! All he needed to do was put the bat on the ball and possibly get it over the 3rd baseman’s head. But no, we want to hit a HR every time… I have sat and watched Evan Longoria watch strike 3 on the outside edge numerous times through out this season. That outside pitch, although looks a bit outside, has consistently been called all year. And Pat Burrell….don’t even get me started on this guy!
Here are the numbers for your “big boppers’ Ray fans over the last 10 games:
Pena – 5 hits, 6 RBI, 16 K’s
Longoria – 6 hits, 5 RBI, 8 K’s
Burrell – 6 hits, 6 RBI, 13 K’s
They are not hitting in key situations! These guys should have ton more RBI’s with the way the top of the lineup is getting on base. Look at the strike outs! OMGoodness…. I think it’s time for these guys to find themselves on the bench to allow others a chance to step up because these guys are NOT getting the job done!
Tampa Bay it’s time to hold your Rays accountable for their lack of execution. They want to hear the cheers and applause when they do well so they should expect to be held accountable when they consistently do poorly!
Now we are sitting 5 games back of the wildcard with 61 games to go. We better start making ground up ASAP and the best way to do this is to win the next 2 games!
