The Rays had a rough weekend losing two out of three games at the Trop against the Yankees. The Rays are now 3-3 which has them tied for 3rd in the A.L. East with the Red Sox, two games behind the surprising Blue Jays. The Rays have been outscored 31-24 this season mostly because of the bullpen. The starting pitchers are 2-1 with a 3.41 ERA and a 1.31 WHIP in the first six games for the Rays but it’s being wasted by the bullpen. Hopefully the offense and the pen get back into gear this week as the Rays will travel to Baltimore for three games starting today and then on to Boston for the weekend.

The Tampa Bay Rays have taken two out of three from the Orioles to begin the 2010 season. The Rays had some hard fought games against the O’s as they only outscored them 12-11 in the series. The Rays had a good chance for a sweep until Mike Ekstrom and Grant Balfour conspired to blow the game wide open for the O’s last night. It doesn’t get any easier tonight as the 2-1 New York Yankees come in this weekend for a three game series. The Rays really need to send the Yankees a message this weekend.

Scott Kazmir has been good for a while but he finally appears like he will work a full season.  The lefty has started 32 games this season for the D-Rays and he is 13-8 with a 3.54 ERA and a 1.40 WHIP.  In 195.2 innings this season, Kazmir has allowed 189 hits, walked 85 batters and whiffed 220.  It’s quite possible that he could win the strikeout crown in the American League as he is tied with Johan Santana, 1 strikeout behind Erik Bedard (who is done for the season).  James Shields has really stepped up his game in his 2nd year in the league.  He has started 31 games for the Devil Rays and he is 12-8 with a 3.85 ERA and a 1.11 WHIP.  He should have more wins but the bullpen has blown a lot of his leads.  Shields has worked 215 innings this season and he has allowed 202 hits, walked 36 batters and whiffed 184.  The only problem Shields has is with the long ball as he has allowed 28 homers this season.  But the homers didn’t hurt him too bad this season because he rarely walks batters.  The Devil Rays are still in last place in the American League East with a 63-89 record which has them 27 games behind the Red Sox, but they are only 2 games behind the Orioles for 4th place.

The Devil Rays have been playing good baseball lately and it has them only 1 game behind the Baltimore Orioles in the American League East.  The Devil Rays are now 61-84 which has them 26.5 games behind the Boston Red Sox but you have to like how the Devil Rays are fighting down the stretch.  Manager Joe Maddon has them focused as they try to get out of the basement and be a spoiler in the last couple weeks of the baseball season.

The Devil Rays have played much better since they have fixed their bullpen.  They have won 8 of their last 10 games which has them in last place in the American League East, 26 games behind the Red Sox.  Still, as good as the D-Rays have been playing lately they have still allowed 809 runs (5.9 per game) which is by far the worst in the majors.  Only Scott Kazmir (11-8, 3.74 ERA) and James Shields (10-8, 4.10 ERA) have been consistently good all season long for the Devil Rays pitching staff.  Still, the Devil Rays have gotten great seasons out of three hitters in 2007.  Carl Crawford has been outstanding again as he is hitting .314 with 85 runs scored, 10 homers, 74 RBIs and 46 stolen bases so far this year.  B.J. Upton is finally living up to his talent as he is hitting .313 with 75 runs scored, 22 homers, 70 RBIs and 14 stolen bases.  Carlos Pena was brought to the Devil Rays on a minor league contract and he has been outstanding!  He is hitting .274 with 79 runs scored, 34 homers and 96 RBIs.  The Devil Rays must re-sign Pena and reward him for his fine season.