Not so fast my Windy City brethren, what about those Rays from Tampa that ran through both teams like a runaway freight train?
The Rays completed a three-game sweep of the Chicago Cubs at the Trop this week after having taken three of four from the Chicago White Sox earlier in the season. Both the Cubs and White Sox are in first place in their respective divisions. The Cubs had the best record in baseball at the time of the Rays series. The Rays have also played the Red Sox and Yankees, the networks favored children, on better than even terms.
So the question that is beginning to develop is "How serious a contender is this Rays team?" Can a rotation of Kazmir, Garza, Shields, Sonanstine and Jackson continue to carry this team through the dog days of July and August, and into the white-hot heat of a September pennant chase?
They are winning the close games, the mark of a strong bullpen and generally a versatile offense that can score runs in a variety of ways. They are better than .500 against every division in the American League, demonstrating dominance across the board against the other contenders.
They generally play the Yankees very well, which will be important as they try to hold them off down the stretch. The only concern at this point may be the home/road splits. The are playing extremely well at the Trop, but they need to bring the road record closer to .500 to close the deal.
I think they will be able to do this as the season progresses primarily because after the All-Star break some team will begin to pack it in somewhat (Royals, Mariners, etc.) and the Rays should be able to pick up some momentum there.
The longer this team hangs around, the longer these younger guys who have not been beaten down by the Rays prior tradition of not being competitive are allowed to see themselves atop the division and in the pennant/wild card chase, the harder it's going to be to knock them out down the stretch.
The Rays youthful exuberance and energy, I believe, will trump the Red Sox, Yankees and Angels experience. As long as the testing for amphetamines is as serious as we've been led to believe.
Good to see the old St. Petersburg Pelicans uniforms from the Senior Professional Baseball Association used as throwback uniforms. The league, which I believe was patterned after the Senior Golf tour, was a good idea that never quite caught on.
But I do remember going to a couple of the games at Al Lang Field and it was a lot of fun.
Go RAYS. My favorite team in that league that uses the goofy DH.
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