How legit are the Tampa Bay Rays? Latest: Game winning hit for Gross, Rays in 1st place (reply #47)

[monty57]

I'd love to see Tampa Bay do well. However, it's really the Red Sox division to lose, and I'll only believe the Yankees won't be in the playoffs after I've seen it happen. It seems that they always falter somewhat in the start of the season, bringing up all kinds of stories of their demise, only to come on strong and end back up in the playoffs. $200MM has to buy you some kind of talent and depth, right?

 

Tampa does have a solid group of young players, and should be good for the foreseeable future, making them a good comp to the Brewers. It's lucky for us that we only have one free-spending team in the division, while Tampa plays in the most free-spending division in the league.

[joepepsi]

If you didnt catch it, Gabe Gross got the game winning hit in the top of the 11th to put the rays in 1st place in the AL East. It may only be May but it's still an amazing feat for a team in the same division as the Yankees/Red Sox.

Was he traded immediately following the game?

 

[SeriesFinale]

I agree that they have a better chance at the Wild Card but I can't help but imagine a Brewers-style mid and late-season collapse what with all their young guys. I mean, it's only a .5 lead

[TooLiveBrew]

Is that just 'the thing that gets said', though, about a young team that collapses? -- iirc the young guys in Milwaukee were the ones carrying their weight last season down the stretch.

[Glennron]

I just realized that Tampa has had the exact same amount of home games as the Cubs have. I don't think many people expect the Rays to continue to play .600+ ball to begin with, but with a lot more road games than home games the rest of the way it'll be even harder to keep up the current pace. They must perform well in front of 10,000 every night!

[JJHardy7]

I don't know if this has been posted anywhere else around here, but Gabe hit a walk-off home run last night for the Rays.

[bjkrautk]

Not sure if anyone has mentioned it, but Gabe Gross' OPS with the Devil Rays is still on the wrong side of .800, and his season-long OPS is still .727. (Considering he's largely lost playing time in RF to Hinske, and only starts once or twice a week....I think the reports of Gross' performance over the past week tend to distort his perception in a 'grass is always greener' sort of way. Gabe had 43 AB's for the Brewers in the first 20 games of the season....and 41 AB's for the Rays in the entire month of May.)

[SeriesFinale]

Rays fans are still in learning mode apparently:

 

Isn't it time for someone in the Ray's organization to nail Carl Crawford to the bench and let Gabe Gross play? What is Crawford anyway, 4 for 40 ? Yeah, that'll play huge in the playoffs !! Crawford's a dinosaur and we can't wait for him to "find his groove". Bench him . . .

Posted by: mike robinson | July 03, 2008 at 08:48 AM

http://blogs.tampabay.com/rays/2008/07/chat-rays---mar.html

 

[TooLiveBrew]

Prehistorically 26 years old!1!!!1

[lcbj68c]

The Rays are so legit, they didn't even need their designated hitter today. All that 9=8 stuff must have gotten to Maddon's head. LOL!

 

http://mlb.mlb.com/media/video.jsp?content_id=4607731&c_id=mlb