Magic Run Ends for Rays

After having your season ended in drawn-out fashion, the last thing you want to hear is that you should be proud to have even been in the position to begin with. But in the case of the Tampa Bay Rays, that’s exactly how they should feel.

Yes, they can be disappointed that they didn’t win just three more games and sure, they can feel crushed by watching the Phillies celebrate in front of them. But put into perspective what the Rays were able to do this year and you’ll find an amazing amount to be proud of.

The Rays were the worst team in baseball last year. They didn’t hit, they couldn’t field and they had trouble finding any consistent pitching. They were a team filled with young players carrying heaps of potential, but putting together terrible results. Then in one season they turned everything on its head. Sure, they only hit .260 as a team (good for 21st in the Majors), but their defense was one of the best, committing only 90 errors, 9th best in the Majors and having the 10th highest fielding percentage. With the trade for Matt Garza, the signing of Troy Percival and the immergence of J.P. Howell, the pitching improved leaps and bounds too, carrying the 3rd best ERA in the majors at 3.82 and coming in 2nd in the league with 52 saves.

In the playoffs, the hitting took off as well. BJ Upton found his swing despite a shoulder injury that will need surgery, hitting 7 HRs and knocking in 16 runs, both tops in either league. Evan Longoria continued to swing a hot bat coming off a wrist injury hitting six HRs and knocking in 13 runs, which would have put him atop the NL in both categories. Plus, the entire team caused havoc all over the basepaths.

But a funny thing happened in the World Series, the hits just stopped coming. The Rays hit only .212 uin the World Series and a team that couldn’t leave a runner on base in the Championship Series stranded what seemed like an entire town. Longoria, Upton and Pena went cold. Longira hit .050 getting only one hit in twenty at-bats. Pena wasn't much better, hitting .118 with only one extra abse hit and the hero of the previous series, BJ Upton, found himself stifled as well, hitting .250 with only one RBI. On top of all that, the pitching suffered as well. They couldn’t get the dominating outing that they needed so badly from one of their starters, as the team compiled a 4.50 ERA, almost a full run higher than their season ERA. JP Howell and Dan Wheeler both had ERAs over 6 and only Shield among the starters had an ERA under 4.50.

So was it just the Phillies year, or were the Rays simply a young team that ran out of gas a few blocks before the finish line? Sure the Phillies bullpen has been unstoppable all year long. Brad Lidge hasn’t blown a save and the team is 80-0 when they lead after 8 innings. But in the World Series Lidge and Romero proved to be the only two effective relievers, as Madson's ERA soared to just under 5. Sure Ryan Howard had three HRs in five games and Jayson Werth hit just under .500, but the Phillies hit only .262 for the series. If you look at performance alone there are countless reasons why the Phillies bested the Rays in quick fashion. However, after the season they put together, this year will always go down as the year the Rays lost the World Series.

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Sports by Big Tuna

Magic Run Ends for Rays