The Red Sox won at home against Cliff Lee and the Indians, but the Rays took both end of a double-header against the Orioles, reducing the magic number by 2.
Yes RAYSHEADS, the magic number is now 2 to complete the impossible and win the AL East, finishing ahead of both the Red Sox and Yankees.
Of course, the best news is the New York Yankees have now been officially eliminated from playoff contention. Yes. The Yankees are officially Roadkill.
Way too much is being made of the decision by the local chapter of the BBWAA to name Jason Bartlett the Rays’ MVP.
First it was the guys at Fire Joe Morgan taking exception to the vote.
“…if any baseball analyst of any kind tells me that “you really have to watch Jason Bartlett play every day to understand how much he means to this team,” and that same analyst is found drowned at the bottom of my hot tub the next morning, and I am found standing upon that corpse, in the hot tub…” [You get the idea]
Then Big League Stew challenges his readers to try an name the pictured MVP.
I honestly have no idea why the Tampa Bay baseball writers just named Monsieur Bartlett the Rays’ season MVP, well ahead of Evan Longoria and Carlos Pena.
Somebody even hoped it was an April Fools Joke (funny is following along in the comments on that link as the author arrogantly dismisses anybody that disagrees with his assertion that Bartlett is not in the top 10 MVPs for the Rays).
An argument can be made that other players are more deserving, but to completely discount the notion of Bartlett as MVP as a “joke” is indicative of somebody that is just not paying attention.
The single biggest reason the Rays have improved by 27 games in the win column (so far) is the ability of the team to prevent runs. In 2007, the Rays pitching staff allowed 944 runs. This season the Rays are on pace to give up 663 runs, a 281 run improvement.
While each pitcher contributed to the improvement, Bartlett contributed to the improvement of every pitcher. He was also the keystone to the improvement of the entire defense. Just as Troy Percival improved the entire bullpen by slotting the rest of the relievers into positions more suited for their talents, Bartlett solidified a defense that cost the Rays games in 2007. And Bartlett’s value is magnified having replaced a group that cost the Rays more runs than they prevented.
Evan Longoria and Carlos Pena have better offensive numbers and both play excellent defense. But, the Rays made it clear that if the team was to improve, they needed to be stronger up the middle. And that is what Bartlett brings to the team. Defense begins with the shortstop, catcher and center fielder. If those are weak, the entire defense is weak.
Bartlett would not have been our first choice for MVP. We would have voted for Dioner Navarro (the catcher in us may be biased), and Longoria, Pena and Upton deserve consideration. But Bartlett would be in our top 5 and we have no problem with anybody else that would do the same.
MVP voting is subjective. This is why the awards are voted on. Even with a clear #1, people will disagree. Just don’t you dare disagree with this guy.
Tampa Bay BBWAA awards [Rays Report]
It’s OK [Fire Joe Morgan]
This man is the MVP of your Tampa Bay Rays…Name him [Big League Stew]
The Rays averaged 28,852 fans (80.0% capacity) for their 10 September home dates, including two sellouts in their final two home games of the season. And yet, as recently as four days ago, Mitch Stacy of the Associated Press, wrote a story that was carried in many papers across the country titled, “Question for 1st-place Rays: Where are the fans?”.
But the team is still playing to small crowds at Tropicana Field, a situation that’s starting to give fans a bit of national black eye. The lack of buzz has some commentators questioning whether the Tampa Bay area even deserves to have the team.
These stories continue to be written as if the Rays and their fans are a blight on baseball. The implication is that any other team in a pennant race would be selling out every game, with fans spilling into the aisles.
One of our good friends, a die hard New York Mets fan, alerted us that this is not the case.
The above picture was taken at Shea Stadium on September 14. It was a Sunday afternoon game against the Atlanta Braves. At the time of the game, the Mets had a 1 game lead in the NL East.
The attendance for the game was announced as 56,041, about 300 short of capacity. Take a closer look at the image (a larger version can be found HERE. An even larger version can be found HERE). It is easy to spot the empty seats. In the lower deck they are orange, in the middle deck they are blue and the upper deck they are green. Also note that this photo was taken during the 3rd inning (see scoreboard) with the score tied 1-1.
So where is the criticism of the Mets and their fans? A Sunday afternoon, on a beautiful day, in the middle of a late-season pennant race against the team’s biggest rival, in the biggest baseball town in the country…and it looks like they don’t have anymore than 35,000 in the stands (~70% capacity).
Our friend assures us that the above picture is typical of a Mets crowd for the last few weeks, and yet the Mets continue to announce crowd sizes of 50,000+.
And what about Baltimore? Last night the announced crowd was 12,489. That is at least twice the actual crowd. We wondered aloud if this was the first road game in Rays history with more Rays fans than home fans. A “Tampa…Bay” chant could even be heard on the TV broadcast. Yes, the O’s are 26 games back, but supposedly this is one of the great baseball towns in this country and they have one of the icon stadiums in the sport. And yet, two of the knocks against the Rays are that Tropicana Field is terrible and Bay Area fans care more about football.
Why is there no criticism of other teams like the Mets and Orioles? Because those teams bloat their attendance figures and their fans are fair-weather.
At times the Rays attendance has been disappointing, but our stance is that nobody should expect sellouts to occur overnight. At the beginning of the season, when fans make season-ticket purchases and corporations enter partnerships with the team, many still believed this was a losing franchise. All fans need something to root for. Now that the Bay Area has a team worth rooting for, the crowds will grow. And once they do, they will be loyal.
In the mean time, the only way the Rays and their fans will avoid criticism is to take a cue from the Mets and just lie.
Question for 1st-place Rays: Where are the fans? [Associated Press]
Last week’s Rays Confidence Graph results.
Below you will see two polls that ask about your confidence in the Tampa Bay Rays. Please take a moment to answer each question. We will present these same polls every Monday. The results will be presented in graphical form on Wednesday, and will be displayed permanently in the sidebar. The goal of the Confidence Graph is to get a feeling of how Rays fans feel about the team and the franchise and track how that level of confidence changes through time. Thanks!
**WHEN ANSWERING THE POLL ON CONFIDENCE IN THE 2008 RAYS, WE WANT TO KNOW HOW MUCH CONFIDENCE YOU HAVE IN NOT JUST WHERE THE TEAM IS HEADED, BUT HOW THE TEAM IS PLAYING RIGHT NOW**
Raysiverse events of the past week that could impact confidence levels…
It is time for one of our favorite annual features, the Anti-Pennant Race, the race for the worst record in baseball. The reward for the “winner” is the first pick in next year’s amateur draft. This year is extra special as this marks the first time the Tampa Bay Rays are not in contention to win. In fact, last season the Rays became the first team to ever be awarded with the top pick in consecutive seasons (until recently, the top pick alternated between leagues), winning the Anti-Pennant in 2006 and 2007.
The first year this feature ran (2006), the top pick was not a sure thing, but David Price was the clear favorite. Last year, without an obvious favorite for the 2008 draft, we decided to name this feature after the inaugural namesake.
Without further ado, we present the 3rd Annual David Price Sweepstakes and the race for the top pick in the 2008 draft!
Notes on the Anti-Pennant Race…
THE GOOD: David Price. Right from the start, Price set out to establish his fastball and succeeded. An easy 10 pitch first inning was all fastballs, and 41 of his first 43 pitches were fastballs. He did not give up a hit until the 5th inning and of the 4 hits given up in 5.1 innings, 3 were ground ball singles through the infield…Another bases loaded walk. The Rays continue to show an incredible ability to remain patient with the bases loaded…The Bullpen. Three relievers combined to limit the O’s to 2 hits and no walks in 3.2 innings, striking out 6.
THE BAD: The offense. The bats came out sluggish, being held hitless until Aki Iwamura’s bases loaded single in the 5th. This was against a journeyman minor leaguer that was making just his 3rd major league start. A pitcher that was just acquired earlier this month for a player to be named later that may or may not be a duck. In all, the offense managed only 3 hits and struck out 10 times. The offense was lucky that the O’s pitchers struggled with their control, walking 8 batters.
THE TELLING: According to Baseball Prospectus, the odds of winning the division are now 88.8%.
DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA…
