Ray of Light

There's a reason we just got swept by the Tampa Bay Rays. Sure a big part of it is that we didn't hit, but that's not the only reason. The other part is that the Rays are good. Okay, they're not that good, but these are not your big brothers Devil Rays, the Devil Rays not having been around long enough to have been your fathers Devil Rays. In fact, they're not even the Devil Rays anymore, they're just the Rays now, and from the new insignia on their uniforms it would seem that the word "Rays" has a new meaning as well, no longer referring to the fish, but now seeming to refer to a ray of light from the sun.

The Rays have been slowly moving in the right direction over the last few years while stocking the team and farm system with good young talent from the draft, from a few key signings (Carlos Pena comes to mind immediately) and from a couple of trades, including the swindling of the Mets for Scott Kazmir.

Carl Crawford, Carlos Pena and Akinori Iwamura are signed until 2010, including club options, B.J. Upton is under their control until 2012, and up and coming rookie phenom Evan Longoria just signed a 6-year contract that agents are estimating will save the Rays at least 40 million dollars over the life of the contract.

On the pitching side, they still have Kazmir under control until 2010, James Shields, one of baseballs best kept secrets is under control until 2012, and Matt Garza, the key piece in the Delmon Young deal, until 2013. There are some good arms such as Edwin Jackson, if he can ever put it all together, Andy Sonnanstine, and Jason Hammel to help out for now, and down in the minors they have some of the most highly touted pitching prospects such as David Price, Wade Davis and Jacob McGee.

Don't look now but this team is on the rise. They are no longer the whipping boys of the AL East. I'm not saying that they are going to win a World Series any time soon, but they are taking steps in the right direction. They should definitely be better than the Orioles this year and when it's all said and done, they should have a better record than a few other teams as well, at least the Royals and maybe the Rangers. It's even possible that they just might have their first winning season in team history, although it's more likely that they'll get close to .500 and have the best record in their team history.

Of course, they're still second to last in team payroll at under 44 million, and they're still struggling to find a fan base; which is understandable when you consider how many people down there are transplants from other parts of the country, most notably the northeast, where baseball is practically a religion and many of the fans are zealots, but the natives should begin to see their team gain respectability in the near future.

We should still be able to beat this team, but I think the days of assuming the win are over and the Rays are now a team to be reckoned with.

Having said all of that, it was a tough week in Red Sox Nation and hopefully the day off to get everyone healthy and get the bats and bullpen going will be just what we need.