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The Hot Corner: Memo To Rays Fans…Take A Breather

The Hot Corner

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By Eric Horchy | The Suncoast News

Published: May 29, 2009

Ahh, the era of sports in which we currently live. Patience seems to be a virtue possessed by few when it comes to just about anything sport.

Some (but not all) Tampa Bay Rays fans can now be added to the ever-growing list of instant gratification-seeking ranters and ravers expecting .600 winning percentages, pennants and rings on an annual basis.

The area that wallowed through the muck of Major League Baseball's cellar for 10 long, sometimes pitiful years is fully expecting hardball bliss day in and day out.

I guess a World Series trip that quite literally surprised everybody and surpassed all expectations will do that to a collective ego.

As this is being typed, the Rays are now 23-25 and 5.0 games out of first place in what is most likely the big league's toughest division. It's the end of May. Games left: 114.

Guys who were once lauded and swooned over just a handful of months ago are now being led toward the guillotine. Dioner Navarro, B.J. Upton, Joe Maddon, watch out. The torches are being soaked in gasoline.

At least for Maddon, one of the men who helped revamp the culture of futility surrounding this organization, he has just completed a new 3-year deal. He's also fortunate his higher-ups aren't rapid fans with severe attention deficit disorders and short tempers.

Not that sports talk radio is a bastion for levelheadedness, sensibility or any related synonyms to said aforementioned traits, but if someone was to suddenly awake from a coma and flip the dial to AM, they would probably assume Tampa is utterly hapless in every aspect of the game.

Why is it that the Rays are "floundering" instead of flourishing?

Well let's look at flavors of the moment thus far.

What's wrong with Navarro and how can this 2008 All Star not be hitting?

The 25-year old is beginning only his third season as a fulltime starter. He's a career .259 hitter who currently stands at .223. Perhaps the most pressing issue with Navarro is how he is seeing the ball at the plate. He has only walked three times and has struck out on 21 instances in 136 at bats, partially explaining an on-base percentage nearly 100 points lower than during last season's breakout performance. The young, stocky backstop is still coming into his own and expecting nothing short of .300 averages year after year is premature.

Something needs to be done about B.J. Upton.

Upton, 24 years old and also in his third year as a regular, seems to be going through growing pains as well. A sub-.200 batting average is assuredly low for any leadoff man and a drop in the order may be coming. But considering Upton did not play in the preseason, more patience than usual is in order. Everyone has seen the potential in his bat and in his legs, and the top of the order is where Upton belongs.

Also, the fact that a move to knock the centerfielder down a few slots hasn't been consistently made harkens to gripes shot toward the dugout. Maddon's overall cool, calm demeanor and penchant for loyalty that was admirable last year is suddenly despicable and naïve.

It's hard to have things both ways.

What happened to the pitching?

This is the million-dollar question. Rays relief pitching has left much to be desired and should be the No. 1 major concern as the season moves along. Aside from Matt Garza and James Shields (kind of), starters haven't exactly been lockdown, either. What I don't exactly understand is the shocking reaction.

Why was there so much comfort with having names like Grant Balfour, Joe Nelson, Dan Wheeler and J.P. Howell manning the pen?

It's like there was this assumption that one collective, successful campaign anoints this staff as a bona fide group of arms. In fact, the same can be said about many names on this team; on the mound and in the field.

Last year's joy ride to the Fall Classic happened courtesy of multiple breakout seasons from guys all over the roster. Any perception that everyone would equal or better those 2008 numbers is just, well, pathetic.

Ballplayers rise to prominence only to see past success devolve into mediocrity all the time, from clubhouse to clubhouse.

I'm certainly not saying it's best to be eternally pessimistic about any newfound talent or good seasons, but tip down the rose-colored glasses from time to time.

Patience, my friends, is a virtue. A third of any season is no adequate time frame to judge a player's overall worth. Especially with youngsters.

Oh yeah, and back to the overall dire straits the Rays find themselves mired in. By focusing on negatives, all the things going on that could be looked to for optimism can get overshadowed.

The Rays offense – despite all the grumbling about Upton or Navarro – has scored more runs (274) than any other team in all of baseball. Its plus-36 scoring ratio is third best and trails just the Los Angeles Dodgers and Detroit, both first-place squads. Tampa's team OPS (on-base plus slugging) is .811. That's good enough for fourth overall.

All are numbers that are hard to believe around here sometimes. Not too shabby for a downtrodden team in an uncontrollable tailspin.

Eric Horchy can be reached at 727-815-1071 or ehorchy@suncoastnews.com.

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