My Two Cents: 100 Games In, Rays Still Confident Bunch

TAMPA, Fla. — Milestones are usually meant to mean something, but in the daily grind that is baseball, it doesn't always apply.

The Tampa Bay Rays played their 100th game on Sunday, and that didn't really mean anything to manager Kevin Cash. When he was asked if he felt like the season was going too fast or too slow, all he had to say was ''it feels like Game 100.''

The Rays lost Sunday, falling 5-3 to the Baltimore Orioles, unable to finish off the sweep. Still, it was a series victory out of the break, and the Rays will take it. They're 52-48, and on pace to win 84 games. Sounds about right? Well, the over/under in March was 83.5, so they're playing like most everyone thought they would.

But here's the rub. The Rays are better than that, and they know it. And they want you to know it, too.

They started the season 21-26 and didn't hit much at all. Then they had a 25-9 run and looked like the best team in baseball. And that wasn't a mirage. They were legitimately good.

But they stumbled into the break and went 2-8 on that last 10-game road trip. They were a half-game out of first place, but then the Toronto Blue Jays went 13-3 while the Rays were scuffling. They are 6.5 games back in the American League East race, and 1.5 back in the wild-card.

With 62 games left, I still feel like this is a playoff team. And they do, too. They showed that the first two nights, thumping Baltimore 11-1 on Friday and then staging a small-ball comeback to win 4-3 Saturday.

Sunday was a loss, and it happens. The Orioles might be in last place, but that's a lineup that can still rake. They only lost a ton early because their pitching stunk, but Trevor Rogers is back from injury and has been great, winning on Sunday. Dean Kremer has the Rays' number and was terrific Saturday before the Rays rallied late off the Baltimore bullpen.

So winning a series, it's still a good thing.

"They were aggressive, very aggressive. They came out swinging,'' Rays starter Ryan Pepiot said. "Every time I threw a fastball up, they were swinging at it. I've faced them three times in the month. They know me.

"It's a series win, and when you do that, at the end of the season, you're going to be in good shape. Baltimore is better than their record shows. Their lineup is very good, an they're going to score. But we got two out of three and now the White Sox come to town. We need to keep it up.''

Pepiot gave up five runs, the second-most he's allowed all season. It started bad, when leadoff hitter Jackson Holliday hit a ''Steinbrenner Field'' home run to right center that barely cleared the wall. It would have been a homer in only two of 30 MLB parks, here and Yankee Stadium.

Rays shortstop Taylor Walls didn't want to take anything away from Holliday because the Rays have hit their share of short-porch homers in Tampa, too. Still, it would have been nice to start the game with a flyout as opposed to a 1-0 hole.

But that's baseball.

"Yeah, at this point, especially with where we're at in the season, it's all about reeling off as many wins as possible,'' Walls said. "We want to score runs early and let our pitching do its thing.

"Take Holliday's ball, like 95 off the bat, it probably doesn't go out anywhere but here. That's just the name of the game. I thought (Pepiot's) stuff was pretty electric and he was throwing the ball in the zone. That's a hill you're willing to die on. He's going to give us good innings.''

The Rays altered their rotation a touch out of the break to give Shane Baz and All-Star Drew Rasmussen a little extra time. They'll pitch Monday and Tuesday, and when they do, all five Rays starters will have at least 20 starts. No one in baseball can claim that ironman load.

And the Rays' five starters — Rasmussen, Baz, Pepiot and Taj Bradley and Zack Littell — are good enough to lead the Rays on another 25-9 stretch. They're scoring runs most nights, and there's been one encouraging view coming out of the break — that the Rays have a few more arms in the bullpen now that can get outs.

They were a mess before the break, watching their bullpen ERA go from a league-best 3.05 to 3.96 in a three-week window. But the pen has allowed only two earned runs in nine innings out of the break, and one was by Kevin Kelly on Friday when it was 11-0 in the ninth. Pete Fairbanks gave up a run Saturday, but still got the save.

What's going to make a huge difference down the stretch is that Joe Boyle and Ian Seymour — the two most dominant pitchers in Triple-A this season — now seem locked into the big club the rest of the way, and they will be effective out of the bullpen.

Seymour pitched two scoreless innings Sunday and now has six innings under his belt without allowing an earned run. Boyle has pitched 16 innings over four games and has a 1.13 ERA and a wicked 0.69 WHIP. That's best in baseball if he had more innings to qualify.

Those two are going to make a big difference in the final 62.

And then there's the curious case of Shane McClanahan, the best pitcher in the Rays' organization who's missed nearly two years now after Tommy John surgery.

He'll be back soon, too. He's pitched twice in rehab assignments, and he's throwing a bullpen session in Tampa on Monday. If all goes well, he'll pitch again at Triple-A Durham on Thursday against Jacksonville.

At some point, probably in August, he'll be getting batters out at the big-league level too. It's a good problem to have, too much pitching.

The Rays can do this, and like Walls said, they just need to keeping piling up wins. The Chicago White Sox have the worst record in the American League, but they just swept the Pittsburgh Pirates — their first road sweep of the year — and outscored them 27-7.

And let's not forget that when they were losing an MLB-record 121 games last year that they still beat the Rays four times. So we take nothing for granted, but getting three wins at home would be huge.

We all know what awaits. After the White Sox series, the Rays play 19 of their next 22 games on the road. No MLB team has that kind of stretch on their schedule this season. They'll have to survive on the road, somehow and some way.

The Rays are 22-22 on the road this year, and that included the 2-8 dumper to close the first half. When they were 20-14, they had the best road record in baseball. It's hard to win on the road — only six MLB teams have a winning record away from home — but the Rays have proven they can do it, even against good teams.

They swept the Padres in San Diego, swept the Mets in New York, swept the Royals in Kansas City. They've taken two of three on the road against the Yankees and Blue Jays.

So, yes, it can be done. And with 10 days to go before the trade deadline, they better be buyers of key pieces, and not sellers. Sure, this is a weird year in a rented stadium, but on the field, this team has what it takes to play in October. It's Stu Sternberg's last chance to win a World Series, so they better make every effort to give themselves the best shot possible.

There's another hot streak coming. It can be done.

But will it?

My Two Cents: 100 Games In, Rays Still Confident Bunch — And Rightly So

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