Tuesday, October 24, 2006
The Season in Review- Tampa Bay Devil Rays
Before the season started, the Devil Rays appeared to have a promising lineup with outfielders Jonny Gomes, Rocco Baldelli, and Carl Crawford at the top of the lineup, followed by Jorge Cantu and Aubrey Huff. Crawford was dependable as usual, hitting .305 with 18 home runs (both career highs) and 58 stolen bases, possibly the best hitter in the lineup. Some could say that Baldelli was actually the best hitter in the lineup, despite missing April, May, and part of June with a hamstring injury. After missing the entire 2005 season, in 2006 he hit a career high .302 with 16 home runs, 57 RBI, and 10 stolen bases in 364 at-bats. The rest of the lineup didn’t turn out as expected, however. Jonny Gomes started the season hot as expected, but suddenly lost it because of a shoulder injury and eventually had to undergo season ending surgery. Second Baseman Jorge Cantu started the year well, hitting .291 with 11 RBI through April 23rd, but suffered a broken foot, sidelining him until June 6th. When he came back, he continued where he left off, raising his batting average to .325 and keeping it around .300 for the rest of the month. Once July started, however, he dropped his batting average below .290, and all the way down to .258 by the end of the month. He lowered the average even more in August, down to .243. He was able to finish at .249, thanks to several multi-hit games in September, with 14 home runs and 62 RBI, much less than was expected from him. Aubrey Huff hit .182 with no home runs and only 1 RBI through the first week and a half of the season before spraining his left knee and being placed on the DL until the first week of May. It wasn’t until June 17th that his average rose to .200. By the All-Star break, he had raised his average to a respectable .286, but with only 8 home runs and 28 RBI, not enough to keep him from being traded to the Astros. By the end of the season, Tampa Bay had Greg Norton, Ty Wigginton, and a struggling Jorge Cantu in the middle of their lineup, far from what was expected at the beginning of the season.
While the Rays’ offense was quite a tragedy, their pitching didn’t offer any support. Scott Kazmir was easily the best pitcher on the team with a 10-8 record, 3.24 ERA and 163 strikeouts in 144.2 innings pitched. Unfortunately for Tampa Bay, his season was shortened by two trips to the DL, one at the end of July and, a few starts later, one at the end of August to end his season. After Kazmir in the rotation was rookie right-hander James Shields, who ended up with a 4.84 ERA in 21 starts, veteran Casey Fossum, with a 5.33 ERA in 25 starts, Tim Corcoran, with a 4.38 ERA in 16 starts, and the 5th spot in the rotation, which was occupied by a mix of several different pitchers.
Any lead that the Rays managed to get was in trouble when the game moved to the late innings and the bullpen got a turn. The Tampa Bay relievers combined to blow 22 leads in 55 chances. They didn’t even have a real closer; Tyler Walker was the only reliever to get double-digits in saves, with 10. Rookie Ruddy Lugo didn’t get any save chances, despite leading the bullpen with a 3.81 ERA in 64 appearances.
Although the Rays looked helpless this season with the worst record in baseball, they have hope for the future, with a decent minor league system that includes Delmon Young and B.J. Upton. They will continue to get chances at great draft picks, each one with a possibility of helping turn the team around. They have a great young offense, and if that offense can avoid injuries and perform up to it’s expectations, and Tampa Bay can manage to get a few good pitchers on their roster, their future could be bright.
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