Friday, July 24, 2009

Tampa Bay Trauma

Let me start this off by congradulating Mark Buehrle of the Chicago White Sox on the perfect game he pitched against the Rays yesterday. Tampa Bay's hitters had no answer for the crafty left hander.
It seems that the Rays are running out of answers to a lot of questions. For example, what has happened to their starting pitching. A unit that last year was among the best and now is barely keeping their collective heads above water.
Speaking of water, the old debate on which side of the bay a new stadium for the Rays should be built has flared up again. The only thing that everyone seems to agree on is that the stadium must be built. It's a tired old argument and I won't bore you with the details, suffice it to say that this might get ugly.
In the meantime Tampa Bay continues to search for some relief for their pitching problems. Roy Halladay's name has surfaced as a possible solution to the staffs lack of consistency. Halladay has a home in the area and is rumored to have expressed an interest in playing for the Rays. The major obstacle for this kind of move is of course money. The Rays don't have any.
That's where Scott Kazmir comes into the picture. Tampa Bay is looking to deal the left hander in order to free up some cash. Kazmir is a good pitcher, but he has lost some velocity after an injury last year. Odds are the Rays will have to part with a prospect or two to make any real splash deal work.
Tampa Bay needs to balance the fact that they are still very much alive in the race for the wild card spot and realizing that they need help to compete for the big prize.

2 comments:

  1. He can thank his center fielder on taking away a homerun with the catch/rob of the year for his perfect game.lol.

    Starting pitching has hurt alot of teams this year for some reason or another. Tampa Bay at least are getting some runs across the plate to keep them above water. Hope they get it soon or it might be too late.

    Cheers2You

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hey Jamie, good to hear from you. The fact that the Rays are scoring more runs than last year makes their position in the standings even harder to understand. Pitching and defense is the key for Tampa Bay. If they can get back to playing like they did last year they can make the playoffs.

    Thanks for the visit old freind and cheers!

    ReplyDelete