Rays Round-up: Monster is here!

The Monster is here.  The Rays are coming off of a horrible road trip to battle what could be considered one of the toughest parts of their schedule. Over the next two weeks, it's all divisional battles with 7 games against the Red Sox, a couple against the Yankees, and 4 against Baltimore. This could be the make or break stretch run for the 2009 Rays.  If they're going to shake off the funk, they're going to have to do it starting tonight.

The optimist in me says a good series against the Red Sox will erase the bad memories of this road trip.  Just remember, the Boston Red Sox know the Rays are struggling.  They're going to do their best to put them away, right now.  On the other hand, maybe the Rays just need some home love to get them going.  I guess the real question is:  Did the Rays play above their talent last year or are they playing below their talent this year?

Here's a look at the morning round-up.  As always, my comments are in italics.

According to the Heater, Bartlett doesn't see any fire in the team.  It's hard to argue with that. This team just feels different than last year's squad.  The guys aren't picking each other up like they did last year.

In case you're wondering what the 1st place team in the AL East is doing.  They have career minor-leaguers hitting game winning homers for them.  When you're on a roll,  things go your way.  Reading that article brought back memories of last year's games.

Sluggish. Listless. Lathargic. Three words the Minneapolis Star tribune used to describe the defending AL Champions.  There's no doubt about that.