Red hat role reversal

I'm still blaming the red hats. For the third consecutive night, the Texas Rangers played like the Rays and the Rays played like the Rangers.  The Rangers had good pitching, solid defense, and timely hitting.  The Rays had shaky pitching, spotty defense, and absolutely no hitting.   They didn't look like a team who had just had 4 players selected to the AL All Star team. In fact, Robin (Pixie1212) on twitter remarked on the difference between the two teamslast night: 

Given national stage, #Rangers using AllStar snubs as motivation, while #Rays missing opportunity to justify why so many were chosen.

This slump is eerily remincint of the Rays slump going into last year's all-star break. Fortunately, this year, the Rays got six home games to right their ship in the race to the All-Star break.  They can't let the Blue Jays, who are also slumping, back in to it.

Here are some things I noticed in the Rangers 5-2 victory:

• Rays shaky starting pitching.  I've got to give a little credit to Matt Garza for not getting pounded like David Price did the night before, however he had an increasingly annoying habit last night of giving up lead-off hits to the Rangers.  In each of the 1st four innings, the lead-off batter got on and in each case they scored.  That accounted for 4 of the Rangers 5 runs. 
  

• Rays spotty defense.  The Rays have had a serious drop-off on their defense this year.  I think defense is one area that you can look at and say a team is not as hungry.  Last year, the Rays were lights out on defense when they were trying to prove to everyone that they were for real. This year, they don't have as much to prove, so the defense is slacking off a little.  In games when they're knocking the cover off the ball it doesn't show up as much.  But, when the offense is getting hits, the bad defense is that much more glaring.  It was so glaring last night that it looked like the Rays and Rangers had switched teams.
  

• Dead offense.  When I pronounce the offense dead, I really mean they're dead.  The Rays only got 3 hits last night and all of them were rather weak.  No shots to the gaps, no homers, no nothing.  It's not like they were hitting against the creme of the crop when it comes to AL pitchers. On Thursday, they face Roy Halladay again... now, that's a pitcher.
  

• Dead offense, Part 2. If you want to look for a cause for the recent offensive woes, look no further than the number 3 and number 4 holes in the batting order.  Evan Longoria was 1 for 18 on the road trip. He did have a sacrifice fly last night for an RBI, but he's really been cold since his hamstring injury.  Last time he hit a homer? June 17th versus the Colorado Rockies.  The clean-up hitter, Carlos Pena, was 2 for 20 on the road trip. But, as we've seen before Pena's struggles can be directly attributed to Longo's struggle.  If pitchers aren't afraid of Longo, Pena sees a lot less hittable pitches.
  

• Foreshadowing? Last Sunday, after the Rays finished off the Marlins, Jason Bartlett said in the post-game interview "a lot of guys are tired, but we're battling."  I made a mental note of that because I hadn't seen it show up on the field.  Following the Marlins series, the Rays went out and pounded the Blue Jays two straight, so it didn't seem to be an issue.  But, looking back, I wonder if it finally caught up to them in Arlington.  They definitely played like a team that was tired and listless this weekend.  The bad thing about having four players on the All-Star team is that they won't get as much rest.  However, I don't think Maddon's going to overwork his guys.
  

• Last word on the red hats.  I hate the red hats. I hope the Rays never wear them again. They look horrible and it's a travesty that MLB would make teams with no red in the color scheme wear those things.  One thing I would like to point out to MLB, they didn't do a good job marketing the hats. When the Rays took the field on ESPN last night, this blog got slammed by people who had searched in google "Rays red hats." Obviously, the rest of the country was confused on why a team with blue in their colors would wear red hats.  My guess is these were the casual fans MLB is trying to get money from.  Red Hat fail!
  

Getting killed in Texas

For some reason this weekend, the Rays are playing like a minor league team and the Texas Rangers are playing like world champions.  The Rays can't hit.  They can't pitch.  Their defense is suspect. After coming off a great seven game win streak, they've lost three in a row... to rookie pitchers.  The best they can do after tonight is .500 for this road trip.  I really wanted to see them pick up a game.  Let's see if this team can pick it up tonight.

Here are some things I noticed in the Rays 12-4 loss to the Rangers.

• David Price's worst outing.  Not a good night for King David in Texas.  He got roughed up pretty good and trouble with his fastball command.  It's not what we wanted to see at this juncture, but Maddon's preaching patience.  We'll see.

• Tough Texas.  I must admit Texas looks like a really good team.  I'm not sure if it's a product of their ballpark or they're just hot and the Rays are cold.  Either way, they've been getting some good bounces and really taking advantage of the Rays mistakes. I'm looking forward to seeing them at the Trop in August.

• Get rid of those red hats-- forever!  The Rays are 0-3 wearing the red hats this year. Those things need to be burned.  I'm not sure too many Rays fans are going to buy those abominations, so MLB wouldn't lose any money if they let the Rays put them away tonight. Please, no more red hats!
  

• Joe Dillionaire, secret weapon.  Our buddy Joe got his first at-bat in 10 games last night.  Maddon let him pinch hit in the ninth. He struck out.  Maybe he needs to be in the mix a little more, Joe.
  

Curse of the red hats strikes again

No more red hats! That's my rally call this morning. For the second time this year, the Rays have looked horrible both figuratively and literally wearing red hats.  Last night, the Rays wasted a good performance from Scott Kazmir and went completely quiet at the plate.  Maybe they were confused on which team they were playing for, I'm not sure.  All I can say is that the red hats are awful on a team with absolutely no red in their color scheme. Last years special cap with the red, white, and blue in the "TB" logo was fine.  But, I guess each year the MLB marketing department has to come up with something new to sell.  Two more days!

Oh yeah, happy Independence Day!

Here are some things I noticed in the Rays 3-1 loss to the Texas Rangers:

• Scott Kazmir looking real good. The Rays are really going to need a strong and healthy Kazmir to truly make a run again this year. He's the difference maker in the starting rotation. Last night, he had only one big mistake- hanging a slider to Hank Blalock.  His 2 run homer was the difference.  But, if the Rays get that kind of performance out of Kaz the rest of the year, they'll win more than they'll lose.
  

• Bullpen strength.  Another sign of things to come is the way the bullpen has been playing.  4 innings - no runs.  They're playing like a group possessed. I can't pinpoint the exact point this squad turned the corner, but for whatever reason these guys are on fire.  Another example of a performance that the Rays will win more often than not.
  

• 2 errors = 2 runs.  The biggest difference between the Rays and the Rangers last night were two errors from the middle infield.  Jason Bartlett threw one past Carlos Pena that gave the Rangers a base runner for Blalock to knock in.  The other error came later in the game when Ben Zobrist over threw 1st on a double play ball. That turned into the Rangers 3rd insurance run.  Never underestimate the power of defense.
  

• Rangers defense.  Carl Crawford had runners on 2nd and 3rd with 2 outs in the 5th inning.  He ripped a liner that Ian Kinsler robbed on a diving catch.  That ball gets through.. it's a whole other ball game.