All season long, the Tampa Bay Rays won with balance. Hitting in the clutch, strong team defense, and solid pitching led the team to 97 victories. But, in the Game 1 loss to Philadephia in the World Series, the hitting faltered and all sense of balance was off.

Compiling only five team hits, the Rays lineup was stifled by opposing pitcher Cole Hamels all game long. The meat of the Ray’s order - B.J. Upton, Evan Longoria and Carlos Pena - were held without a hit in 12 at bats.

In attempt to offset the struggles of their teammates, Akinori Iwamura and Carl Crawford gave their best efforts to pick up the slack. Iwamura went 3-for-4, while Crawford added a home run. However, their effots were not enough to carry the team to victory, as the Rays fell into a 1-0 series deficit. Read more »

Tampa Bay Rays outfielder Carl Crawford was placed on the disabled list with an injured tendon in his right hand, the Tampa Tribune reported. Crawford had missed some time with a tender hamstring before suffering the hand injury, so fantasy owners were at least getting used to the idea of moving forward with Crawford on their benches.

But, the worst part of this equation is that Crawford is a question mark to return to the Rays lineup this season, according to the Rays’ official site. Again, a silver lining, if there is one to this cloud, is the fact that Crawford really hadn’t performed that great before suffering the injury. Even at his healthiest, the 27-year old was on pace for his lowest career batting average (.273) and stolen base total (25). Read more »

The Tampa Bay Rays are still the story of the 2008 Major League Baseball season, but their young, raw hitters are having a devil of a time in the week before the All-Star break. During their current losing streak, which reached seven after Sunday’s 5-2 loss in Cleveland and caused them to fall out of first place, the Rays have managed only 13 runs. This comes after a streak in which they won 11 of 12 games, swept the Marlins and Red Sox and scored 82 runs. 

Lengthy droughts are often enigmatic to young, supremely talented hitters like Evan Longoria and B.J. Upton, but probably not to Joe Maddon. The 54-year-old manager of the Rays has not only watched his team win a total of 127 games in the previous two seasons, but also opposing pitchers develop more precise and effective game plans when they started winning. Read more »