Its been dark lately for the Rays, after coming off an impressive road trip, the Rays ran into a buzz saw at the Trop this week, getting swept by the resurgent Red Sox and saw their lead over the Yankees dwindle to only 3 1/2 games in the AL East. The offense struggled while the starting pitching was shelled, watch Adrian Beltre hit a home run on his knee!
So what is wrong with the Rays? First off, the Red Sox are hot right now, players are coming off injuries and they have turned it around, it is not the same Sox squad that got swept at Fenway earlier this year. But, that is no excuse for the Rays who were the top offense and the top pitching staff in the league coming into the series. The Rays pitching staff has been beaten up and when they are pitching well, such as James Shields only giving up two runs, the offense fails to back them up, the Rays had 1 hit in Shield's start.
So what is the answer? The roster needs a shakeup and those players who are not performing need to either be traded to find a place on the bench. The first player is BJ Upton. Yes, we said it, BJ UPTON!! Ever since 2006, when Upton hit over .300 and had power to all fields, he has not been the same player. He is struggling, barely hitting over .200 right now, no power and only a handful of stolen bases, finding his way to the 6th spot in the batting order. Upton is a fan favorite, a fast and skilled outfielder, and has tremendous talent but he continues to fail. The Rays have a young outfielder, Desmond Jennings, the 23 year old growing star in AAA Durham that is hitting over .300 his season. Jennings has been labeled the heir to Crawford if he leaves in the off season and should be called up now!
We will have another segment about the next few Rays that need to pack there bags, not to give it all away, but some names are Pena, Navarro, Kapler, Cormier, just to name a few!
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