Rays’ confidence drives winning

TAMPA, Fla. – There is not much to shatter the Tampa Bay Rays universe these days. Here’s a team that accumulated the best record in the game since May 20, and appears to function on all cylinders.

Perhaps the most impressive component of the Rays’ make-up, character, and personality is their resilience. Never too high, never too low appears as the team’s mantra, and an increasingly important confidence level is contagious. Since defeating the Astros, 3-2 on May 20, the Rays have streaked to a 22-9 record, best in the majors. Tampa Bay began the season in the basement of the AL East and dropped 14 of their first 23 games.

Since, the turnaround has been powered by timely hitting and a cohesive starting rotation. Consistency has been the run production since that watershed May 20 contest. Consider the bottom third of the Tampa lineup drove in 37 runs in June alone and that, too, leads the majors.

A principle reason for the Rays’ surge is a starting rotation which has not been broken. Of the Rays first 78 games, the five in the reaction which began the season started every game but one. In the rotation of all right-handers, Zack Littell, Taj Bradley, Ryan Pepiot, Drew Rasmussen and Shane Baz have a combined 3.83 ERA. More importantly, the Rays find ways to win with the bat, pitching and aggressive baserunning. Here, they lead the majors in stolen bases (102, Seattle next with 76).

“Let’s go back to that Arizona and San Diego road trip (April 22 to April 27) where we played really well and won five of six,” Littell said after a no-decision June 22 at home against Detroit. “We came out of that with a positive attitude and then had some ups and downs. We lost of two of three in Boston but came right back to sweep the Mets at their place. This team has done a really nice job of flushing the bad games behind and focus on the next one. We’re playing extremely confident baseball right now.”

To complement the rotation, two key offensive personnel sparked this surge.

First, second baseman Brandon Lowe recovered from a challenging start to lead all major league second basemen in home runs and RBIs (15 HRs, 42 RBIs). Coming into the opening of a six-game road trip in Kansas City on June 24, Lowe has an 11-game hitting streak and hitting .344 in that period. Ketel Marte of the Diamondbacks (with 13 homers and 30 RBIs) trails Lowe among second basemen in the two major power categories.

Yet, the offensive catalyst could be considered veteran Yandy Diaz, who will be 34 years-old on Aug. 8, and raised his season batting average close to career norm. In parts of nine seasons, he held a .288 career batting average coming into this season. With a 2-for-5 effort against Detroit on June 22, Diaz’s season average stood at .282.

“I have noticed that even the days we lost, everybody seems happy,” Diaz said through an interpreter prior the June 22 home game with Detroit. “Everyone is out for each other and that’s the main reason why we’re playing so good. I know we have road trips coming up and if we continue to do our part, we’ll be fine.”

On the diamond …despite a 9-3 defeat to Detroit on June 23 at home, the Rays continue raise the bar on their season. They are 7-1-2 in their last 10 series and 12-4-2 in their last 18 series. … In his most effective outing of the season, Zack Littell went five innings through a searing Florida sun and high humidity. Overall, he allowed four hits, one earned run, no walks and fanned five hitters. Equally important, he recorded 16 first-pitch strikes of the 19 hitters faced and told reporters he considered the effort to be his best. “That was the best execution of the season,” Littell said. “I was really good getting ahead of guys, and I just want to execute a little more off the plate.” For the effort, Littell threw 69 pitches, his lowest of the season. Previously, he threw 72 pitches on May 26 against the Twins. … At one point, the Rays tied the game at 1-1 in the fourth with an inning lead-off homer from Junior Caminero. The blast was his 19^th of the season and the 19 round-trippers tied Fred McGriff (1999) for fifth most by a Tampa Bay player in one calendar season before July 1.

The next two months … Because of the frequency of summer rain through central Florida, the Rays’ schedule was top-heavy with home games. Now, the challenge is being road warriors. Tampa Bay has 53 of its remaining 85 games on the road and 16 of its next 20 away from Steinbrenner Field before the All-Star game. Asked about the biggest challenge of playing essentially the next two months on the road, Rays’ pitcher Taj Bradley had a direct answer. “Finding a good place to eat is the biggest challenge of all,” Bradley smiled. “That’s pretty much it. Look, you have to go and make the best of it.”

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