Rays take series, but are they taken seriously?

Normally you don't argue with success. The Rays won six of nine games on the just-completed homestand. They won all three series at Tropicana Field and picked up a game on Texas, one of two teams ahead of the Rays for the American League wild card.

Not bad. Not bad at all.

But even though the Rays did nothing to diminish their status as playoff contenders, Sunday's 4-0 loss to the Rangers left you with a little empty feeling about the whole thing - especially with a seven-game road trip about to commence. They were putty before Rangers starter Scott Feldman, which is going to happen occasionally.

This guy is pretty good.

He ain't Cy freakin' Young, though. The Rays just made him look like it.

They struck out 15 times combined against Feldman and the two relievers who followed him. They were 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position, capping a series in which they were 1-for-25 in that category. Hmmm ... wait a second.

Maybe the magic really is back. Considering that stat alone, there had to be some pixie dust floating around the Trop for the Rays to take two of three against the Rangers. Stats like that usually mean you got swept.

Hey, you try to figure this team out.

"At the end of the day you have to realize it was an excellent homestand," Rays manager Joe Maddon said.

It sure was. So why didn't it feel that way?

Maybe it's because we keep waiting for a statement that has yet to be made.

A win Sunday would have qualified as a loud, reverberating shout-out about the Rays' intentions in the playoff chase. It would have pulled them even with Texas, with Boston dead ahead and plenty of time to make up whatever ground remained between them and the Red Sox.

The more I watch this team, the more I wonder if they really have it in them to play the way they'll need to in the 39 games that remain. They were basically helpless against Feldman, who changed speeds, hit spots and kept the Rays flailing at air all day.

Now, Feldman is 13-4 and is the real deal, so maybe you just tip your cap to a superior pitching performance. That's what Maddon did, calling Feldman's effort "the best-pitched game against us this season." We pondered that point before someone asked, "Better than Buehrle?"

Mark Buehrle pitched a perfect game earlier this year against the Rays.

Maddon shrugged and said Feldman had better stuff, at least on this day.

Ooooook.

So off they go on the aforementioned seven-game road trip. Since the Rays are 25-35 away from the Trop this season, here we go again - fretting, focusing on bad stats, and wondering if there's enough juice in this team for the one big run everyone suspects they'll need to make a return trip to the playoffs.

More than once this season, Maddon has lamented the bad start in April that left the Rays in a hole they haven't been able to dig out of, at least not yet. Since April 30 they are 59-42, the third-best record in the American League. Although they've lost ground to the New York Yankees despite that run, falling out of the race to win the A.L. East, the wild card is still a realistic goal.

I'd say they aren't consistent enough to pull this off, but they've played pretty well for an extended period of time - so maybe they are. I'd say they swing at too many bad pitches and strike out too much, but they're one of the top-scoring teams in baseball. Maybe they're good enough.

I'd say the homestand could have been better, but it certainly wasn't bad. Maybe winning two out of every three will be enough to get them the wild card.
That's the way it is with this team. The Rays are pretty good, but you just don't know what you've really got.