There is no simple fix for Rays

There is a shred of good news in the travails of the Tampa Bay Rays, assuming you want to look hard enough. I fully understand if you don't.

We're closing in on June, though, and the Rays aren't buried in last place, a dozen games or more out of first. Given the way they have sputtered, stalled, coughed and gasped through the first two months of this season, that's a blessing. You might even argue it's a miracle that they don't need the Hubble telescope to see the top of the standings.

In gratitude, they should prepare a sacrifice to the baseball gods (and the Baltimore Orioles). I suggest Jason Isringhausen.

Things can turn quickly now, can't they? The Rays had won three in a row to move over .500 and to within 3 1/2 games of first heading into Sunday, but not much right has happened since.

They lost second baseman Akinori Iwamura for the season and shortstop Jason Bartlett has joined an expanding cast on the disabled list while his sprained ankle mends. They lost an 11-inning game Sunday against the Marlins that they should have won about a half-dozen times, and all that was prelude to one of the biggest gag jobs in club history.

I refer, of course, to the 11-10 loss Monday at Cleveland - a game the Rays led 10-2 in the eighth. We can say nothing more condemning than that.

Spectacular as the disaster at Cleveland was, it was only one loss. Take your blessings where you find them. They ought to be docked two more games in the standings just on general principle for blowing a lead like that.

Solving this problem isn't as simple as screaming "FRIEDMAN!" - although people who stuck around long enough were probably shouting that at their TVs by the end of Monday's game.

I'm sure other clubs will be delighted to talk with Rays executive vice president Andrew Friedman about trades for the kind of relievers that could stabilize this mess. I can hear the conversation now.

"Why sure, Andrew ... just ship us Wade Davis and throw in Tim Beckham. Then we'll talk."

There is no simple fix. There may not be a fix at all, beyond getting some consistency from a unit that was the backbone of last year's championship run.

That's the most unnerving thing about this season. We saw what a good bullpen can do last year, and we already know just how much damage a bad one can inflict.

When manager Joe Maddon looked at his options Monday, he saw Isringhausen. He saw Dale Thayer. He saw Randy Choate. J.P. Howell and Dan Wheeler were unavailable, and Grant Balfour was ineffective.

Even that group should have been able to hold a 10-2 lead in the eighth inning.

It almost reminded me of the nightly dice roll Maddon made two years ago when his bullpen had a 6.16 ERA. When he looked down there, he saw guys like Shawn Camp, Ruddy Lugo, Gary Glover and Scott Dohmann staring back. Monday's meltdown came nearly two years to the day that the bullpen couldn't hold a five-run lead in the ninth at Toronto and lost 12-11.

That was epic.

This group isn't nearly that bad.

But this group also isn't pitching nearly well enough to keep the Rays in contention, and the starters aren't pitching consistently enough to keep pressure off the relievers. Making it worse, the defense isn't playing as well as it did last year - a throwing error by Reid Brignac was huge in the ninth inning Monday. A lot of dominoes are tumbling that stood upright a year ago.

Iwamura is gone for the season. Brian Shouse and Scott Kazmir are on the disabled list, and Troy Percival has gone home. And we remember what happened last year when Bartlett was hurt and Maddon turned to shortstop-by-committee. It wasn't pretty.

Maddon loves to talk about the focus and character of his team, and the Rays have never needed those traits more than now. They also need some reliable relief work, consistent starting pitching, and better defense to keep first place in sight. I think this team is capable of all those things, but you'd better keep the Hubble close by.

Just in case.