How low can it go, Joe? Rays look hopeless

Tampa Bay Rays manager Joe Maddon might be the most relentlessly upbeat person any of us could ever meet, but, swear to goodness, I'm not sure even he can put a positive spin on what's happening right now with his team. At least he can't do it with a straight face.

Their 8-3 loss Wednesday night to Minnesota was borderline unwatchable. It was what former Rays manager Lou Piniella might have called bad, bad, bad baseball. The Rays didn't pitch, didn't hit, didn't catch, and didn't seem to have a clue. This team has lost its way, and if the scoreboard didn't tell you that, the look on Scott Kazmir's face in that wretched game surely did.

He looked frustrated. He looked hopeless. He looked lost.

The whole team did. Well, except for Ben Zobrist.

At what point, exactly, does the switch flip?

At what point, exactly, do the Rays start to play the kind of baseball that shocked the world a year ago? They're shocking the world now, but in a way that seemed unimaginable entering this season. At 8-14, they remain in last place in the American League East they won just last summer.

My goodness, what happened to the team that played so soundly last season? I understand that hitting can come and go, which can explain the offensive malaise, but the Rays had amateurish defensive lapses against the Twins, and it wasn't the first time this season something like that happened. Defense is supposed to be something that can be counted upon night after night, but these guys looked like the Devil Rays of yore.

Red Sox coming to town

The loss to the Twins concluded a 3-6 road trip that brings them back to Tropicana Field tonight against Boston for a four-game series that suddenly is way bigger than a series this early in the season ought to be.

Wasn't it just nine games ago, after the abysmal showing during "Championship Week" to open the home portion of the season, that we were happy to see the Rays leave town? We figured it would help them get away from all the reminders of 2008 and let them focus on the task at hand.

But then they lost two of three in each stop on the trip: Seattle, Oakland, and Minnesota. They opened both the Oakland and Minnesota series with big wins, only to lose the next two. They lost the series final in Seattle, 1-0.

They kicked away Tuesday's game against the Twins with some terrible ninth-inning pitching and defense.

At a certain point, they're not a good team playing badly. They're just another bad team.

We're not there yet.

To look at the calendar and take any comfort, though, is a mistake. The 2008 team never seemed to believe it was out of a game, but lately this bunch is playing like it is never actually in a game. That's how you lose six consecutive series, which the Rays have done.

Fixing on the fly

That brings us back to Joe Maddon.

He was a steady hand through two years of building, through 197 losses, with his vision that something grand was happening. We all saw what happened last year, and Maddon deserved immense credit.

I'm not laying the whole blame for this season at his feet because I do believe he has earned a lot of street cred and has earned the right to ask for a little patience. I am saying, though, that this represents his greatest test of leadership to date.

Nobody expected a thing from the Rays during his first two seasons, and with losing just accepted as a way of life it was easy to accept the beatings as just a necessary part of building a winner. That's not the case anymore. This was supposed to be a good team, and it simply is not. Not right now.

The fundamental things Maddon values most aren't happening on the field, and it'll have to be fixed on the fly. Nine of their next 11 games are against the Red Sox and Yankees, and if the Rays keep this up they could be in a seriously deep hole by Mother's Day.

I won't say they aren't capable of turning this around.

I will say they are playing dispirited baseball. I will say they are playing bad baseball.

Bad, bad, bad baseball.