Grade the Rays

As the Rays played their 40th game of the season Monday - putting them roughly a quarter of the way through their schedule - there's little question they're better off than much of the first six weeks. The wins are coming more frequently, and even though the Rays still aren't where they expected to be in the standings, they're finally making progress.

The prime factors in that awakening have been improved offensive performance and a more palatable schedule. The Rays were horribly inconsistent at the plate in the early going, exploding for double-digit runs in a given game, then scrambling to piece together just a couple of runs the next several days. A sub-.200 batting average from leadoff man B.J. Upton and catcher Dioner Navarro didn't help matters, but Upton, at least, is getting his swing on track after offseason shoulder surgery, which can only benefit the hitters behind him in the lineup.

At the same time, the Rays have begun to benefit from a shift in their schedule. After playing an inordinate number of games against tough AL East competition throughout April, they're in the midst of a long stretch of games against mostly last-place teams - prime time to make a leap forward.

There is, however, still cause for concern when it comes to the American League champions' hopes of defending their title. Atop that list has to be the starting pitching. Only Matt Garza has consistently turned in solid performances, which has led to overuse of the bullpen as Scott Kazmir, Andy Sonnanstine and Jeff Niemann in particular have had difficulty pitching into the later innings in their starts. The rotation was the foundation for everything the Rays accomplished last year, and they need their starters - perhaps soon to include David Price? - to be more reliable.

The Rays knew following up last year wouldn't be easy, and there's still an awful lot of baseball left to be played. But at this point, there is reason for both optimism and pessimism when discussing what lies ahead.