It's early, but outlook good for the Rays

You can say it's early, way too early to be excited by the Tampa Bay Rays' strong start, even the 8-2 chucklethon Monday on Patriots' Day at Boston. That completed a four-game sweep of the Red Sox at Fenway Park. It felt really strange typing that last sentence, by the way, probably because no one has ever had to in the 13-year history of the franchise.

Anyway, the Rays have the best record in baseball at 10-3 and have won seven straight on this road trip, but you know better than to pay attention to that. My goodness, the safe, sane, sober and conservative approach is to remember 149 games remain in this season.

Ah, to heck with it. These guys might be as good as we all suspected they could be. Just as the warning signs of trouble were there this time last year, all signs now point to something special in the making.

The Rays have had the kind of pitching, defense, speed and power we thought they would. Keep this up and they are as legitimate a threat to win the World Series as the Yankees, Phillies, or any other team you want to name.

Rays starting pitchers are a combined 7-1 after Jeff Niemann limited Boston to a pair of runs over seven innings Monday. Niemann and Matt Garza held the Red Sox to two runs in 15 innings in the last two games. Garza, 3-0 with a 0.75 ERA, has been overwhelming.

Even the bullpen, a deep well of angst for so many around here, was tremendous at Fenway. They gave the Red Sox only two runs in 121/3 innings, including seven shutout innings in the rain-delayed 3-1 win to open the series.

The way Lance Cormier worked out of a bases-loaded, no-outs jam in the 11th inning of that game could be one of those turning-point moments in this season.

Boston's strength is starting pitching and the Red Sox had their rotation lined up perfectly with Josh Beckett, Clay Buchholz, Jon Lester and, on Monday, John Lackey. Didn't matter. They routed Lester and Lackey.

Boston Globe columnist Bob Ryan called the Rays "scary good" after the 7-1 win Sunday. He is a wise man who has seen much in a long, distinguished career covering Boston sports. The Rays were considered a cute little anomaly in 2008, a refreshing break from the Red Sox/Yankees stranglehold on the American League East, but now they're beastly all by themselves.

They were 10-for-10 in stolen bases in this series, and the only reason it wasn't worse was two of the games were blowouts and they stopped running. B.J. Upton had a three-run homer Monday, his fourth bomb in the last five games. That gave the Rays five home runs in the series.

Even Pat Burrell was 5-for-12 with five RBIs and a homer in the three games he played at Fenway.

This was a regular Boston Glee Party for the Rays. Actually, the Red Sox may want to celebrate the Rays leaving town with a Boston Flee Party.

So let's review:

They can beat teams with pitching.

They can beat teams with power.

They can beat teams with speed.

They can beat teams with defense.

They can win on the road.

What else is there?

Oh, yeah. There are 149 games to play. Boston is scuffling badly right now with injuries, and that great makeover of the Red Sox from a power team to one focused on pitching and defense remains a work in progress.

If you want to dismiss this fast start as unimportant, considering how much ball remains in the season, consider this:

At this point in 2009, the Rays were 5-8 after losing 12-2 to Chicago to close out their first homestand. They were on their way to losing six of the seven series they played in April, when they finished with a 9-14 record.

They were 62-45 over the following four months, a .579 win percentage. Even with such a pace though, they actually fell six games farther behind in the standings.

Such is the margin for error in the AL East, where there's no first-month mulligan. That's fine with the Rays. They have accomplished their short-term goal of starting fast, reducing mistakes, and playing with more focus than a year ago.

No one wants to read too much into that yet.

Just don't want to read too little into it, either.