ST. PETERSBURG - Having reached what for most was the pinnacle of their athletic careers a season ago, the disappointment of finishing a distant third and well out of the playoff race in 2009 was profound for the Rays.
A good team that never realized its potential, injury, misfortune or error always found a way to derail the Rays. They wrap up the season today with a winning record for the second time in their history, but it's all relative.
"If we hadn't had last year," said Carl Crawford, "everybody would have been saying how great this year was."
AWARDS
Most Valuable Player - Ben Zobrist
Starting at every position but pitcher and catcher increased his value exponentially even though his offensive numbers would have been impressive enough on their own
Outstanding Pitcher - J.P. Howell
Versatile lefty led staff with 2.94 ERA and added seven wins and 17 saves while serving in variety of roles up to de facto closer
Rookie of the Year - Jeff Niemann
Led what looked to be a well-established rotation in wins and pitched consistently well before hitting a wall late in the season
Most Consistent - Carl Crawford
After posting the worst individual season of his career in '08, C.C. returned to his game-changing ways with an impressive showing in steals, walks and power
Most Pleasant Surprise - Lance Cormier
Signed with minimal fanfare in mid-January, he was slotted in as a long reliever, did a nice job there, and continued to get outs when moved into a meatier role
Biggest Disappointment - Pat Burrell
The franchise's biggest offseason signing since the Hit Show days didn't come close to meeting anyone's expectations
Biggest Regression - Dioner Navarro
Watching the young catcher slog through a miserable season, it was difficult to remember he was an All-Star a year ago
Best In-Season Addition - Randy Choate
Following a path similar to Grant Balfour's in '08, the veteran became a reliable bullpen fixture after being brought up from Durham on May 25
TWO QUESTIONS, SIX ANSWERS
If you had to pinpoint one thing that went wrong for the team this season, what would it be?
James Shields: "Probably lack of focus in the first month of the season. I think we played pretty well after April, so I think that's what pretty much cost us our season."
Dan Wheeler: "We just didn't get into that groove that we had last year. When you have a baseball season, over the course of a year, I think you have a stretch where you play really well, play OK, and don't have a very good stretch. I don't know if we ever had that really good stretch."
B.J. Upton: "We just never hit on all cylinders as a team. It was always a spurt here, a spurt there by somebody, but it was never really all put together."
What about this team gives you the most optimism looking ahead to 2010?
Shields: "We've got a lot of young players here and there's a lot of exciting times ahead of us. To be able to go back-to-back seasons with winning records in this division is pretty good."
Wheeler: "Obviously we went to the World Series in '08, so the talent is still here. We put up two back-to-back winning seasons, and obviously it's not what we wanted - we're a lot short of where we were last year - but I think it gives us a chance to kind of understand that last year wasn't easy and we had a lot of things go our way and over the course of the year you have to really keep your focus on every single day."
Upton: "We've got the same team coming back, and I think we've played pretty well of late and I think there's a sense of urgency to get back to the way things were in '08. Obviously it didn't work out the way we wanted it to this year, so there's just a little bit more of that want-to for next year."
BRIGHT SPOTS
Disappointing as the season was, there were some highlights for the Rays. Among them:
•Five Rays players make the American League squad for the All-Star Game in St. Louis, including Tampa Bay's entire infield. Carl Crawford, Evan Longoria, Ben Zobrist, Jason Bartlett and Carlos Pena join Manager Joe Maddon and the entire coaching staff in unprecedented representation for Tampa Bay, and Crawford is named the game's MVP
•Two rookies account for the Rays' three complete-game shutouts, with Jeff Niemann pulling it off June 3 against the Royals and July 10 against the A's and Wade Davis picking up the other Sept. 17 at Baltimore in only his third big-league start
•The Rays establish club records for home runs, stolen bases, runs scored, extra-base hits and walks, and have three players with at least 25 homers for the first time in Pena, Longoria and Zobrist
LOWEST OF THE LOW
In a season that had its share of ugly moments, none was more embarrassing than what occurred July 23 at U.S. Cellular Field in Chicago.
The Rays sent 27 men to the plate against White Sox lefty Mark Buehrle and he retired each of them in order to craft the 18th perfect game in major-league history. Center fielder Dewayne Wise's leaping grab of a potential Gabe Kapler homer in the ninth is the signature play in the gem.
"He might wake up tomorrow with a new car in his driveway," an admiring Pat Burrell said of Wise.
It was the second time a Tampa Bay team had been held without a hit. Derek Lowe did it for Boston on April 27, 2002, walking one batter to keep his game from being perfect.
By the numbers
0
Days in first place this year for the defending AL East champions
7
Home runs against Baltimore for Ben Zobrist - who didn't have more than three against any other opponent - leading Orioles manager Dave Trembley to refer to him as "Babe Ruth"
3-14
Record in stretch of consecutive games against Tigers, Red Sox and Yankees that ends up dooming Rays' season
20-25
Record in one-run games after going 29-18 in those contests a year ago
32-49
Road record, down from 40-41 away from the Trop last season
.256
Slugging percentage against lefties for Pat Burrell entering the final weekend after he slugged .550 against lefties from 2006-08
NO REFUNDS OR EXCHANGES
The Rays paid a lot for a little from some players in 2009 ...
$740,833 - Per save recorded by Troy Percival, whose season - and career - came to an end in late May
$338,709 - Per inning pitched for Chad Bradford, who battled elbow and back problems all year
...especially compared to
$415,900 - Ben Zobrist's total salary for 2009
MAYDAY!
While a slow start in April was blamed for much of the Rays' trouble this year, May featured an abundance of memorable moments:
May 6-7 - Tampa Bay's first two games at the new Yankee Stadium end in victory thanks to tiebreaking homers in the Rays' final turn at bat. Carlos Pena does the honors in the 10th the first night, and Carl Crawford and Evan Longoria double up against Mariano Rivera in the ninth the following evening - the first back-to-back homers ever allowed by the legendary closer.
May 15 - Rallying from a 7-0 hole, the Rays beat Cleveland 8-7 at Tropicana Field on B.J. Upton's walk-off homer to open the ninth
May 17 - The Rays list two third basemen and no DH on their official lineup card, forcing pitcher Andy Sonnanstine to hit in the third spot in the order against the Indians. Sonnanstine goes 1-for-3 with an RBI double as the Rays won 7-5 in a game that also featured a benches-clearing dust-up after Kerry Wood threw a pitch behind Upton in the eighth.
May 24 - A hard slide into second base by the Marlins' Chris Coghlan sends Akinori Iwamura to the disabled list with what are initially feared to be season-ending knee and ankle injuries. Iwamura, however, is able to return in September after the damage is found to be less severe than expected.
May 25 - The bullpen allows seven runs in the bottom of the ninth at Cleveland after surrendering two in the eighth to turn what had been a 10-2 lead into an 11-10 triumph for the Indians and spoil David Price's season debut.
DECISION TIME
Most of the Rays' core players are under their control for 2010, but there will be some decisions to make. Here's where they stand:
•Under contract: Willy Aybar, Pat Burrell, Evan Longoria, Carlos Pena, James Shields, Dan Wheeler
•Pre-arbitration and under team control: Reid Brignac, Wade Davis, Jeff Niemann, Fernando Perez, David Price, Shawn Riggans, Andy Sonnanstine, Dale Thayer, Ben Zobrist
•Arbitration-eligible: Grant Balfour, Jason Bartlett, Jeff Bennett, Randy Choate, Lance Cormier, Matt Garza, Gabe Gross, J.P. Howell, Dioner Navarro, B.J. Upton
•Options held by the Rays: Carl Crawford, Akinori Iwamura, right, Brian Shouse, Gregg Zaun
•Potential free agents: Chad Bradford, Jason Isringhausen, Gabe Kapler, Troy Percival, Russ Springer
POTENTIAL OPENING DAY 2010 LINEUP
C-Dioner Navarro
1B-Carlos Pena
2B-Ben Zobrist
SS-Jason Bartlett
3B-Evan Longoria
LF-Carl Crawford
CF-B.J. Upton
RF-Matt Joyce
DH-Pat Burrell
P-James Shields
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement
Advertisement