road testing the rays
The Weekly Rays Update
Overall: 35-22
Last Week: Texas (2-1), Chi White Sox (3-1)
This Week: @ Boston, @ Texas
So far the Rays have benefited from home-cooking, playing 34 out of 57 games at the Trop. In those games the Rays have a 24-10 record. 
It is surprising the Rays have a winning record considering the dismal home crowds. What’s not surprising is that this young team has a losing road record, which stands at 11-12.
Beginning today the Rays start a nine game road trip across the country, opening with the second best team in the AL (Red Sox) and ending with the third best team in the AL (Angels). Anything better than a losing record (i.e. 5-4) has to be considered a success for a young Rays team looking to build confidence on the road.
Tampa Bay…35—22 __ .614
Boston………….35—24 __ .593
Toronto……….31—28 __ .525
New York……..28—28 __ .500
Baltimore…….26—29 __ .473
The big story from over the weekend was the sell out Saturday at the Trop, the third one this season. This was followed up by a crowd of 25,000 on Sunday. Rays fans have been chastised for not attending the games but give them time and fans will find their way to the Trop to watch a winning team.
RAYS POST OF THE WEEK
This honor goes to DRays Bay for their reaction to the poll released by the St Pete Times. I’m not going to spend as much time on the poll as DRays Bay, but I will mention that polls this early in the process (before voters are fully aware of the financing plan) are largely worthless except to give supporters and detractors a baseline to work from.
RAYS RANT OF THE WEEK
We’re going with Kyle Krieger’s rant in the Times about the poor, unnecessarily burdened Tampa residents who have to travel all the way across the bay to attend games. I used to live in St Pete and looking back I don’t know how I managed to cross the Bay every time I wanted to attend a Bucs or Bolts game. {/ sarcasm}
RAYS PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Scott Kazmir, 2-0, 16 Ks, 0.64 ERA
We’re not quite ready to give the Cy Young to Kazmir (5-1, 1.22 ERA) but he is certainly is in the running.
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June 3rd, 2008 at 2:03 pm
I’ll stop complaining about driving to st pete for a game when someone finally offers a water taxi service from downtown to downtown.
June 3rd, 2008 at 3:10 pm
Getting to a Bucs game on Sunday afternoon from St. Pete is a heck of a lot easier than trying to get to the Trop for a 7:05 first pitch on a Tuesday.
RayJay is not that far into Tampa from Pinellas. It sits near a major highway and is bounded on all sides by multi-lane surface roads.
The Trop is at the end of a spur of a major highway, deep into downtown St. Pete. Bounded on all sides by a maze of one way streets. But it’s a heck of a lot more accessible than the new stadium would be if it gets built.
June 3rd, 2008 at 10:36 pm
oiler, who ya kidding, you’re gonna find another reason to complain if they start a ferry. and for everyone else i recommend checking out oiler’s post on the rays.
jeff, comparing bucs game to rays games is apples to oranges but bucs games can be just as difficult to navigate when police shut down streets around the stadium. How often do you go to downtown St Pete? Maybe it’s ’cause I’ve grown up there but it is no less navigable than downtown Tampa (plus there is already a nightlife around downtown St Pete).