Location: St. Petersburg, Fla. | Ballpark: Tropicana Field (36,048) | Spring Training: St. Petersburg, Fla.
Owner: Stuart Sternberg | GM: Andrew Friedman | Manager: Joe Maddon | World Championships: 0
The Rays have won a major league-best 40 games at home, but the key to their season will be taking their act on the road.
Starting Thursday in Kansas City, the Rays play 37 of their final 62 games on the road, and that could be a problem.
The Rays' differential between their home and road records -- 40-16 compared to 19-25 -- is the third largest in the majors.
The biggest difference is the extra two runs a game their pitchers seem to allow. The same staff that has a major league-best 2.93 home ERA ranks in the bottom third with a 4.93 road ERA.
Manager Joe Maddon said the difference is more mental than anything, and he addressed it during this post-All-Star-break team meeting.
"The one thing I did talk about more than anything is composure -- when things get a little bit hot just maintaining your level of thought," he said. "It's all about what you think, and how you think. To me it's not because they're any more skillful here or less skillful there, it's how you approach the day, it's how you handle difficult moments when you're away from a comfortable environment. So it comes down to what you think, and that's composure."
RAYS 4, A'S 3: Jonny Gomes and Ben Zobrist hit homers and James Shields pitched into the ninth as the Rays completed a winning homestand to start the second half. The Rays now head out for a week-long road trip.
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Amazing how quickly the message board trolls Goat and Tom Terrific disappear and vanish into thin air when the Rays perform in their usual strong and winning ways. It just makes me laugh - they are like bandwaggon fans, but working in a negative fashion, lol... gotta feel a little sorry for them.
The Rays have lost 7 in a row they need to change things up a bit how about calling up David Price this guy is a future ace! In AA (double a) David Price has a 4-0 record with a 1.38 ERA 26 innings and 22 strikeouts in four starts, in A ball he went 4-0 with a 1.82 ER
Why would Andy Friedman attend the Rays series against Cleveland?
It's possible that the Rays are now looking closely at Cleveland Indians Casey Blake? Nady may have been to costly for the Rays at this point in their development.
