Welcome on The Wagon New Rays FANS!

The wagon is in full circle right now.  Thousands of people who live in the Tampa Bay are now looking at the Rays as their favorite team. They are putting away there No.33 Varitek jerseys and there pin strips back in the closet. The Tampa Bay Rays have built a huge band wagon and it is very strong.

I was at the finally game the Rays needed for a playoff spot against the Minnesota Twins. The Rays looked hungry and ready to take that step into the playoffs. Great pitching help get them a 7-2 win. Timely hitting got them the lead and many of there leads all season long.

Tropicana Field was jam packed and the crowd was loud and pumped for the Rays to win. It was the first time I was at the Trop when I didn’t see any New York Yankees hats and or shirts like wise with the Boston Red Sox.  Not to be mean, but normally the place is filled with the Sox and Yanks clothes.

If you haven’t followed the Rays all season go take a look at their season statistics. (After you read this though.) There is nothing special about any of their hitting stats. The Rays leading hitter is BJ Upton who is hitting .277. We all know that is not very good. I know Navarro hit .292 and Bartlett hit .280, but there didn’t have enough at bats to qualify for the batting title.

They don’t have a forty homerun guy and Carlos Pena as not been the feared hitter he was last season. Injured or not his .249 average is horrible and the team hasn’t missed a beat. I would like to show you some stats as the Rays have collected over this great season.  All stats will be American League only.

Pitching

·         ERA -No.2 (3^rd overall in MLB)

·         SAVES- No.2

·         OPPONENTS BATTING AVERAGE- No.2

·         STRIKE OUTS- No.5

·         SHUT OUTS- No.3

Hitting

·         Runs- No.10

·         BA- No.13

·         HR-No.6

·         OBP-No.6

·         Slug- No.8

·         HITS-No.13

All these stats are ranked out of 14 teams.

These states indicate that this season has been a total team effort. They could not rely on one hitter or one pitcher on any given day. There best pitcher only had 13 wins. This is something that will not seen for a long time. Their team ERA is amazing this season. It has been a 180 for the bullpen which should get the team MVP if they give one out. Belfour and Howell should be first to get that AL EAST ring.

All in all it’s been great to see the Rays fans coming out to the Trop and supporting the Rays. Lets just see it those fair weather fans aka band wagoner’s are here to stay, or are they going to pull out the Red Sox and Yankees shirts out again.