What is it about the Tampa Bay “don’t call me Devil” Rays that makes it so difficult for the Red Sox to beat them? These are the games that Manny, Ortiz and Youk and Loretta should be anticipating like the Baywatch reunion show. They should feast on the likes of Casey Fossum and the Rays bullpen. Christ, Crawford is the only guy in the line-up hitting over .285 yet they crank out 12 hits yesterday?
Maybe the Trop is to blame? Indoor baseball in Florida. Crappy artificial turf. Crazy catwalks overhead, some that are playable in fair territory. Maybe it is just too much of an abomination to the game of baseball and simply offends the Red Sox, who come from the cathedral of baseball and expect more from a stadium?
Or maybe the Sox play to their level of competition. They’ve been a heaping plate of suck against Tampa Bay all season, but they’ve also struggled against teams like Cleveland and Oakland at times. Time to strap ’em on boys. The wild card is not the goal this year. After this, we get KC and Baltimore, then the stretch run starts and we play real teams like Detroit and ::gasp:: the Yankees.
