Red Hot With A Shot

Of course when you factor in that we are just the lowly Rays and we are in the same division as BOS and the NYY then it won’t be too bad.

But if you just focus on the numbers….5 game wild card lead with 50 games to go. That is a pretty solid lead. Huge? No. But fairly sizable.

Then you need to factor in the number of wins that we will need to win the wild card. Based on historical data and our current pace it is likely that the required # of wins to get the wild card will be around 89ish to 90. Well to hit 89 wins we have to go a very tough 22-28 the rest of the way. That is Devil Raysesque, not Rays. We should be able to go 22-28 in our sleep.

I realize people hate to hear this team being annointed as Division Champions and World Series hero’s ala the 69’ Mets, and there is good reason. With a 3 game lead over the World Champion Red Sox who BTW, own the best SP staff in all of baseball when in comes to playoff time, the cliche’ “let’s take it one game at a time and with the good lord willing, will make the playoffs” should loom loud in one’s ears. It wasn’t long ago (2005) that the young Cleveland Indians went on a 2nd 1/2 of the season tear to make up ground faster than the roadrunner passing Wiley Coyote. In the end, the apple was stuck in the young Indians throats. Bats went dormant, GM, Mark Shapiro’s promise to bring in a veteran slugger RBI machine before the trade deadline past with Shapsie sitting on his hands fearing the loss of his minor league players in a trade.

The result was horrifying for Indians fans who’s team finished the season with 93 wins and missing the playoffs by a single game. What happenned? The unkown did. The media circus ran amuck, and the bat that was ever so needed to drive in runs was still in the future in the form of Minor League players in Kinston and Buffalo. The Tribe, after a slow start battered teams all the way up to the end of the marathon when Jobu’s rum was stolen and the Voodoo God turned the maple & Ash to scott tissue. The Indians lost 6 of their last 7 including losing 2 of 3 to the then lowly Devil Rays at home to complete the choke. I still cringe thinking about it.

Why do I bring this up? History has an uncanny way of repeating itself. A young team that’s not suppose to be in the hunt. A GM who searched for a bat during the trade deadline afraid to pull the trigger over the fear of losing a minor league prospect. Fans talking like it’s a forgone conclusion that their team will be in the playoffs. It’s like 2005 revisited but with the young Rays team taking MLB by storm.

It seems like all of this happenned yesterday (2005). Let’s all hope that this team doesn’t falter and Andie’s choice to hang onto prospects rather than living for the now doesn’t bite this team in the as by years end. Let’s hope it all worksout. Let’s hope that my history repeats itself jargon is just old fashioned paranoia. It sure sucks to think about it though.

BTW, I smell a no-no for Kaz this afternoon in the works. Let’s hope it all worksout