More hilarity courtesy of The Heater's baseball experts:

Your wrong, they need a miracle. They are done and the players seem to be aware of this. Aki was the final blow. Sad. But we get to see more Kapler so it is not all bad. He looked great out there today. Who am I kidding? He looks great all the time.

Tone from Brooklyn, May 28th, 2009 6:35 pm

Maddon-aka Merlot Joe-is a great evaluator of young talent but a HORRIBLE On field manager.His decisions alone costs this team 10-15 wins a year with bone headed matchups and phantom percentages.Hickey is a waste as pitching coach.Promote Percival!

 

Phil from Tampa May 28th, 2009 7:16 pm

The problem with the Sonnanstine and the soft-tossers that are now prominent in the bullpen is that they are being told to pitch like power pitchers, using more fastballs, and that is the pitch getting hammered by opposing batters. No magic folks...
Jim from North Port May 29th, 2009 8:00 am

Maddon's Father knows best method is old and not right for the Rays. Upton batting first lead off is bad because we have the other dead beat Navarro batting last. Together they bring 2 outs quick to an inning.
Michael from Sun City Center May 29th, 2009 8:03 am

Right...because Edwin and his 4.88 FIP  were certainly better than Shields (3.82 FIP) and Sonny (3.91 FIP):

Mike... I said last season that they weren't fair in their assessements of Ed Jackson versus some of the other guys. He was good last year (got hurt by blown saves and little run support) and had better stuff than sonny and shields. boooo booo
Carlos from St. Petersburg May 29th, 2009 8:09 am

I think they need someone to start having those clubhouse meetings very often and be forceful in the need for the batters to watch the ball hit the bat when batting,Upton never does,they did last year. Pitchers,it's a war out there act like it.
Dalton from Tennessee May 29th, 2009 8:51 am

Maybe the answer is these guys are one year wonders. Remember everything went right for the Rays last year. The Rays have one wining season in their history. Everyone has over rated this team. I would be satisfied with a 500 season
Bud from Redington Shores May 29th, 2009 9:29 am

how balls have gone over the center fielders head,for extra bases. instead of wasting millions on burrel why not get a top closer. Aybar has proven he is a good hitter when played regular.
craig from orlando May 29th, 2009 10:01 am

When in doubt, blame the non-whites:

Seems to be a lack of team unity. Noticed when BJ scored from third against the Marlins he and Carlos Pena didn't high five, speak to or even look at each other. Pena was at the plate waiting to hit .?
mike from st pete May 29th, 2009 10:57 am

My personal favorite:

Hey Romano...I just heard that Maddon and the coaching staff are using Sabre-metrics to decide who plays..who rests..who bats where!?!?!? You have got to be kidding me!! Do a story on this please, and expose this crap!!
Scott from Tallahassee May 29th, 2009 12:01 pm

It's too bad you can't send the Manager down to AAA for a couple of weeks. I'd like to see how Montoyo would manage the bigs.
Dave from Dade City May 29th, 2009 12:12 pm

So damn lazy:

In 2008 Upton struck out 25% of the time while hitting 273. In 2009 he is striking out 33% of the time while hitting under 200. Also, in most of his strikeouts he looks like he doesn't care.
Paul from Punta Gorda May 29th, 2009 12:27 pm

What a sad commentary that this team went from worst to first and is flirting with being the worst again. A lot of blame to go around but I really think by releasing Floyd, Gomes and Hinske the team chemistry changed. Burrell has been no help either.
John from Largo May 29th, 2009 8:04 am