Rays superstar Evan Longoria has not played a single game in May thanks to an injury on the final day of April that forced him to the disabled list. In Longoria's absence we have seen the likes of Jeff Keppinger, Sean Rodriguez, Elliot Johnson, Drew Sutton, and Will Rhymes spend time at the hot corner, and we have even seen one inning of Chris Gimenez at third base.

The revolving door of injuries has even forced some of the revolving third base door options to miss some time. Keppinger is on the disabled list with a broken foot suffered while sitting in the dugout and Rhymes missed some time after he passed out on the field after being hit by a pitch. Ben Zobrist has barely seen time in the infield and has pretty much been the starting right fielder with Desmond Jennings also hurt.

The plethora of injuries has forced Maddon to use an infield, most nights, that consists of Sean Rodriguez, Elliot Johnson, and Will Rhymes. Elliot Johnson has started 15 games in a row. Think about that for a moment. But, you know what, it has worked. And since Longoria hit the disabled list, we have seen these players step up their game.

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Finally an off day and a chance to reflect on the season so far before heading to Boston to take on the Red Sox. The question bouncing around my head after Wednesday's Rays game was whether or not it was time to take a look at Jake McGee in a more consistent role as the 8th inning guy. Allow him to be called on to hand the ball to Fernando Rodney and move Joel Peralta into the 6th/7th inning mix with Wade Davis, Burke Badenhop, J.P. Howell, and Cesar Ramos.

While Joe Maddon does not like the closer label it has not stopped him from putting Rafael Soriano, Kyle Farnsworth, and Fernando Rodney into the closers role and building his bullpen from there. He has also preferred over the last few seasons is to have a dedicated eighth inning go to reliever. Joaquin Benoit filled the role in 2010 and Joel Peralta filled the role in 2011 and 2012.

Peralta was magnificent in his role last season appearing in 71 games, 36 of those appearances began in the eighth inning, and worked 67.2 innings striking out 61 and issuing only 15 non-intentional walks. He allowed 7 home runs which translated into a HR/9 rate of 0.90 which was slightly below the AL average for relief pitchers of 0.92. He was a very trusted reliever allowing only 26% (9 of 35) inherited runners to score and after Kyle Farnsworth's elbow put him out of action Maddon turned to him to work the 9th inning as the season rumbled on to a magical finish.

This season he has been called on to work in more games than any other relief pitcher in the AL (24) and 17 of those appearances have been in the 8th inning. He has worked 19.1 innings and has struck out 23 hitters while issuing only 6 walk. His only blemish has been the home run ball which he has served up 5 home runs which translates to a HR/9 rate of 2.3 which is far above the AL average of 0.95 (It should be noted that Peralta's HR/FB% is an unsustainable 21.7%). He has also allowed 44% (8 of 18) of his inherited runners to score. Which brings us to Jake McGee.

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via www.tampabay.com

via www.tampabay.com

You can find more pictures here. This team is something else.

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There were certain expectations put on Sean Rodriguez coming into the season. He was expected to win the starting shortstop job and did so. He was expected to flash excellent glove work and has thus far. He was expected to be league average with the bat, which isn't a high bar to reach for a shortstop. That bar looked out of reach in April. However, the month of May has been a different story.

It's not a stretch to say that Rodriguez was one of the worst hitters in baseball in April, putting up a line of.190/.274/.238 with a .238 wOBA in 76 plate appearances. He had one (!) extra base hit. His walk rate was a decent 10.5 percent but he struck out 25 percent of the time. When the calendar turned over so did his game, hitting .300/.329/.486 with seven extra base hits in roughly the same number of plate appearances. His current May wOBA of .354 is good for ninth overall for shortstops and seventh among third basemen. In April his .238 mark was seventh and fifth worst respectively. In months in which he's had more than 50 plate appearances his wOBA of .354 is the highest of his career, narrowly edging last May's .351. How has he turned it around?

There's no one answer to point to specifically. He's begun hitting fastballs better which certainly helps. Look at the pitch result data from April and May.

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It was mentioned in yesterday's game day thread by someone that it seems as if the Rays give up more two out runs than other teams. Sometimes perception is not reality when you spend most of your time watching one team and who they are playing, but in 2012, perception is reality. The Rays are indeed giving up more two out runs than most teams. In fact, they are giving up more two out runs than any other team in the American League and are only one off the pace for the overall "lead" in major league baseball.

What gives?

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