Rays Tank: Regression?

For the first 39 games after the All-Star break, the Rays pitching was amazing. They helped the team go 25-14 and posted a 2.19 ERA, a .265 opponents batting average on balls in play, along with a 2.82 FIP. In the last three games, the team has slipped a bit on the mound as the team has allowed a 15 runs in this three-game losing streak. Compare that to the run the team made from July 28th to August 9th when the team allowed just 14 runs in an 11-game span that included 105.2 innings of work.

Last night, David Price jumped into a magic time machine and went back to 2009 and the days in which he lived and died with his hard stuff. For some reason, the change-up and the curveball were on milk cartons last night instead of on batters and the aggressive Rangers lineup made him pay early and often chasing the Cy Young contender from the game after just 69 pitches and four innings of work.

Regression? Bad process? What are your thoughts?

In other news:

• Sean Rodriguez hit the hardest thing he has hit all season. Unfortunately, it was not a baseball.
• Yu Darvish has a 2.91 ERA in the 11 first-time starts he has made against teams and a 5.94 ERA in the 10 repeat starts he has made against a team. Tonight will be his first start against the Rays.
• InStream proposes a new way to hand out the post-season awards. Check out their formulas halfway down the article - thoughts?
• Look at the heat maps of where Matt Moore's pitches are being taken with the split coming at 7/22 when he had his first game of the season without a walk.
• The Red Sox are communists
• Billy Hamilton has now stolen at least 50 bases in two different leagues this season and has 154 steals on the season.
• The human element strikes again. Thanks, Bud Selig!
• Make sure you have put your votes in on Tom Tango's Fan Scouting Report
• Speaking of Tango, his thoughts on one-run games. After all, the Orioles have now won 13 straight one-run games while the Rays are just 1-9 in their last 10 one-run games. It is still unreal that a team with a negative run differential is still hanging around as the Orioles are, but we are all running out of time to write this off as a fluke. Barring some Boston-like September collapse, the Fightin' Showalters will be there until the end.