It never seems to get better in Tampa. With a crop of good young position players and at least a couple of potential arms, some of us thought Tampa might get within spitting distance of .500 this year. But as the season wears on, it's getting worse and worse.
I live in Florida, and I like watching the Devil Rays. I'm not invested enough to get my feelings hurt when they lose. It's just fun to watch Crawford and Upton and Young and Harris. But with Pittsburgh's recent victories over SF, Tampa Bay once again has the worst record in baseball.
They are the only team in the AL to not draw 1,000,000 in attendance so far, averaging about 4,000 a game fewer than Kansas City, despite Tampa/St. Petersburg being a much bigger metropolitan area than KC. Maybe this is a Florida phenomenon, because the Marlins are the only NL team under 1,000,000, trailing Pittsburgh by about 5,000 a game.
Florida is a better team than Tampa, but there are some other parallels. Both teams have the lowest fielding percentage in their respective leagues, and both have the worst defense efficiency rating in their leagues (Tampa is the worst in baseball).
Tampa's hitting is about average in the AL. Their pitching is dead last, with a team ERA over 6.00, and almost 7.00 on the road! Of course, with the worst defensive efficiency rating, that can be expected. The Devil Rays have always had horrible pitching.
Florida, on the other hand, was expected to be a pretty solid pitching team behind Dontrelle, Scott Olsen, Josh Johnson, Sergio Mitre and Anabel Sanchez. Instead, they are fourth in the league in hitting (judged by runs scored) and last in runs allowed. Again, defense is a factor here, because they are 11th in ERA, but last in runs allowed.
I bet a majority of baseball fans can't name three players on the Devil Rays (or maybe even two). You know how many all-stars the Devil Rays have had in the last 8 years? Eight. The minimum. In their 10 year existence, they've had 11 All-Stars. (Kansas City is next on the list with 12 in that time period, followed by Pittsburgh. Florida has had 22 in those 10 years).
It wouldn't surprise me if the casual fan was unaware the Devil Rays even exist.
Florida will bounce back, like they always do. Tampa has nothing to bounce back to. Are they nearing Expos territory?
