B. J. Upton's bat

The Tampa Bay Devil Rays have shown some signs of coming out of their recent tailspin--a stretch where the team lost 21 of 26 games.

Wednesday night the Rays registered their second win in their three-game series against the hot Los Angeles Angels (55-38). It was the team's first two-game winning streak since June 24 when the Rays beat the LA Dodgers for the second time in a row.

The biggest difference-maker? B. J. Upton.

I wasn't a big Upton fan last year. His glove at shortstop seemed to be make out of wood instead of leather, and his batting average was a paltry .246. I figured he'd get better at the plate, but the key to his major-league career was earning his way onto the field with capable defense.

Upton opened my eyes from early on this season. He hit for power and average from the start of the season, and rightly registered a healthy All-Star vote total before pulling a quadriceps muscle while playing against the hated Florida Marlins.

The coaching staff earns some credit, even if it's D'oh! credit. They moved Upton away from shortstop. Third base didn't work out. Upton isn't exactly a Gold Glove second baseman, but he gets the job done.

The coaches think his future is in the outfield. Upton proved to be particularly adept at tracking down pop flies from second base. The coaches extrapolated that into outfielding skills, after factoring in Upton's considerable speed.

Upton has appeared to prosper in the batter's box when he has less to nag at his mind on defense.

So what do the numbers say? While Upton was on the 15-day disabled list, the Rays worked in their season-high losing streak (11 games) and scored a shade under 4.5 runs per game (4.48). In the eight games before Upton's injury, the Rays scored 5.5 runs per game. In the five games since his return, they've scored 6.2 runs per game.

Manager Joe Maddon appeared to acknowledge Upton's role as the team's offensive catalyst when he moved Upton to the #3 spot in the batting order.

Upton's numbers since coming off the DL?

7-13 with 8 walks and four RBIs. He raised his batting average from .320 to .333.

Upton may be able to work his way to Gold Glove status in the outfield. If he keeps handling the bat like he has this year, the kid may be on his way to All-Star status.

Rays end losing streak at 11, beat Royals 6-5

I'm tempted to take 100% of the credit for the win because I posted on the Rays' losing streak in order to bring it to an end. Probably playing the Royals had more to do with it, though, and having James Shields on the hill didn't hurt. Shields has been the most consistent pitcher for the Rays. If the bullpen had held onto a couple of leads for the guy he might have appeared in the All-Star game this year.

Shields will enter the break with a 7-4 record and a 3.82 era.

I want to single out rookie Delmon Young for some praise. In my post on the Rays' losing streak, I mentioned that pretty much every Rays player had seen his batting average dip. I don't think that's the case with Young. He's been fairly consistent, and has his average up over .270 at the moment. He continues to strike out regularly, but he's a free-swinger at this point in his career--and the one goes along with the other.

Best of all, Young has behaved like a professional for the entire season, which unfortunately can't be said for fellow rookie outfielder Elijah Dukes (optioned to the minor leagues late last month and placed on the temporary inactive list).

I wish Dukes only success, but he's going to have to grow up and transcend the problems he's constructed for himself.

Devil Rays' skid reaches 11 games

Ouch!

The home team is getting pounded lately.

James Shields and Scott Kazmir have continued to pitch pretty well, but the offense has recently managed to always produce fewer runs than the other team has.

I think that B. J. Upton has been the offensive catalyst this year. Even with home-run power spread through the starting lineup, the teams misses its best for-average batter. Upton has been sidelined for weeks with a quadriceps strain.
Pretty much every batter in the lineup has seen his batting average shrink during the losing streak--even Dionner Navarro, who was batting .177 when he reached base tonight on a slow roller. It was probably ruled a hit, though a good throw from the first baseman to the pitcher would have put Navarro out.

The play was worth mentioning because Navarro ran into Josh Beckett, who was covering first on the play, and was injured to the point that he left the game.

Beckett's a pretty big guy, the the collision didn't look like much. My best guess was that Navarro's nose met a bony portion of Beckett's shoulder.

Against the Marlins a few weeks ago, Navarro got caught in the neck with a pitch that bounced on the way to the plate. Navarro's had some hard luck with odd injuries recently, but whatever the case his batting average is absolutely horrible. The Rays sought out Navarro via trade because they liked his bat. He was seen as having good bat control--able to advance runners and such. It looks as if he will substantially underachieve the team's expectations this year unless he has a remarkable second half of the season.

Writing about the Rays' losing streak is intended to enable them to win their next game, of course.