Tampa Bay Rays Fan Blog

Slow start, tough finish frame Rays’ 2009

And they looked so good on paper.

Unfortunately for the Rays, a year after winning the American League East and advancing to the World Series, they found out there is quite a difference between looking good on paper and being a championship team.

“It’s pretty disappointing,” James Shields said. “We had some high hopes for this season. To end our season the way we did, it’s not us. We have got to get better. We’ve got to reassess what we did this season and try to get better next year.”

When the Rays left Port Charlotte, Fla., at the end of Spring Training, they looked far more solid than the previous year’s AL championship team. Unfortunately for Tampa Bay, some of the players brought in to improve the club did not produce. The most notable of these being designated hitter Pat Burrell, who banked a two-year, $16 million deal, then fell far short of expectations. In addition, there were regular players such as Dioner Navarro and B.J. Upton, whose performances were less than inspiring.

But no one player can be blamed for a 2009 season in which the team seemed out of sync from the beginning. Foreshadowing a season to come, the Rays finished April with a 9-14 record, then spent the rest of the season trying to make up for their less-than-auspicious beginning.


Click here to read the full article – By Bill Chastain of MLB.com

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October 5, 2009 - Posted by rsanrel | MLB, Rays Apparel, Rays News, Rays Stuff, Tampa Bay Rays | Baseball, MLB, Rays, Rays baseball, Tampa, Tampa Bay, Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Tampa Bay Rays, Tampa Bay Rays Apparel | No Comments Yet