Blurbex

I watched parts of the Rays’ seven consecutive losses on this last road trip. And guess what? It sure is more fun tuning in when they’re winning nail-biters at the Trop than dropping games on the road to average teams.

Rays contests can get pretty dull when journeyman pitchers for the Cleveland Indians are throwing balls over the plate and it looks like the Rays are using heavily perforated bats.

This collective Tampa Bay swoon underscores how mysterious a game baseball is, how players’ psyches seem so fragile, how playing poorly is so damn contagious. If the Rays are playing well collectively, I’m betting that outfielder Johnny Gomes doesn’t repeatedly make wrong breaks on the ball and watch it fly over his head. B.J. Upton doesn’t run back and look over his left shoulder when he should be looking over his right, and then flail blindly trying to catch a line drive. Third baseman Evan Longoria converts those miracle dive plays instead of making a game attempt and having it bounce off his glove.

I was sitting on my couch yesterday afternoon watching Carlos Pena at the plate with a 3-2 count and the chance to drive in some runs. I muttered “strike out.” He struck out.

The general wisdom among the pundits is that the Rays are mentally and physically tired. I guess. That seems like a reasonable excuse for a young team in serious contention for the first time. But other teams are tired too.

They also say that that a losing streak was bound to happen. O.K. — over a 162-game season, that makes sense. It’s also been said that the Rays picked a good time to slump: before the All-Star break and with home games coming up after. Let’s hope so.

The big question, then, the one fans don’t really want to consider, is: Are we looking at the beginning of the inevitable? Does it all start to crumble from here? Boy, wouldn’t that suck?

Hey, I want the Rays to go to make the playoffs, to win the World Series. But, just about as much, I like watching them perform well during the sports doldrums of summer. There’s a Rays game on (or one to attend) just about every night, but that will lose its luster if turns into watching them collapse. I’m looking for a diversion, not pain.

About all the punditry I’ll allow myself is that I don’t get the sense that the Rays are ready to take a dive. I think they’re going to stay in the race. And I don’t think that’s wishful thinking.

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