After opening the season on a positive note and giving fans some hope that they might actually avoid finishing in last place in the AL East, they have gone on a free-fall leading up to the All-Star break.

The Rays now own the worst record in the majors, and show few signs of avoiding the cellar as injuries, an erratic bullpen, and a number of other problems have sabotaged those early good feelings.

Is there any hope that the Rays can show some of that early-season flash, or are we looking at more of the same in the second half?

Can’t see any promise given the current state of the bullpen but perhaps the DRO can make some changes with this during the All Star break.  Fossum, Stokes and Camp really have no busines pitching at the MLB level.  Would a Seth McClung do any worse?  Doubtful so why not call up some arms from AAA!  The lack of leadership at the catcher spot is also a glaring weakness!  I saw Mike DeFelice and Sandy Alomar Jr playing in a AAA game on CSS last week, either of these guys would be an improvement over Navarro and Casanova!

I would agree with you Dave. The arms in AAA should at least get a chance to make an impact on this team. I think almost all the pitchers in the bullpen have around a 7 or 8 ERA. So I agree with you there. But to counter our ideas, the pitchers would get the call up and pitch 100 pitches and sit. So y not keep them down there where they can pitch over 100 pitches and get more innings in than they can in the Bigs.

The Rays do have a good team...EXCEPT for pitching.  This has been known to every Rays fan since I can remember.  Bringing up pitchers from AAA is not really the answer.  Let them develop.  Management needs to open the wallets and bring in some big guns.  Veteran pitchers who know how to win are able to teach the few decent prospects we have.

I do so much agree with the previous posts that we have certain pitchers that should not be at the Major League level.  Again, the is the fault of management! 

My message to management:  STOP CRYING ABOUT THE DOME AND PUT TOGETHER A PITCHING STAFF!!! 

as you can tell by my user name, i am a red sox fan, but i keep my eye on the d-rays. i love their team. their record is not what they want, but they are making strides. kazmir and shields are a great pair of starters. sonnastine and jackson have improved in the second half. wiggington for wheeler was a great trade. tehir bullpen has been awful, but now with glover, wheeler, and reyes in the pen, it is much more stable. they took 2 out of three from the yankees in NY, and really could have swept the sox. their offense is amazing. i love crawford, what a 5 tool player. they need to keep carlos pena. they obviosuly need to add here and there, but it is fun watching young guys develop and get better. as a sox fan, it is so obvious how much improvemenet the rays have made, even though the record does not show it yet.

hang in there, guys. a copule pieces here and there and the rays will be a very good team.

Spend some Cash Money in the offseason and we could have a good year next year. There will be some pitching on the market for us. Our lineup will produce runs the way it is built right now. Some key offensive FA’s would be nice, but we should first look to our pitching.