Former Tampa Bay Ray No-Nos His Previous Employers
Once again, my hometown Rays were on the unfortunate side of a no-hitter. That makes three times in the last two seasons.
Last year, on June 23, they were on the losing end of a perfect game thrown by White Sox pitcher Mark Buehrle. Then earlier this season, the Rays gave the Oakland A's Dallas Braden a reason to celebrate by once again showing no production in his perfect game outing.
On Friday night, in the middle of a 4-10 streak, the Rays were unable to connect bat to ball against former Rays pitcher Edwin Jackson, now an Arizona Diamond back as he raked up a no-hitter.
The no-hitter wasn't without it's odd little stats. Jackson only struck out six, walked eight (the highest in a no-hitter,) struck a batter and threw 149 pitches. Regardless, it was a no-hitter that the Rays just couldn't afford to lose. Right now the Rays are struggling. It may be just the inter-league play, but the way I see this is the time to rack up the wins, when the outcome of the games really doesn't matter.
When you have to play the Red Sox and Yankees a combined 37 times, you want to have some wins in your back pocket. The Rays have recently given up the lead in the AL East, and will have to climb back in the second half of the season. However, I'm not worried. This is a World Series caliber team and I believe that they will be back in the big show when all is said and done.
That's what being a hapless fan is all about, believing in your team. Of course, Cubs fans still think the Cubs will someday win the World Series. Cleveland fans, well, I think they've pretty much given up hope at this point. Being a fan of the Ray, an actual fan who still owns Devil Ray merchandise, is tough sometimes. They aren't storied like the Yankees, they sucked for ten years and they go cold like no other team.
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