Tampa Bay Rays finish June with a flourish

July 1, 2:28 AMTampa Bay Rays ExaminerRob Quinn

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Upton's swing is sweet once again AP/Chris O'Meara

The month of June is officially in the books and the Tampa Bay Rays are sorry to see it go. Tuesday’s 4-1 win over the Toronto Blue Jays gave the Rays a 19-7 record for the month. It was the third-best record of any month in franchise history. The Rays posted a 21-7 mark in August of 2008 and a surprising 20-6 mark in June of 2004. Many of the early-season problems are now ancient history as the Rays have won seven in a row and they are officially the team nobody wants to play.

Let’s take a look at the main problems early in the season and how those one-time weaknesses are now strengths.

B.J. Upton

Upton entered June with a miserable .204 average, .587 OPS, 2 homers and 9 RBI for the season. Rays’ fans were calling for manager Joe Maddon to remove him from the leadoff spot and move him down in the order until he found his stride. Well, no lineup adjustment was necessary and Upton put up the following numbers in June:

• .324 BA, 5 HR, 22 RBI, 20 R, 15 SB, .939 OPS

In a month when Jason Bartlett and Evan Longoria battled injuries, Upton stepped up and was a key factor in the Rays’ charge up the standings.

The Gabes

Gabe Kapler entered June hitting .178 with no homers on the season. He’s been a part-time player, but in June his contributions were big-time. He went 12-for-27 in the month for a .444 average including 4 homers, 10 extra-base hits, and 14 RBI.

Gabe Gross struggled early in the season and finished May hitting .247. Rays’ fans couldn’t decide who they would rather throw under the bus – Gross or Kapler. But Gross, like Kapler, is back in good graces with the fans after hitting .333 with an OBP of .441 in June.

Starting Pitchers

After an inconsistent start to the season in which the staff as a whole struggled to go deep into games and left the bullpen fatigued, June was a complete turnaround. Every starter seemingly had a solid month. Take a quick look:

• Shields – 2-1, 3.15 ERA, 8-to-1 K/BB ratio
• Garza – 2-1, 2.93 ERA
• Niemann – 3-0, 3.10 ERA, first complete game shutout, 0 HR allowed
• Sonnanstine – 3-2, 1.144 WHIP (good enough for a demotion)

David Price, at 1-2, was the only starter with a losing record in the month. Scott Kazmir is back and pitched effectively in his return though he only went five innings. Sonnanstine had his best month of the season in May, but was squeezed out of the rotation when Kazmir came off the disabled list. This is the deep, effective, consistent pitching staff the Rays imagined it would be when breaking camp.

The Bullpen

Remember the questions surrounding the Rays’ bullpen in April and May? Is Troy Percival really the closer? Will Joe Maddon ever get these guys comfortable in their roles? Will they get burned out because the starters are only going five innings every night?

J.P. Howell has now settled into the closer’s role, though he’s not going to be used quite like most teams use their traditional closers. He’ll be used plenty in tie games or even when trailing if necessary. He’s proven to be more than capable of getting the necessary outs in any situation. How about these June numbers from Howell:

• 4-0, 5 saves, 13 IP, 15 K, 0.00 ERA, .133 BAA

It hasn’t just been Howell, either. Joe Nelson, Grant Balfour, Randy Choate, and Dan Wheeler have all settled in and found the comfort zone in June.

• Nelson – 10.2 IP, 1-0, 9 K, 0.281 WHIP, .059 BAA
• Balfour – 12.1 IP, 13 K, 2.92 ERA, .222 BAA
• Choate – 9.1 IP, 9 K, 0.96 ERA, .125 BAA
• Wheeler – 10 IP, 1-0, 1.80 ERA, 0 BB

The recently activated Chad Bradford has given Joe Maddon even more depth in the bullpen. The increased effectiveness of this group along with the better performances from the starters even allowed Maddon to give the overworked Lance Cormier some valuable rest in June. Cormier pitched only 7 innings all month after working 18 in April and 19 in May.

The AL East standings heading into July:

The Rays are making their move – they trail the Yankees by just 1.5 games in the wild-card race, though it’s quite early to be thinking about the wild card. A sweep of the Blue Jays will help make the AL East a three-team race and the Rays can accomplish that on Wednesday afternoon as James Shields will be opposed by Ricky Romero at 1:07 p.m.

Do you think the Rays need to make any changes right now, or do you think they’ve found their game and will contend the rest of the season? Let me know in a comment.

Jason Bartlett hits: 79

Jason Bartlett groundball singles between short and third: 14

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