Rays rocky on the road

August 11, 11:35 AMTampa Bay Rays ExaminerRob Quinn

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Price has struggled away from the Trop. AP/Chris O'Meara

It’s quite obvious – the Rays are terrible on the road. When Ben Zobrist’s home run bid fell into the glove of Juan Rivera for the final out of an 8-7 loss last night, the Rays’ road record dropped to 25-33 on the year. Only the Tigers and Giants have worse road records among MLB teams who are above .500 overall. Championship caliber teams, as the Rays were a year ago, generally play very close to .500 ball on the road and dominate at home. The Rays have dominated at home, going 36-18, but their play on the road has been the missing link this season.

Pitching:

The most telling number to illustrate the team’s ineffectiveness on the road is this: the Rays’ starting staff has managed to produce only 18 quality starts on the road this season, compared to 33 at home.

The entire staff is culpable. Here is a break down of the starters’ home vs. road numbers:

Aside from Kazmir, who has been bad at home as well as on the road, the home v. road numbers are absolutely staggering. Jim Hickey? Help.

Hitting:

The offense is partly to blame for the road woes as well. The team is scoring only 4.93 runs per game on the road as opposed to 5.61 at home. A big reason for this scoring differential is the running game. The Rays have 90 steals at home and only 65 on the road, and their ability to score runs is heavily dependent on cranking up the running game.

The culprits:

Are the Rays just a bad team that plays abnormally well at home? Probably not. They know they are better than what they’ve displayed in places like Seattle and Cleveland and Oakland this season.

Despite the lackluster play on the road, the Rays are right in the thick of the wild-card race.

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Tonight’s matchup: David Price vs. Ervin Santana at 10:05 p.m. eastern on Fox Sports Florida. The Rays need it.

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Will the Rays finally start winning on the road? Can they still make the playoffs playing sub-.500 ball away from the Trop? Let me know in a comment.

Jason Bartlett hits: 112

Jason Bartlett groundball singles between short and third: 22

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