The Tamba Bay Rays are confusing a lot of the online betting world with their poor team performance batting at .253 to put them 19^th in Major League standings and yet are .310 with runners in scoring positions. Their ability to “Get The Man In” is paying off and they look virtually unstoppable in the tough American league East leading with a 24-10 record.

A few interviews with some key guys at the Rays will give us some insight;

“We seem to be clutch hitting, getting hits when we need them,” Carl Crawford said. “When times come up where we have runners in scoring position, we find a way to get it done. Remember how the hitting was in ’08? It was all about timely hitting.”

In 2008 like 2010 no players had standout career seasons and yet they performed better as a team than in 2009 when they set a franchise record of 803 runs. This year and ’08 they have been able to score at the important times. All players in the clubhouse where t-shirts with the initials “GMTI” or Get The Man In as a clear indication of what was worked on in Spring training:
“I think [what we are doing this season is] unusual a little bit,” Ben Zobrist said. “If you look at our individual stats, a lot of guys were having better years last year at this point. So you look at the ability to be able to score some runs, a lot of that has to do with guys just stepping up.

“A guy like John Jaso for example, coming in here and getting as many hits as he has, as many RBIs as he has very quickly — that’s boosted our offense. And you’ve always got [Evan Longoria], who comes through in the clutch. I think you need to have the right mindset with guys in scoring position. And that was a decided thing during Spring Training that we were working on.”

Zobrist also pointed out that the selfishness of ’09 has been replaced with a new attitude:

“I think overall the hitting has really concentrated on doing whatever you need to do to get the run in,” Zobrist said. “If you have to give yourself up a little bit, we’re willing to do that as a team right now. I don’t know necessarily if we did that as much last year.”

The Rays are looking a really strong bet for a good season and online sportsbooks everywhere are cowering after a rush on the Rays for the World Series. With so long left in the season it will be interesting to see if the Rays can carry on the getting the man in, if they do then watch out Yankees and Phillies because this is a team to fear.

Share this article:

Share/Bookmark