With the defending World Series champion New York Yankees and the highly improved Boston Red Sox in their division the Tampa Bay Rays, American League champions in 2008, may be the forgotten team in the toughest division in baseball, the AL East.

The baseball world is projecting an above average season for the Rays, somewhere in the area of 90 wins, which in the AL East normally means a third place finish as your best result.

What’s to say the Rays cannot put up a higher win total and shockingly win the AL East or even oust one of their AL East rivals for the wild card spot?

The Rays feature a very complete squad, full of young talented players and an excellent coaching staff led by Joe Maddon.

The Rays starting pitching staff could easily be one of the best in baseball led by James Shields & Matt Garza who are joined by David Price, Jeff Niemann and one of either Wade Davis or Andy Sonnanstine.

Aside from Sonnanstine, all of the above listed pitchers are big, strong power type pitchers who are also durable and have plenty of mileage to withstand a full on season.

Shields and Garza have proven over the last few years that they are both capable of completely controlling a game.

Shields has won more than 10 games in each of the last three seasons and has also surpassed the 200 inning plateau along the same time period. His earned run average was at its highest last season at 4.14, which is still a very respectable mark.

Despite only winning nine ball games last season Garza was still impressive. He pitched over 200 innings (203 to be exact) for the first time in his career striking out 189 batters in the process. Garza like Shields is a workhorse who likes to finish what he started and can go deep into games when necessary.

"Big Game" James Shields heads a talented Rays staff.

Price, a former first overall selection in 2007 got to showcase his stuff for almost a full season at the Major League level last year, going 10-7 with a 4.42ERA in 23 games started.

Price is a big, strong left hander who the Rays project as a front of the line starter for years down the road. Price held opponents to a .241 average and looks to only improve upon last season which could make him a deadly weapon in the Rays starting rotation.

Niemann was a surprise in his rookie campaign for the Rays last season winning a rotation best 13 games for the Rays.

Niemann, a tower of intimidation on the mound at 6’9 was very close to winning American League Rookie of the Year losing to Oakland’s Andrew Bailey.

Niemann logged over 180 innings of work in his rookie campaign which is quite a bit for a rookie, but his arm seems to be holding up just fine thus far in Spring Training, as he has pitched solidly in three starts.

The final rotation spot for the Rays is between Andy Sonnanstine, a 13 game winner in 2008 and young pitching phenom Wade Davis, a rookie who impressed in six starts for the Rays at the end of last season.

Sonnanstine has the experience edge, but the Rays feel Davis is more than Major League ready, which is what prompted the Rays to trade Scott Kazmir to the Los Angles Angels of Anaheim last season.

Davis seems like the better fit with Sonnanstine more fitted to a long relief role in the bullpen, but should Davis fail early in the season expect Sonnanstine to be his replacement.

Aside from a loaded and talented starting pitching staff the Rays feature a bullpen that can pitch with the best of them.

Last season the Rays were missing one key element in an otherwise solid bullpen, a closer. The Rays addressed this concern by acquiring Rafael Soriano from the Atlanta Braves for Jesse Chavez in the off-season.

Soriano will anchor the backend of the Rays bullpen, hopefully continuing his success of last season where he converted 27 of 31 save chances with an ERA of 2.97 while striking out 102 in 75.2 innings of work. Soriano also held opponents to a .194 batting average.

If Soriano can stay healthy the Rays may have found themselves the closer they desperately needed last season.

Can the addition of Rafael Soriano as closer help solidify the Rays bullpen?

Joining Soriano in the bullpen is hard throwing Aussie Grant Balfour, finesse man J.P Howell, situational lefty Randy Choate, righty Lance Cormier & veteran Dan Wheeler.

All returnees from last season.

Dale Thayer is also on the Rays active roster and did pitch in minimal work for the club last season while the Rays also added Mike Ekstrom to their roster in the offseason via waivers from the San Diego Padres.

The Rays also have Jeremy Hellickson, Jake McGee & Alexander Torres on their spring roster, but they are definite long shots to make the squad, while non roster invitee Joaquin Benoit and a slew of others have a chance at making the team out of spring.

The Rays infield remains as one of the better defensive units in all of baseball, while packing a punch from the plate.

The Rays will see the return of Evan Longoria at third, Jason Bartlett at shortstop, Ben Zobrist at second & Carlos Pena at first.

Longoria continues to prove that he is an elite player in the Majors despite only being 24 years old, notching his second All-Star appearance last season.

Longoria improved upon his Rookie of the Year season in 2008 by hitting for an average of .281 while hitting 33HR & driving in 113RBI in 2009. Longoria earned a Silver Slugger award for his offensive contributions.

Along with his potent offense Longoria earned his first Gold Glove award at third, allowing 13 errors in 150 started games last season for the Rays.

The Rays feature one of the more under-rated players in the game at shortstop in team leader Jason Bartlett.

Bartlett had a career year last season hitting .320 with 14HR & 66RBI while stealing 30 bases and getting on base at a .389 clip.

Bartlett also played solid defense at short for Tampa and can only improve as time goes on.

At second base Ben Zobrist had such an impressive season for the Rays filling in for starter Akinori Iwamura the Rays were forced to trade the Japanese import to the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Zobrist had a monster year hitting .297 with 27HR & 91RBI, all a career high in his first season as a full time player. “Zorilla” as teammates and fans like to call him, also stole seventeen bases and got on base at a ridiculous .405 mark.

Zobrist was all over the field for the Rays last season playing second base, the outfield, first base, pretty much anywhere he could get himself at bats.

This season Zobrist is inline to play second base on an everyday basis and if he can continue to put up numbers similar to last season he may be considered one of the best trade steals of all time, as the Rays acquired Zobrist from the Houston Astros along with pitcher Mitch Talbot for Aubrey Huff.

Will "Zorilla" have another monster-like season?

The Rays big power source in their everyday line-up comes from Carlos Pena at the first base position.

Pena, once a scrap heap pickup for the Rays is now one of the most feared home run hitters in baseball.

Pena jacked 39HR while driving in 100RBI last season for the Rays. The Rays never expect much from an average standpoint out of Pena who hit a measly .227 last season.

Pena, who won a Gold Glove in 2008, continued impressive defensive play at first with only 10 errors in 1155 innings played, although that was an increase from his 2008 totals.

Pena is eligible for free agency after this season and is expected to enter the field with other notable free agent first baseman such as Lance Berkman, Derrek Lee & Paul Konerko, so Pena will want to have an outstanding year to gain himself a possible big ticket contract if the Rays allow him to leave.

Finally, in the infield the Rays improved at yet another position where they suffered offensively last season, the catcher position.

The Rays traded for Cleveland Indians power hitting catcher Kelly Shoppach in exchange for pitcher Mitch Talbot in the off-season to split catching duties with underachieving Dioner Navarro.

The one-two punch of Navarro and Shoppach could be deadly if Navarro returns to his 2008 form where he hit .295. Add the high average of Navarro and Shoppach’s possible power potential (21HR in 2008) and the Rays may have the catching combo they will need to win ballgames.

Defensively the pair is above average with Navarro having the better arm as well as defensive numbers behind the plate.

In the outfield the Rays feature one of the best all around five tool players in the American League in left fielder Carl Crawford along with highly talented centre fielder BJ Upton and returning veteran Gabe Kapler in right field.

Crawford had an outstanding year for the Rays in 2009, gaining his third All-Star appearance and an All-Star game MVP, while hitting .305 with 15HR & 68RBI and stealing 60 bases while getting on base at a .364 mark.

Crawford manned left field for the Rays in a superb manner; only making four errors in 1282.2 innings played and may have been overlooked for his first Gold Glove.

Crawford, who is every scouts dream, mixes power, speed, athleticism and agility into his game and is in the final year of his contract. Many teams including the powerhouse New York Yankees are licking their chops at acquiring a player such as Crawford, which leads me to believe that he will have a career year in almost every statistical category.

BJ Upton has been a bit of an enigma at times for the Rays, possessing the talent and potential to dominate a game offensively and dazzle defensively.

After having a stellar 2008 playoffs, Upton was sprung into the spotlight for the Rays only to disappoint in 2009 with 11HR & 55RBI in 144 games played while hitting .241.

One of the only positives for Upton in 2009 was his 42 stolen bases in 56 attempts.

Upton has not lived up to his hype. Some may attribute that to injuries, some to laziness, and some seeing him being too hyped up as the next big thing.

Upton has told the media he is 100% healthy this season, beginning his hitting regime months ahead of schedule.

Perhaps the large contract handed to his younger brother Justin by the Arizona Diamondbacks is also more of a reason for BJ to step up his game and show the world that all the hype surrounding him is in fact true.

Rounding out the outfield is veteran Gabe Kapler, who shared right field duties last season with Gabe Gross.

Kapler, who had retired from baseball to coach prior to his reemergence in Milwaukee as a Brewer in 2008 is the grandfather of his ballclub at 34 years of age.

Kapler’s offensive numbers are not high for a starting right fielder having split time with Gross last season. Kapler hit .239 with 8HR & 32RBI in 205 at bats.

It’s quite possible Kapler could share right field duties with highly touted outfielder Matt Joyce, who is having a great spring or Justin Ruggiano who is having an even better spring than Joyce.

Kapler’s veteran presence should help either of the two younger players in Ruggiano or Joyce improve in their day to day games, which is a sign of why Kapler is a crucial part of this ballclub.

Finally, rounding out the Rays starting lineup is Pat Burrell.

Burrell came to the Rays last offseason via free agency as the extra needed pop they required from the designated hitter’s role and Burrell failed miserably in his first season as a Ray.

Burrell only hit .221 with 14HR & 64RBI even though he got the majority of at-bats out of the DH spot.

Burrell also did not have to play nearly as much defensively which means he should have been well rested for his new role.

Burrell will need to turn things around because his two year deal with the Rays ends after this season and being only 34 when the season comes to an end Burrell will most likely seek a new deal.

If Burrell can provide closer to 90RBI’s per season out of the Rays DH spot than the Rays should be in good shape as far as the DH situation is concerned.

Pat Burrell will need to turn things around in '10.

The Rays also feature an above average bench with an outstanding super utility man in Willy Aybar who can just about play anywhere in the infield except catcher and features enough pop (12HR, 41RBI) to DH if Burrell struggles like last season.

Joining Aybar is either Navarro or Shoppach at catcher, whichever does not play that day, possible young outfielders Matt Joyce and/or Justin Ruggiano and most likely Sean Rodriguez (acquired in the Kazmir trade) who is tearing it up in Spring Training (.433, 5HR, 11RBI).

Other bench candidates are shortstop Reid Brignac (.379, 0HR, 13RBI in ’10 spring), second baseman Elliott Johnson (.360, 0HR, 3BI in ‘10 spring) & first baseman Dan Johnson (.238, 0HR, 0RBI in ’10 spring).

The Rays also invited veteran Hank Blalock to spring as he has the best shot amongst the non-roster invitees of making the squad. Blalock cranked 25HR for the Rangers last season.

The Rays are a very good all around ballclub featuring some of the most talented, young ballplayers in the MLB.

If the Rays can have turn around seasons from Burrell & Upton and maintain what they have been doing for the last two seasons playing their up-tempo speed game mixed with a nice assortment of power, pitching and defense I could see the Rays surprising everyone and sliding their way into a playoff spot.

However, if the Rays have a similar season to 2009, expect another third place finish behind the Yankees and Red Sox in the toughest division of them all.

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Thanks to back to back home runs in the 9^th inning by Carl Crawford and Evan Longoria, the Rays were able to sweep the Yankees in a two game set. Mariano Rivera surrendered the long balls for the first time in his career.

After allowing the second one to Longoria, Mariano got Carlos Pena for the second out of the inning. And then, a move by manager Joe Girardi shocked the stadium when he took out his future hall of fame closer. It was like if J.J. Abrahm told William Shatner that he couldn’t be in the new Star Trek movie…oh wait, that actually happened. And who did Girardi bring in to relieve Mo? That would be no other than David Robertson who has a career 5.19 ERA in 29 career games. Needless to say Robertson got Pat Burrell out on two pitches.

In the bottom of the 9^th, Brian Shouse provided the Rays with the first two outs of the inning by getting lefties Hideki Matsui and Robinson Cantu. Then Joe Nelson came in to get out Nick Swisher to end the game while accumulating his first save of the season. (I honestly don’t see why he got a save. Sure I know it was a close game and he finished out the inning but I grew up learning you need to pitch an entire inning or come in with runners on. This is just like Bill Simmons’ rant about how the ‘assist’ in basketball doesn’t mean that much anymore. But that’s a discussion for another time, back to the Rays).

But before the ending that made Yankee fans curse Mariano Rivera in their $1250 dollar seats, New York brought some life into “Coors East” when Johnny Damon cracked his seventh home run of the year against reliever Dan Wheeler; knotting things at six a piece. Wheeler’s ERA has been less than desirable at a cool 7.84 after tonight’s two run inning. And before Wheeler’s performance, Lance Cormier also gave up two runs in 1.2 innings.

Although the Rays pen blew two leads in the game, it needs to be noted that starter Jeff Neimann only went 3.1 innings. But with all the work that the bullpen had to do over the past two games against the Yankees, they are not in good shape going into a three game set at Fenway Park against the Boston Red Sox.

The Rays will need a lengthy start by James Shields on Friday night to set the tone for the series and save the bullpen the best he can. He will be going up against Brad Penny who kept the Rays pretty much at bay (compared to the other Sox starters during last weekend’s series) although he still got the loss.

Overall, this series will be a battle and might just be what the Rays need to jump start them towards the top of the division once again (technically they are on a hot streak right now as they are winners of three straight and 6 of 8).

He turns 40 on August 9^th but he will be (and currently still is) one of the most crucial pieces to the Rays American League title defense. And that would be no other than closer Troy Percival who saved his fourth game of the season on Tuesday.

I’ve been waiting a long time for this guy to crumble on the mound kind of the way Bryce Florie did, but hopefully in a more humane and less bloody type of way. It’s not that I hope for him to get injured, it’s just that I saw the 2005 season, the non 2006 season, and the injury plagued 2008 season and what I gathered from that was nothing too positive.

It’s inevitable that the future hall of fame closer who ranks fourth on the current list of active closers (if you include Billy Wagner as active) won’t be able to last the season unharmed like it was inevitable that Kim Bauer was going to make a return to 24 at some point.

However, Percival is defying all odds (or at least from my standards) as the Rays closer. Percival still needs help from the other members of the pen to limit his outings to one inning outings. Or better yet, getting a save after pitching a third of an inning as he did on Tuesday would be ideal.

Because the Rays season has been so out of whack, he hasn’t had many chances for saves. It seems as if Tampa Bay either wins big or loses the game. Before he racked up his third save on May 3^rd, Percival had a stretch of four games where he came into the game with his team losing.

The one thing that many of the so called experts wrote off about the Rays is that they didn’t have that shut down closer as the Red Sox do with Jonathan Papelbon and as the Yankees do with Mariano Rivera; and personally, I don’t blame them.

If Percival somehow manages being effective and not finding himself on an extended vacation on the disabled list, the Rays have a chance to go back to the top of the class in the American League.

After losing their last six series, the Tampa Bay Rays got just what they needed when the Boston Red Sox strolled into St. Petersburg.

The Rays took three out of four against their new found rival, the Boston Red Sox.

In the first game, Matt Garza carried a perfect game into the seventh when Jacoby Ellsbury broke it up with a little dribbler just out of the reach of Garza. In addition to the excellent pitching performance, the Rays offense exploded for 13 runs. The game also saw Javier Lopez shag some balls out in right field after Terry Francona had seen enough of his abysmal performance. Francona brought in rookie outfielder Jonathan Van Every who found a way to end the inning.

The second game was going the Red Sox way as they boasted a 2-0 lead. Justin Masterson was on cruise control until the sixth fifth inning where he unraveled. After loading the bases with only one out, Masterson surrendered a sacrifice fly to B.J. Upton and gave the Sox a glimpse of hope that they would be able to end this inning with the lead still intact.

Then Masterson walked Crawford to load the bases once again and what happened next left the Red Sox in disgust. Evan Longoria came to the plate and unloaded on the pitch, hitting it over the wall for a grand slam. The next batter was Carlos Pena who also decided to go deep helping in the 6-2 win by Tampa Bay.

On Saturday night, the Red Sox jumped on Jeff Niemann who allowed six runs in just three innings of work. Although the Rays were able to score five runs in five innings off of Tim Wakefield, the Sox bullpen puzzled the Rays offense for much of the rest of the game.

In the Sunday finale, the Rays got back on their winning ways led by a stolen base explosion by Carl Crawford. Crawford tied the modern day record for bases theft in a game with six. James Shields pitched into the seventh inning while only allowing two runs en route to a 5-3 victory. Troy Percival also etched his third save of the season.

After winning the series, the Rays still are at four games under .500 with a 11-15 record. The team looks to continue their hot streak as Baltimore comes into town tonight. After a two game stretch, the Rays head to New York to face the Yankees in another two game series. After playing in the new Yankee Stadium for the first time, the Rays head to historic Fenway Park where they will battle the Sox once again.

Although it is early, this upcoming week should be looked at as very important for this team as all of their upcoming foes are AL East opponents. Taking three from the Boston Red Sox may be just what this team needs to get back on their winning ways.