The Rays left The Bronx yesterday two games up on the Red Sox and 6 ½ games up on the Yankees after a pair of losses at the Stadium.
But this young team, which nearly everyone has expected would fall back to the pack, insists it isn’t panicking as it tries to right itself before the All-Star break.
“There’s no concern,” said Edwin Jackson, who pitched well for the Rays in the Yankees’ 2-1, 10-inning win. “We’re nowhere near a state of emergency.”
Still, the Yankees have won four in a row, while Boston took three straight from Minnesota. The Rays, meanwhile, have had difficulty on the road. They are 19-21 away from Tropicana Field. Despite that, manager Joe Maddon didn’t address his team about staying focused.
“There’s no reason to do that,” Maddon said. “We got swept twice in Boston already this year, so we’ve had some tough losses in a row. And actually, we played better here than we did in Boston.”
The pair of games, however, did show this unproven team that while the Red Sox and especially the Yankees, haven’t played up to expectations, that could change. It’s something Maddon expects.
“Absolutely,” Maddon said when asked if he thought the Yankees would be a factor in the AL East race. “No question. I never thought they wouldn’t be.”
Maddon, whose team heads to Cleveland, said before the Yankee series started that he was relying on veterans to help the younger players through the process of being a playoff-caliber team. Cliff Floyd is one of those vets.
“We lose two or three in a row and people expect us to go away,” Floyd said. “The only thing you have to be careful about with a young team at the break is that they play all the way until the break and don’t stop before. We can make a quick swing and go into the break looking good.”