And, waiting in the wings for a likely Sept. cup of joe is Michael Bowden, he of the 2.20 AA era and 58-16 K-W ratio.

Not sure I would call Rasner "young," but I get your point.

Shouldn't Rasner and Joba throw no hitters first?

Of course, the scary part for the rest of the AL east is that David Price might be Tampa's second best starter in August.

i'm officially on the bandwagon of the Rays of Light.

I'm not on that bandwagon yet. They've played 34 at home, only 23 on the road, in a season where lots of teams have had enormous home field advantages.

Shouldn't Rasner and Joba throw no hitters first?

Exactly, though Hughes came close.

And now that Kennedy and Hughes haven't fulfilled expectations, the possibility of Joba not dominating as a starter would be very hard for the Yanks to take.

I'm not on that bandwagon yet. They've played 34 at home, only 23 on the road, in a season where lots of teams have had enormous home field advantages.

But that also suggests there's road field disadvantage for almost everyone and the Rays are just one game under .500 on the road, much better than Boston in fact. If you're going to question their performance based on a large number of home games so far then you also have to have doubt about the Red Sox who have a much larger home/road split.

I actually do agree with the basic premise of your statement though, this road trip is huge for the Rays as well as probably being their toughest one of the season. Going at least 4-5 on it will be a huge point in favor of their staying power.

Good post Darren. Remember though that the BoSox could, if they wished, field a solid rotation of all under-27 year olds: Beckett, Diceman, Lester, Buck, & Masterson. That's... that's nice.

Speaking of quality teams with good young pitchers, I'm officially on the rays bandwagon. Their home road splits... are trendy in baseball and pro sports in general right now. And for real, do the Rays really have tens of thousands of screaming fans that makes it tough for opposing teams, or are they just good? I'm betting on the later, and a rewarding 88 win season for them.

I was at the game tonight, and when Carl Crawford pinch-hit late in the game, I was like, "damn, I didn't even notice Crawford wasn't starting." To me, the Rays have just come a long way. Its awesome. New blood in the league.

Other observation from game: Masterson is nice. He was blazing mid-nineies fastballs and low-nineties sinkers, and he seemed to fearlessly pound the corner that is low and inside to righties with the sinker no matter who was at bat. He left a few fat ones that were smacked out-- no biggie. Boy throws strikes.

The pitches that got tattooed tonight were mainly changeups, for what it's worth.

Boy throws strikes.

Good. He gave up both dingers to left handers though. Still think because of this his future is probably in the bullpen, but he THROWS STRIKES!!!

Masteron appeared to throw a lot of flat breaking pitches last night. I think he did a decent job of battling through it, but he was lucky to escape with only 4 runs allowed.

He also works really well to both sides of the plate. Thanks new NESN CF camera!

i just want to take a minute to say that i'm the guy who went to see justin masterson pitch in harrisburg last august. while there, i saw an excellent sinker, a developing slider, and a dominant performance.

i just made a trip to lakewood to watch drew naylor (admittedly of the phillies) pitch. while there, i saw a tremendous curve, a developing fastball, and a dominant performance. he might only be in low A, but in about a year, look out for naylor.

http://variablesdont.blogspot.com/2008/05/thoughts-on-drew-naylor.html

The AL East
Boy, about two years ago I thought the East was about to cede the title of "Best Division in Baseball" to the Central for a long time, but now, not so much.

The Yankees
Are .500, with a .500 pythag as well. I'll take that.