Worst part of this list the the fact that  Rays starter Scott Kazmir did not end up with enough innings to post on the final tally sheets for some of the pitching categories for the years based on his  total innings pitched.

Kazmir missed making the list by  a small margin, but you know baseball, it is all about the statistics. I am going to take the next couple of paragraphs to show you where he would have ranked among the league’s leaders if his innings were on par with them.

Kazmir would have been the American League’s number 2 pitcher with the lowest opponent’s batting average, at .220 for the year. The only pitcher to have a lower average is Boston’s ALCS starter, Diasuke Matsuzaka. 

 Kazmir would have also been the American League leader in strikeout/ 9 innings at 9.81 for the year, but Toronto’s A J Burnett holds down that spot with 9.39 Strikeouts /9 innings.  They were the only 2 AL pitchers to top 9 strikeouts per 9 innings. Kazmir also would have been  2nd in the AL leader in hits per 9 innings at 7.27, and was again topped by only Matzusaka.

So as you can see, Kazmir actually had a better year than we have given him credit for at times. He is just trying to find a healthy medium from being a pure power pitcher to becoming a better pitching artist to use deceotion along with his speed to beat the opposition. Okay, with that out of the way, let’s list the Rays leaders, and their ranking in the American League for 2008.

 

                            Rays Offensive Number for 2008

Category______________Player_______   __Statistic____AL Ranking

Batting Average         Akinora Iwamura             .274                 40th      

Home Runs                 Carlos Pena                      31                  11th

RBI’s                           Carlos Pena                     102                  10th

Runs                           Akinora Iwamura             91                    22nd

Hits                            Akinora Iwamura             172                   19th

Stolen Bases              B J Upton                         44                     2nd

Doubles                     B J Upton                         37                     17th

Caught Stealing       B J Upton                          14                      1st     

Triples                      Carl Crawford**                10                       2nd

                                  Akinora Iwamura              9                       3rd

Slugging %              Evan Longoria                .531                      8th

 

 

** Carl Crawford missed almost the final 2 months of the season and still ended up 2nd in the American League in triples.

 

                          Rays Pitching  Honors for 2008

 

Category__________Pitcher_____________Statistic______________AL Ranking

Wins                          Edwin Jackson                 14 wins                    11th

                                  James Shields                  14 wins                    11th

ERA                          James Shields                     3.56                       12th

Complete Games      James Shields                       3                          5th      

                                  Matt Garza                           3                          5th

Shutouts                   Matt Garza                            2                          3rd

                                  James Shields                     2                          3rd

Strikeouts                 Scott Kazmir                       166                        10th

Opp. Average           Matt Garza                          .245                        9th

K/9 innings             James Shields                      6.70                        18th

Game App.              Dan Wheeler                         70                         11th

Games Starts           James Shields                       33                         5th 

Innings Pitched      James Shields                      215.0                       6th

Saves                       Troy Percival                        28                         9th

Pick-offs                  Scott Kazmir                          4                          8th

 

So as you can see, the Rays did have some people up in the top slots for the  American League’s 2008 Final Statistics of the season. The Rays success this year was based on their renewed starting rotation and the rebirth of the Rays’ Bullpen. Combine that with timely hitting and a great game on the basepaths, and you have a recipe for success in the season and in the shortened Playoff format.

We do not know how far the Rays will go in this years Post Season, but you can bet that where ever and what ever position they end up in this year, it will be a year to remember in Tampa Bay.