Rays shining like never before

For the first time in their 11-year history, there's been a lot to celebrate in Tampa this season. J. Meric/Getty Images

Because they are who they are, it's easy to dismiss the Tampa Bay Rays as just another May mirage that will disappear in the heat of another long baseball season. Give 'em a pat on their helmets, a swat on the butt and, come June or July, send them on their underwhelming way.

But should we really be so ready to relegate the Rays to flash-in-the-pan status? To disbelieve what we're seeing the first six weeks of this long, long season? To figure that, eventually, they're bound to revert to their old Rays-ishness?

Right now, these re-christened Rays are looking nothing like the old, unreliable Devil Rays. These Rays appear to be a lot more than mere division fodder for the Yankees and Red Sox. These Rays look like legitimate, capable contenders.

Believe it. Because they certainly do.

"It's amazing, isn't it?" says Tampa Bay right-hander James Shields. "We know we can compete in this league."

That kind of talk out of anyone used to be reserved for spring training, and even then it was met with a "Sure, you can," wave of the hand. But these Rays, already, have done things never before accomplished in the history of the franchise. In first place in the American League East this late in the season for the first time since their inception in 1998, flying higher over the .500 mark than they've ever been at any time in a season, with the best record in the AL -- the league's best record! -- the Rays are the hottest thing to come out of the Tampa area since George Steinbrenner last blew a gasket.

They have some of the best starting pitching in the league. They have a feared bullpen. They have the kind of speed and defense that other teams wish they had. And if they don't out-mash other teams -- and they don't -- they can flash the occasional power, and they can score in ways that other teams simply can't.

Look at the Rays. Look at the unquestionable talent. Look at what they've done to teams recently, especially during their recent six-game winning streak, stopped Wednesday by the Yankees in another well-played game.

First place? Why the heck not?

"It is an accomplishment. But that's not our goal," says the team's young general manager, Andrew Friedman, "Our goal is not to be in first place on May 14. It's to win 90 plus games and be in the playoffs."

There are a lot of reasons to believe in the Rays. To name just a few:

• A rotation with Shields, ace Scott Kazmir, Edwin Jackson, Andy Sonnanstine and offseason acquisition Matt Garza. Tampa Bay starters have a 3.98 ERA, fifth in the league. They have a 1.27 ERA over the last seven games.

• The bullpen, which has a 3.12 ERA, second in the AL. Resurrected closer Troy Percival has nine saves in 11 tries and a 2.40 ERA. Right-hander Dan Wheeler, obtained in a trade with the Astros last July, has a 1.29 ERA. Lefty J.P. Howell has been the workhorse with 27 innings so far and a respectable 2.67 ERA.

• The defense. It's very good. Left fielder Carl Crawford made a diving, back-handed catch in left-center field against the Angels earlier this month that Friedman says "not another left fielder in baseball" would have made.

• The lineup. The Rays are 19th in the majors in slugging percentage (.389) in slugging and just slightly better than that at getting on base (15th, .329). But they lead the league in stolen bases and they score, on average, more than a half run more than they give up. What's most glaring is that, other than catcher Dioner Navarro (.387, .425 on-base percentage), no one is playing above his head right now. First baseman Carlos Pena (.218, .317 OBP), who hit 46 home runs last season, is just starting to come around. Everybody else is either about where they should be, or below.

These Rays are defined by a lot of things outside the statistically obvious, too. After a brutal April that included injuries to several important members of the team, including Kazmir, Garza, Navarro and designated hitter Cliff Floyd, the Rays finally started to see things go their way with back-to-back home sweeps of the Blue Jays and Red Sox. Boston returned the favor the next weekend at Fenway Park, wiping out the Rays in three straight games, a kind of put-them-in-their-place statement by the defending World Series champs.

The old Devil Rays might have crumbled from something like that. The new Rays went to Toronto and won two of three, starting a six-game winning streak that included a sweep of the AL West-leading Angels at home and winning the first two-games of their current series against the Yankees. Tampa Bay now has won 15 of its last 21. Eighteen of those games have been against teams that finished last season with a winning record.

"That's the whole thing. The last couple of years the problem we've had is we haven't stopped the losing streaks, man," says Shields, who was a tough-luck loser in Wednesday night's streak-breaking loss to the Yankees. "We're going to lose our share of games, but we can't lose 12 in a row. As a starter, if we lose three straight, we feel like we have somebody there to stop things."