Wade Davis is Pretty Good, Too

In his second start of 2010, he shined against the Red Sox at Fenway Park.

Five days later, he shut down the White Sox in Chicago.

After that, he beat the hot Oakland A’s.

But his best start came two days ago.

Yes, I’m talking about Wade Davis.

Going into Sunday’s game, the Rays had lost two of the first three games against Kansas City. Fans were afraid that the Royals would deliver another loss behind the arm of the defending Cy Young award winner Zack Greinke.

It was a good thing Davis was up to the challenge once again.

The Rays No. 5 starter out-dueled Greinke, as Evan Longoria’s solo home run was all he needed to seal a 1-0 victory and a series split. He went seven strong, striking out five and allowing only six base-runners.

Davis is pitching well. That’s not what’s impressing me. I expected him to pitch just as well as the other Rays starters.

Here’s what is impressing me.

In his five starts this season, Davis has faced (in order): C.C. Sabathia, Josh Beckett, Mark Buehrle, Ben Sheets and Zack Greinke. What do they have in common?

They’re all aces. Talk about a raw deal.

But Davis had delivered, beating Buehrle, Sheets, Greinke, and matching Beckett pitch for pitch in a no-decision.

His only shaky start was his first of the season against the Yankees when he pitched 6 innings, giving up 4 runs. A shaky start, but I’ll take that against the Yanks.

Davis is not only beating good teams, he’s beating their best pitchers. His composure and his will to win make his future extremely bright. Not to mention his top of the rotation stuff.

But it’s easy to forget about Davis in a pool with names like Shields, Garza, Niemann and Price. They have been dominant as well. The five man tandem the Rays possess may be the best in baseball. And the rest of the league is taking notice. They combine for a 14-3 record and a 2.64 Earned Run Average.

The Rays are the only team in baseball that can make the case for having five aces for starters. The guy they actually call their ace, James Shields, may be their worst pitcher (not to say that’s a bad thing).

The fact is that this team is built for the present and for the future. They are one of the few teams that can out-pitch and out-slug any team in the majors. You’d be hard pressed to convince me that this team can’t win for years to come.