"Add the Mariners to the list of teams that were no match for the rolling Rays. Now we'll see how they do against history. The Rays swept out of Seattle late Thursday with an 8-0 win that extended their major-league-best record to 21-7 and their amazing road start to 12-1. But their next two stops might be a bit more interesting as they head to Oakland and then to Anaheim, where they have a dismal combined 29-70 record over their first 12 seasons. Thursday's game was the product of the Rays' now-standard formula: strong starting pitching, clutch hitting and sturdy defense. Plus some good timing, such as Willy Aybar, starting ahead of Pat Burrell at designated hitter, knocking in two of the runs. "The starting pitching has obviously been fabulous, there's no other way to describe it," manager Joe Maddon said. "Offensively, we get really hungry when the situation arises, when we get some runners out there the quality of the at-bat just gets better. And defensively, we keep catching it. "We're playing well on all cylinders right now. ... I believe we can play to this standard for a long time." And with good reason. "We feel like we're playing our game and winning the way we want to win,'' Carl Crawford said. "I know it looks like we're off to a fast start but we honestly feel like we can continue to do this because this is just the way we play. Nobody's really doing anything extra.'' There also was a small dose of history as Carlos Peña walked twice to tie Fred McGriff's team record of 305 (and later snapped his 0-for-24 slump) and Evan Longoria extended his hitting streak to a career-high tying 12 games." http://www.tampabay.com/sports/baseball/rays/article1093309.ece
