As Andrew Johnson discussed in Starting Five earlier Monday, the Tampa Bay Rays' season has slipped through their fingers after being swept by the Tigers at home this weekend. There won't be an encore to their magical 2008. Though they're not mathematically eliminated from the playoffs just yet, overcoming a seven-game deficit for the AL wild card would be pretty tough, and now, it just got a bit harder.That's because the Rays learned today that they won't have the services of slugging first baseman Carlos Pena for the rest of the season.
Pena was hit by a pitch on his left hand during the first game of Tampa Bay's doubleheader with the Yankees on Monday afternoon, and it broke both the middle and index fingers on the hand. To add insult to the injury, the ball that hit Pena was ruled a strike as he tried to check his swing before the ball hit his hand and the bat before going foul.Pena was hitting only .228 this season, but he had an OPS of .895 with 39 homers -- 12 of which came in August -- and 100 runs driven in. He was 7 home runs short of his career high. It's the third straight season with at least 30 homers and 100 RBI since Pena joined the Rays in 2007.
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Pena is one of the greates players the Rays have ever had. Hitting him could have been on purpose, and i believe that. Hope the hit does not hurt his career.