The Tampa Bay Rays continue to laugh right in the face of baseball orthodoxy.
After a loss to the Boston Red Sox on Wednesday, Rays manager Kevin Cash indicated that the team could start right-hander Sergio Romo in all three of their upcoming games against the Baltimore Orioles over the weekend.
“I don’t know what we’re going to do quite yet,” said Cash, according to Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. “I would imagine we’ll be revisiting Sergio starting again. Maybe he’ll start all three games, who knows?”
Romo, a 35-year-old career-long reliever, started two straight games against the righty-heavy Los Angeles Angels last weekend, games which the two teams split. In both contests, Romo got the first few outs and exited by the second inning as Tampa Bay’s bullpen finished out the rest of the game in long relief.
As for Baltimore, another team featuring predominantly right-handed hitters, the strategy may also be useful against them, especially since Rays righty starter Jake Faria just went on the disabled list with an oblique strain.
The Rays received some major blowback for the move the first time around, so it will definitely be interesting to see the reaction they elicit if they do indeed decide to start the same pitcher in every single game of an entire series.
