For Once, September Means Something For A Devil Ray

As Bugs & Cranks noted on Wednesday, Tampa Bay Devil Rays first baseman Carlos Pena broke the team's single-season homerun record earlier this week with his 35th round-tripper of the year, a two-run blast off Baltimore reliever Jim Hoey that broke the mark of 34 that had been shared by Jose Canseco and Aubrey Huff.

Pena followed up his record-breaking performance two days later with a two homer, seven RBI outing as the Rays thrashed the Orioles, 17-2.

I haven't done much more than look briefly at the numbers, but individual homerun totals seem to have dropped in the American League in 2007 (David Ortiz's "difficulties" in hitting the long ball have been well-documented; what often gets overlooked is that his 26 homers are tied for sixth in the league), making Pena's 37 all the more impressive. Even more amazing, however, is that he is just three homeruns away from ending one of the longest current team streaks without a forty homerun hitter: nine full seasons from 1998 to 2006.

I like to think I know something about baseball, but I definitely didn't see this one coming. Consider the following, which appeared nearly two months ago on this very blog in a post titled, "Forty Is The New Thirty":

"In all, seven teams have not had a forty homerun since the start of the 21st century. As currently constituted, at least three of those clubs – the Twins, Pirates and Tigers – have players capable of passing that total: Morneau has 23 homeruns for Minnesota this season and could reach forty if he is not effected long-term by his recent lung injury; fellow Canadian Jason Bay is working on back-to-back seasons of 32 and 35 in Pittsburgh (only 12 at the break this year, however); and Detroit’s Gary Sheffield has recovered from a dismal April to go deep eighteen times since May 1.

The other four – the Royals, Marlins, D-Rays, and Orioles – are situated differently in that none has a clear-cut power hitter on the team and is not likely to spend money on one in free agency (with the possible exception of Baltimore)."

Oops.

At the time that was written, Carlos Pena had 20 homeruns for a crappy team. Apparently he took some offense to the notion that Tampa Bay didn't have a "clear-cut power hitter" and has taken it out on American League pitching ever since: he hit five homeruns in July after the All-Star break, eight in August, and four thus far in September.

If Pena goes deep three more times, the Devil Rays spot as one of two current teams that have never had a forty homerun hitter will be a thing of the past. (The Royals are the other; nobody has ever hit forty for them since their inception in 1969.)

The other five droughts - Minnesota (1970), Pittsburgh (1973), Detroit (1991), Florida (1996), and Baltimore (1998) - appear to be much further from ending. As of right now, only the Marlins have a player with more than thirty homers, and Miguel Cabrera's 31 would require a monster charge in the final three weeks to reach forty this season.

But then, I never thought Carlos Pena would approach forty down in Tampa, so who knows what will happen before 2007 draws to a close.