During the nightcap of the double header rookie, Jake Odorizzi took to the hill to try and help the Rays to victory after a loss during the day game after a long, 3 hour, rain delay. No doubt Odorizzi did his part in pitching a gem for Tampa, keeping the Rays in the game with 5 2/3 innings 2 strikeouts and no walks only giving up a solo shot to Daniel Nava in the bottom of the second.

The Rays offense was absolutely nonexistent until the top of the ninth when Kelly Johnson, hitting out of the ninth spot in the order hit a solo homerun off Red Sox closer to tie the game at 1, giving Tampa Bay a chance to come back.  Unfortunately for the Rays, former Ray and current Red Sox left fielder Jonny Gomes had other plans, taking Joel Peralta deep over the monster for a two run walk off homerun, giving the Red Sox a 3-1 victory to end a grueling day/night double header.

The big news for this game would be Wil Myers’ first major league hit coming in the top of the second inning with a single to left field.  Myers finished the game 1-4 with a strikeout after going 0-4 during the day game.

Looking ahead to tomorrow Tampa Bay looks to avoid a sweep in Boston as Jeremy Hellickson (4-3, 5.67 ERA) takes to the mound for the Rays against Boston and pitcher Ryan Dempster (4-7, 4.21 ERA) in game 3 of the series for a 7:10 pm start at Fenway Park.

Myers was certainly hot over his last three and a half weeks for Durham, producing an absurd .347/.379/.747 slash line in his last 103 plate appearances. He also hit ten home runs, six doubles, had 32 RBIs and stole five bases as he put a hurting on AAA pitching. Yet, there may still be some cause for concern, as he had twenty strikeouts over that same time frame.

The Rays have 93 games left in their season. Myers should see a lot of action during that stretch, but there is also the caveat that Joe Maddon likes to use all of his players. Plus, the Rays have Ben Zobrist and Matt Joyce, who majority of the time in right field. Since Ryan Roberts was optioned to Durham to make room for Myers, Zobrist will likely see more time at second, which opens up more playing time in right for Myers. Zobrist will move around all over the field to guarantee that Myers plays basically every day. The Rays certainly didn’t call up Myers to sit him on the bench for any period of time.

Given the Rays remaining schedule, that would give him roughly 70 to 75 games as a rough approximation for his playing time. With that, it may be reasonable to figure that he can hit around .260 with somewhere around ten to fifteen home runs while stealing an occasional base. He will also likely strike out a good amount, now that he is facing major league pitchers. If he can make adjustments at the plate, and cut down on his strikeouts, then Myers could end up being another piece in what has been a surprisingly potent Rays lineup.

Given Wil Myers status as a top prospect, and a power hitting outfielder at that, expectations for his debut and the rest of the season may be understandably high, especially given how he performed at Durham. However, the reality is, his major league numbers are fairly unlikely to approach that level, at least at the beginning of his career. Even though a .260 batting average and between ten to fifteen home runs may be thought of as disappointing, those numbers would be perfectly acceptable with the way the Rays offense has produced this year. Anything beyond that would just be a bonus.

Alas, real life does not work as Hollywood would have one believe. In fact, the very premise that Myers may be what the Rays need to carry them into the postseason appears to be flawed. The reason is that the Rays happen to have one of the better offenses in the league. Through Sunday, they rank sixth in runs scored, walks and on base percentage in all of baseball, and are seventh in slugging. They are in the top half of the league in batting average, and have one of the best home run per at bat rates in baseball. The offense has not been the problem.

What the Rays need to salvage their season is for David Price to come back in the same form he displayed over the previous two seasons. They need Jeremy Hellickson to pitch like he did in 2011 and 2012. They need Alex Cobb and Matt Moore to regain their form from the start of this season. And they need Fernando Rodney to locate his plantain and be the dominant closer he was last season.

What Wil Myers will likely provide is another power bat in the lineup, and help make an already solid offense that much better. But unless Myers can throw in the upper 90′s with a knee buckling curveball and a devastating changeup, he is not likely to be the key to saving the Rays season. Therefore, it is highly unlikely that Myers will end up being the savior for the Rays this season–just a complementary piece to an already impressive lineup. Instead of being a savior, Myers will become just another one of the guys, and while the pressure upon him will be high, the fact that his performance won’t make or break the Rays’ season could ease the tension for him significantly.