The Rays keep talking about still being in the playoff race, but they need so start showing it as they have failed to take advantage of the supposed soft stretch of their schedule, 1-3 thus far against the Royals and A's.

And as a result, they begin today 7 1/2 games behind the wild-card leading Yankees and 9 1/2 from first-place Boston.

LHP David Price will be on the mound tonight, and when he throws his first pitch the Rays will tie the mark set by the 1913-17 Washington Senators with their 704th consecutive game started by a pitch under 30.  The stretch dates to May 24, 2007 when RHP Jae Seo started  - on his 30th birthday.

The Rays have used only 14 starters in that stretch, lowest in MLB over that span.

Here are a few other notes on it from the Rays:

Tonight is the 704th straight game in which the Rays have started a pitcher under the age of 30, tying the major league record set by the 1913-17 Washington Senators, led by Hall of Famer Walter Johnson. The Rays are on track to pass this record Wednesday.
The last start by a Rays pitcher 30 or older was RH Jae Seo, who started on his 30th birthday on May 24, 2007 vs. SEA.
Prior to that, the Rays hadn’t started a pitcher 30 or over since 32-year-old LH Mark Hendrickson on June 25, 2006 vs. ATL.
This means the Rays have not started a pitcher beyond his 30th birthday in 835 consecutive games (836 including today)—more than 5 years ago.
In the 703 games (since May 25, 2007) the Rays have used only 14 starters, fewest in MLB.
All 14 were either drafted and developed by the Rays (8) or acquired by trade (6).
Rays are 377-326 (.536) during this time, 5th best in MLB.
All 7 starters used by the Rays this season (Price, Shields, Hellickson, Davis, Niemann, Sonnanstine, Cobb) were drafted and developed by the Rays.
Of the six pitchers listed below who are no longer in the organization, the Rays traded five, netting five players on the active roster: OF Matt Joyce, INF Sean Rodriguez, OF Sam Fuld, C Robinson Chirinos and C Kelly Shoppach.

Starting Pitchers Used During Streak of 703 Games
Pitcher             Starts How Acquired
James Shields        142   2000 June Draft (Rd. 10)
+Matt Garza            94    Trade with MIN, 11/28/07
Andy Sonnanstine   80    2004 June Draft (Rd. 13)
David Price              76    2007 June Draft (Rd. 1)
Jeff Niemann           73    2004 June Draft (Rd. 1)
+Scott Kazmir          71    Trade with NYM, 7/30/04
+Edwin Jackson       54    Trade with LAD, 1/14/06
Wade Davis             53    2004 June Draft (Rd. 3)
Jeremy Hellickson    22    2005 June Draft (Rd. 4)
+Jason Hammel      19     2002 June Draft (Rd. 10)
J.P. Howell              10     Trade with KC, 6/20/06
Alex Cobb                 7     2006 June Draft (Rd. 4)
Casey Fossum         1      Trade with ARI, 2/6/05
+Mitch Talbot           1      Trade with HOU, 7/20/06
+ Traded away from Rays