At the end of last night’s stink bomb I took solace in some conventional wisdom: it is always easier to come back from a blowout loss than a close loss or late loss because the blowout is easier for players to disregard as an aberration.

Woops.

The Rays have dropped 12 games by 4 or more runs this year.  They are 6-6 the day after those losses (including, most recently, a 3-1 loss to Boston in game 1 of their biggest series to date following a blowout in Anaheim).

On the other hand, the Rays have 20 one-run losses.  They are 15-5 the day after those near misses.

Time to dig in tonight.