[With the Rays and Tribe tangling in the Sweet Spot's Series of the Week, I partnered up with Susan Petrone and Stephanie Liscio who write the Sweet Spot's newest member blog It's Pronounced "Lajaway" for a quick and dirty series preview.  To avoid any potential jinx, and to indulge our inner cynics, I wrote "Why the Rays will Lose" over at It's Pronounced "Lajaway."  Susan returned the favor with the post below explaining why the Indians will drop this important May test.  Enjoy. -Mark]

Marquis Heilig of The Rays Area blog asked us if we’d like to do a joint preview of the upcoming Indians-Rays

I found this on Google Image Search. Love Chief Wahoo.

series. We talked about it, and it turns out there are a lot of nervous fans out there on both sides. The SweetSpot has declared the Indians-Rays series the match-up of the week.

What’s a fan to do–talk trash or take a cold shot of reality? We opted for the latter. Thus, herewith, reasons why my team will lose:

1) While Cleveland fans were whining because our guys lost the first two games of the season, the Rays lost the first six (six!) games of the season. They now hold a 20-14 record and are on a hotter upswing than the Tribe. Put it this way: If  you regard the first six games of the season as an anomaly and ignore them, Rays are playing .714 ball since their first win. If you regard our first two losses as anomalies and ignore them, the Tribe is playing .709 ball since their first win. Their hot streak is hotter.

2) The Rays have won their last eight on the road. The Indians have won their last 13 at home. The Law of Averages would seem to be with the Rays.

3)The Rays win the Pretty Boy Death Match. [Mark's note.  Susan and Stephanie gave me the opportunity to weigh-in on this pretty boy death match but I deferred.  Maybe later I will email some photos of Grady Sizemore to The Mrs. to see if she has an opinion.]