Regarding it being an enbarassment for the Sox to lose to Tampa, I respectfully disagree. That's based on past history, which has nothing to do with current ability. Just because the team has been horrible for all of their existence, it does not mean they are bad this season.
Think of BB and the way he looks at players. He didn't hesitate to let Milloy or Law go, because he was looking at this year - and not what they did over the last four years before that.
Compare it to the Impossible Dream Season, the Sox were awful for ten or fifteen years before that. They were drawing 10,000 people to a game. 1967 brought one good player who had been around for a few years (Yaz/Crawford), a good pitcher (Lonborg/Kazmir), a bunch of good young players (Rico-Reggie Smith-George Scott / Longoria-Upton-Shields)
Are the Rays going to win the AL East? No. Look at the depth of the Sox, all the way to Pawtucket. It just doesn't compare. Add to that how the two teams compare at full strength (Ortiz and Dice-K healthy, Manny and Tek not in a slump), and the Sox are better.
However, I disagree with those that assume Tampa will fold soon. Due to superior pitching, both up front and in the bullpen, I am confident that they will finish ahead of the Yankees. They have enough veterans (Floyd, Percival, Hinske) to control the locker room. Their weak link is another power hitter to go with Pena. Thing is now they have new ownership, they may for the first time ever become buyers rather than sellers in July.
Scary thing for the Sox is that MLB has proven that anything can happen once you make the playoffs (Marlins, Diamondbacks, etc.) when you have a decent top-3 starting rotation (Kazmir, Shields, Garza). And that is all that small-market low-budget teams like Tampa is asking for.