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Rays Display Savvy Again In Beating Angels

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By MARC LANCASTER | The Tampa Tribune

Published: August 18, 2008

ST. PETERSBURG The Rays laid it all on the table as the team with the best record in baseball began a three-game visit Monday night.

An effective, if somewhat brief, start by Andy Sonnanstine. A couple of timely long balls by guys who have been down this road before. A bit of clutch defense when it counted, in the form of a double play that ended the eighth. Yeoman's work by the bullpen, capped by Dan Wheeler's second save in as many nights.

This is the kind of play that has put the Rays in position to challenge the Angels' supremacy, and their 6-4 victory in the series opener was the latest indication Tampa Bay might just have what it takes not only to reach October, but to excel there.

It was exactly what Rays manager Joe Maddon wanted to see, in that it was no different from previous games the Rays have played (especially at home) against the powerful Cubs, Red Sox, Angels and others.

"We have played some big series in this ballpark this year, and when the breeding ground is the AL East it kind of sets you up for these kind of moments," said Maddon. "I saw us playing a typical Ray game tonight, from what I've seen all year, and that's exactly what I'm shooting for. There was no extra intensity or less intensity; it was the same approach tonight playing the game and we came out on top.

"Believe me, that's all I want. I don't want any kind of different game-planning, effort, more scouting reports as we get deeper – I don't want any of that. I want to simplify it, actually. I want it to become less complicated and I want to keep their minds clear. That's why I keep emphasizing effort, because the only way we can embarrass ourselves is through lack of effort."

Tampa Bay made its statement early, with Eric Hinske smashing a two-run homer to right off Jon Garland in the second inning. The Rays are now 15-4 in games in which Hinske homers.

After Juan Rivera got one back for the Angels with a towering solo shot in the third, the Rays scored three more times in the bottom half.

All of the damage came with two outs, as Cliff Floyd lined a two-run homer out to right to make it 4-1, and a defensive blunder by Vladimir Guerrero let in one more. Willy Aybar followed Floyd's homer with the second of his three consecutive singles, then came all the way around to score when Hinske singled to right and Guerrero let the ball get under his glove and roll to the wall for an error.

It was all good at that point until momentum began to turn away from the Rays when B.J. Upton once again was made to pay for a lack of hustle on the bases. With two out and Akinori Iwamura on first base in the fourth inning, Upton yanked a 2-0 pitch from Garland to left. It looked as if it might go out, and Upton apparently thought it would, breaking into a trot out of the batter's box.

But not only did it stay in play, Juan Rivera ran it down and fired the ball toward second. No one was covering the bag, but first baseman Mark Teixeira was hustling over and caught the ball on the move as Upton cruised into second, swiping him with a tag just before the unsuspecting center fielder reached the base.

Upton doubled over in disbelief, hands on his knees, after another embarrassing moment in the spotlight. When he next came to bat in the sixth inning, he was roundly booed by the Tropicana Field crowd.

Upton didn't stick around to talk to the media following the game, but Floyd did plenty of talking for him, vowing to take matters into his own hands and find a solution to the younger player's recent lapses.

"I know he cares a great deal," said Floyd. "I talk to him every day, and his mind is there. It's not about getting on him about this; it's about running a ball out. That's the easiest thing you can possibly do. That's the one thing I believe, I promise you, I don't think you'll ever see again. I'm on him about as hard as you can be on him, and I'm not going to lay off until I quit the game."

The latest gaffe cost the Rays a chance to add on to what at the time was a 5-1 lead, and sure enough it wasn't long before the Angels began chipping away. They got locked in on Sonnanstine in the sixth, opening the inning with a Torii Hunter single and Garret Anderson double to the wall that brought Hunter all the way around from first.

Sonnanstine (13-6) retired Howie Kendrick before being lifted in favor of Grant Balfour. Balfour allowed the runner he inherited to score, as Rivera crushed a ball to deep center that ended up being a sacrifice fly after Upton ran it down, and it was a 5-3 game.

"I felt like I pounded the zone and threw strikes," said Sonnanstine, who is now one win shy of tying Rolando Arrojo's franchise record for a season. "I just wish I would have went a little deeper into the game and not used up our bullpen so much."

The Angels inched closer in the seventh, as a Balfour wild pitch proved costly. His misfire moved Erick Aybar, who had singled, over to second with two outs. Guerrero made it count with a sharp single to right that made it 5-4.

A brief scare for the home team was averted in the eighth, when Jason Hammel relieved Trever Miller with one out and walked Kendrick before getting Rivera to ground into an inning-ending double play.

But the Rays got a much-needed add-on run in the eighth, as Justin Ruggiano singled, moved to second on a Dioner Navarro sacrifice and ran through third-base coach Tom Foley's stop sign to score on a Gabe Gross single to center.

Armed with that extra bit of security, Wheeler came on to record his sixth save in an uneventful ninth. The remnants of a crowd of 15,896 was about as loud as it could be at that point, as the Rays locked up another important win and improved to a franchise-record 28 games over .500.

The Rays have now won five of seven this season against an Angels team that has had its way with most other opponents (winning eight of nine against the Red Sox, for instance) and all they wanted to do was keep things rolling.

"They're a great ballclub, and the one thing I've always said is we never really have a problem with those type teams," said Floyd. "We seem to step our game up, and tonight we knew we had to play our best baseball to beat that team."

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