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Crawford Can Only Watch As Rays Make Playoff Push

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By MARTIN FENNELLY | The Tampa Tribune

Published: August 21, 2008

Updated: 08/21/2008 12:11 am

ST. PETERSBURG - This isn't how Carl Crawford saw it shaking down- his team in its first pennant race and the man who never stands still is sitting at home watching television.

"It's a little different, watching on TV," Crawford said. "It's fun for a little while, but eventually you want to be out there doing the stuff you need to do to help the team."

The most exciting player in Rays history is missing all the excitement.

He sat in the Rays dugout at Tropicana Field before Wednesday's 5-4 loss to the Angels. He was just an hour off a plane from his offseason home in Phoenix, where he underwent surgery last Thursday to repair a tendon injury in his right middle finger. He wears a removable brace on his hand.

The best case is six weeks until his return, in time to join the Rays for their final regular season series or perhaps the postseason.

Perhaps the postseason.

Crawford smiled.

"It is a little different."

It's the time of the Rays' life and Crawford, like rookie third baseman Evan Longoria, isn't in the lineup. It's another hill for the team that has climbed them all season.

Longoria might be back as early as early September.

Crawford? We don't know.

Plans On Returning

"I don't want to really get down too much on it, because I plan on coming back," he said.

His next step is a rehab therapist. The Rays' next step is a trip to Chicago and the White Sox, another playoff contender. Crawford won't make that trip. He'll watch more Rays games on TV, and when they're done, he'll watch something else.

"I watched a lot of the Olympics at home," Crawford said. "I had a good time watching those. I watched a lot of the swimming, a lot of the gymnastics."

Here is Crawford, the Rays' all-time batting leader, game player, base stealer, hit maker, triple banger and run scorer. Here comes the biggest stretch in Rays history. Here he sits.

How much can you watch Michael Phelps before you want to touch the wall first yourself?

Crawford always has finished strong, and was starting to do that when something snapped in that middle finger like a rubber band in Seattle.

He can't even run right now - C.C. not running - because he might sweat into his stitches. He can hardly grip a bat.

This has always been the time of the season when the Rays out-dogged the dog days. Crawford would talk about what he'd give to be in a pennant race.

Well ...

A Void In Left Field

Of course, the Rays have persevered. They're 7-3 since both Crawford and Longoria left the lineup.

"We've been winning like this all year, without certain guys in the lineup," Crawford said. "This is a team that is not built for one person to make it win."

So they went for their second sweep of the Angels this season. Big game.

They didn't get it.

A few of the reasons why made you think of Crawford.

He wasn't in left field.

In the third inning, the Rays saw a 3-0 lead turn to a 4-3 hole, partly because Eric Hinske, who has given his all every night, hustled but couldn't get a soft liner to left center, then couldn't quite grab a ball down the left-field line. He got a glove on the last one. Both runners eventually scored. C.C. maybe makes both plays.

After the Rays naturally came back to tie it in the eighth, the Angels scored in the ninth, partly because Justin Ruggiano, a defensive replacement for Hinske, didn't make a play on a short fly that, sorry, eerily resembled a can of corn, Ruggiano said he didn't lose it in the lights, just that he wanted to keep the ball in front of him. The runner who reached on the fly eventually scored the winning run.

C.C. makes the catch.

Maybe he'll get another chance.

For now, he'll watch.

He'll also check the Red Sox score (Boston kept pace with the Rays by losing in Baltimore), but no TV.

"I don't like watching the Red Sox, really," Crawford said with a grin.

He doesn't really like watching anything.

He likes playing.

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