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Iwamura's Poise, Patience Pay Off

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Dan Wheeler and Carlos Pena celebrate after the Rays' win Saturday afternoon in Chicago.

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By MARC LANCASTER

The Tampa Tribune

Published: August 24, 2008

CHICAGO - Looking for a microcosm of how the Rays have played lately? Check out Akinori Iwamura's at-bat in the eighth inning of Saturday's game.

Tampa Bay had just driven White Sox starter Javier Vazquez - who was perfect through 5 2/3 innings - from the game by loading the bases to lead off the eighth. On came towering lefty Matt Thornton, who bore down on Iwamura by machine-gunning 96- to 98-mph fastballs toward the plate.

Twelve pitches into the at-bat, it was a stalemate. Iwamura had responded to a full count by fouling off seven consecutive deliveries, most of them just flicks of the bat designed to keep him alive and some coming on pitches that might have been ball four. Finally, Thornton cracked. He zoomed a fastball high for a clear ball and Iwamura trotted to first base as Dioner Navarro came in to score.

The Rays tied the game when B.J. Upton followed Iwamura's effort with an infield single and took the lead on a two-run Carlos Pena single, but their scrappy leadoff man got plenty of credit for a 5-3 victory that guaranteed another series win.

"That's not easy, man," Pena said. "You've got to be cold-blooded to be in that situation and only focus on seeing the ball and staying in your zone and stuff like that. Needless to say, it's not normal for a human being to stay poised in a situation like that, and Aki did it unbelievably and ended up walking and pushing a run to the plate."

Unbelievable poise seems to be a team-wide trait these days. It starts to feel a bit hokey when the Rays continually reference their determination never to give up on a game until the final out is recorded, but they keep backing it up.

In the first two games of this series, the Rays have scored four runs in the first through seventh innings and 10 in the eighth and ninth. Those late surges against Chicago's bullpen have provided a couple more come-from-behind victories.

"Once the eighth inning comes around, it seems like we just change our whole approach," Scott Kazmir said. "It feels like we're just locked in. I don't know any other way to explain it - just look at the at-bats that we're taking."

Iwamura's was an all-timer and completely unforeseen. He walked to the plate Saturday 0-for-5 with four strikeouts in previous at-bats against Thornton, but he found a way to get it done.

"I knew he was a great pitcher with a great fastball, and he throws real hard," Iwamura said through an interpreter. "But I knew the situation with the bases loaded, and I was trying to get the runs in at the time."

Iwamura also was responsible for the Rays' first run, courtesy of a timely breakthrough on Vazquez. The right-hander had been untouchable, not allowing a base runner until Jason Bartlett doubled down the left-field line with two out in the sixth. Iwamura made that hit more than a footnote by reaching out to poke a run-scoring single to center that cut the Chicago lead to 2-1.

The White Sox got one back in the bottom of the inning when Jermaine Dye homered off Kazmir for the second consecutive trip to the plate, but it was all Rays once the eighth inning rolled around.

Tampa Bay's win and Toronto's 11-0 demolition of the Red Sox boosted the Rays' division lead to 51/2 games, their most ever. The Rays also clinched only their second series victory at Chicago, with the other coming in their first trip here in April 1998.

Regardless of whether they complete the sweep today, the statement has been made.

"We've had a hard time getting hits sometimes up to the fifth and sixth inning," Manager Joe Maddon said. "But we've been down that road before so the guys know we can do that, and we did it again."

Reporter Marc Lancaster can be reached at (813) 259-7227 or mlancaster@tampatrib.com.

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