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Balfour Gives Rays Another G'Day From The Bullpen

Tribune photo by JULIE BUSCH

A Rays fan makes her statement during the Rays vs. Red Sox game Tuesday at Tropicana Field.

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By MARTIN FENNELLY | The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 2, 2008

ST. PETERSBURG - G'day.

The Rays' Intercontinental Express rolls on.

So it was that a pitcher from Sydney, Australia, who wasn't even on the team to start the season, became the sensational strikeout man and stopper Tuesday night as the Rays beat the Red Sox - again.

"Awesome," Grant Balfour said.

Ozzie, Ozzie, Ozzie, K, K, K.

Yes, one night after the growing legend that is California dude James Phillip Howell replaced the newly re-injured Troy Percival to nail down the save, it was Grant Balfour's turn - Grant Balfour, the last man cut in spring training, the Rays' last decision, dispatched to Durham, down under enough, and now back with a passion all his own.

This wasn't Durham. It was a major-league showdown in a pumped-up Trop. At the very heart of it, Grant Balfour induced a Mike Lowell ground out to pull the Rays from a bases-loaded jam in the eighth. Then, in and around a flare double down the left field line, he struck out Kevin Youkilis (95 mph), Brandon Moss (95 mph) and finally Jason Varitek (91 mph) to end it.

It's getting eerie at the Trop.

Really. It is.

Difference Inside The Difference

Throw in seven more superb innings from starter Matt Garza, this after his one-hit complete game last week in Miami, add three scratch runs, two brought home by Dioner Navarro RBI singles, and you had a 3-1 final and another winning formula from Joe Maddon's madmen, who, yes, padded their AL East lead over Boston.

If pitching has been the difference for the Rays this season, and it has, then the bullpen has been the difference inside the difference.

We keep waiting for it to crack.

Maybe Percival's twanging left hamstring is the first sign. It's sending him to the disabled list again. It's hard to fathom how the Rays won't get some bullpen insurance before the trade deadline at the end of this month. They can't let this season get away from them.

It won't if Tuesdays like Tuesday keep happening.

And if it keeps happening all the way into October, this will go down as the night Grant Balfour struck out the Sox in the ninth.

The 30-year-old righty had already done his share of work Monday, getting out of a first-and-second jam with two pop-ups.

But there was still some fire left.

Actually, Balfour has been packing heat since he was sent packing to Durham at the end of spring training. He hated to go, and said so. Worst of all, he'd been telling friends all camp, "that this team could do some special things."

Balfour smiled.

"I just wanted to be part of it."

An Amazing Fire

He went to Durham with a mission in mind.

"I had a real fire when I went there," Balfour said.

That fire was quite amazing. At Durham, Balfour was 8-for-8 in save opportunities. In his 23-plus innings, he allowed just five hits and struck out 39. Right-handed hitters batted .029 against him.

He was recalled in late May. The fire came with him. Eleven of Balfour's 12 appearances have been scoreless. He has 25 of the 63 batters he has faced. His ERA is 1.08. There's fire, and people can feel it.

Maddon felt it the night a few weeks ago, when Balfour came in for Scott Kazmir and got out of a bases-loaded jam by striking out Aramis Ramirez. Balfour pumped his fist. Maddon says he just knew.

"He came off the field and he was really animated about the whole thing and I really liked it and he's just been growing," Maddon said. "I believe we're seeing the beginning of good things in the future with this young man. He's starting to figure it out."

Throw in those 95 mph fastballs Tuesday.

One K, two K, three K.

G'night.

"It got me pumped up, too," Navarro said. "I started throwing the ball harder to the first baseman and third baseman when we struck somebody out."

The "we" is the thing.

Grant Balfour is part of it.

"Unreal," he said.

Really. It is.

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