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A Bump In The Road

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By MARC LANCASTER

The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 10, 2008

NEW YORK - Back in April, the Rays lost a couple of games in a row to the Mariners. In May, they absorbed back-to-back walk-off setbacks in St. Louis. Last month, they dropped two of three to an Astros team that hasn't done much to impress anyone all season.

As the Rays prepared to depart Yankee Stadium on Wednesday, let down by their offense again after a 2-1 extra-inning loss, the message was firm and clear.

The two games they had just dropped to the Yankees, giving them their first three-game skid since being swept at Fenway Park more than a month earlier, were just two more games. Just like the bumps in the road before them that, as it turned out, were quickly forgotten.

"I think at the end of the year you count every game and if you win that counts in the one column and if you lose it's in the other regardless," said Rays manager Joe Maddon. "I don't like the idea of placing extra emphasis on certain games. I think that's wrong."

So the Rays will move ahead to Cleveland, moving past the disappointment of watching Bobby Abreu rip a Grant Balfour change-up into the gap for the game-winning double in the 10th inning. No team meetings or personnel moves necessary.

"There's nothing to change," Maddon said. "You lose a couple games, it's not time to start flipping things around. We've been playing great, we're just coming off a seven-game winning streak, and we've lost three pretty tough games. That's going to happen. That's how the season works."

Of far more concern to the Rays than dropping a couple of games to the Yankees and seeing their division lead against the Red Sox cut to two games is the big-picture state of their offense. Nothing new there, of course; the Rays' inability to get on a team-wide roll at the plate has been the one lingering blemish on their otherwise impressive report card.

It's fair enough to tip your cap to the likes of Andy Pettitte or Mariano Rivera when they're at the top of their games, as was the case for each of the Yankee legends during the brief two-game set. An inability to put anything across against Sidney Ponson aside from one big swing of Carlos Pena's bat leading off the sixth, however, is a concern.

Including the 10-inning loss to the Royals on Monday that sent the Rays into their current malaise, Tampa Bay's lineup has managed two hits in 28 at-bats with runners in scoring position.

The Rays know they need a better solution to their inefficient ways at the plate, whether through a different approach by some regulars in the lineup or by adding other options to the mix. But they also are far from panicking about where they stand.

"This is not even adversity," said Cliff Floyd. "This is just a couple of games where we didn't put much together offensively, and when you're playing good teams you have to score runs somehow."

Until they figure something out on that front, the Rays can only hope to keep pitching like they have. Edwin Jackson was very effective Wednesday, settling down after allowing a first-inning run and rolling into the seventh inning. J.P. Howell was just as good behind him for a couple more innings, though he ended up leaving Balfour a little something to clean up in the ninth.

With the potential winning run on third and one out, Balfour came on to strike out Melky Cabrera on a 95-mph fastball and got Jose Molina to pop out to send the game to extra innings. Unsure how long the game might drag, Maddon sent Balfour back out for the 10th.

The reliever was "a little annoyed" at himself after walking Derek Jeter on a full-count fastball with one out, but gave credit to Abreu for the job he did in going down to get an off-speed pitch and driving it to right-center to end the game.

"It was a good piece of hitting," Balfour said. "I can't do much about that."

About all that's left is for the Rays to back up everything they've said and finish the first half with a strong showing in Cleveland. Do that and not much attention will be paid to what transpired here the last two days.

"When you lose two or three in a row, everybody wants to go, 'Well, here they go again,'" Floyd said. "I mean, it's a couple games."

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

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