TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Pitching Falters In Series Finale

ADVERTISEMENT

By MARC LANCASTER

The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 21, 2008

ST. PETERSBURG - For a while there Sunday, the Rays' hitters were up to their counterpunching duties.

They manufactured a run with two outs in the second inning after Edwin Jackson had given one up in the top half, then got back-to-back two-out homers from Evan Longoria and Carlos Pena in the third to retake the lead after Alex Rios had put them back in arrears with a longball of his own.

From that point forward, however, the Rays' pitching was beyond help. The Blue Jays scored three times in the fifth and again in the seventh, with both outbursts going unanswered as Tampa Bay fell 9-4 to miss out on a second half-opening sweep.

The Rays remain in first place, but Sunday's effort merely served to reinforce how important pitching is in everything they do. Sure, their offense has quick-strike potential, as they demonstrated the previous two evenings against the formidable A.J. Burnett and Roy Halladay, but they have to remain within striking distance for that to be relevant.

"You can only fight back so many times," Rays manager Joe Maddon said. "And when you play 162 games, just think about the thought and the energy that goes on within your mind to continually fight back and it's difficult. It's difficult to do that maybe three or four times within a game, so when you catch a lead, you've got to keep it."

The Rays couldn't manage to do that Sunday, and Jackson blamed himself for not getting the job done.

His 41/3-inning stint was his shortest since May 2, when Boston knocked him out after four innings, and the beating he took was uncharacteristic of his recent efforts. The righty had allowed seven earned runs in his last four starts combined, but paid the price Sunday for a couple of fastballs he said were "pretty much right down the middle" that ended up in the left-field stands.

Rios got the first one, hammering a 95 mph delivery out in the third to put Toronto on top 3-1. But Marco Scutaro's three-run drive on a 1-1 pitch in the fifth was far more costly. It erased a 4-3 Rays edge provided by Longoria and Pena a couple of innings earlier and seemed to suck the life out of Tropicana Field.

"That's one of those things where you have to focus a little more and go and try to hit your spot a little better," Jackson said. "But that's the game. They get paid to hit mistakes and they did their job today."

About the only other moment of excitement in a game that lost its edge in a hurry came on a play at the plate that ended the fourth. Jonny Gomes tagged up at third on Ben Zobrist's fly to relatively shallow center and came barreling home. He appeared to get there ahead of Rios' throw, but Gregg Zaun had the plate blocked and home plate ump Damien Beal called Gomes out, prompting arguments from Gomes and Maddon.

"I thought I got in there," Gomes said, "but it was a bang-bang play, could have gone either way."

The game got away from the Rays in the seventh as Trever Miller suffered a bit of a meltdown after coming on to replace Jason Hammel. The lefty intentionally walked pinch-hitter Kevin Mench, then lost the man he was really on to face, Lyle Overbay, and walked him after a tough at-bat to load the bases. A four-pitch walk to Scott Rolen followed, forcing in Rios to make it 8-4. Rios became only the third of 21 runners inherited by Miller this season to score.

Once the proceedings reached that point, not a hint of drama remained. The Rays' final nine hitters came and went in order.

"I like the fact that people are disappointed and we want to win every night also, but that's just not the way the whole thing works," Maddon said. "When you win two out of three in a series like this, even though you're a little disappointed that you could have swept, be content in the sense that you did beat two really good pitchers."

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT