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Boston Reigns On Rays' Parade

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By CARTER GADDIS

The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 5, 2008

BOSTON - A relentless, chilly rain that soaked Fenway Park from morning 'til sundown Wednesday set a somber tone for one of the toughest days the Tampa Bay Rays have experienced during this coming-of-age season.

Not long after they slogged their way through the rain to the ballpark, Rays players learned they'd be without their cleanup batter and home run leader, Carlos Pena, for at least two weeks - and probably longer - as he recovers from a fractured left index finger.

A few hours later, the Rays' 10-day hold on first place in the American League East slipped away when the Red Sox won 5-1, dropping Tampa Bay a half-game behind Boston.

"It's way too early to get overtly concerned about that," Rays manager Joe Maddon said. "Again, we're playing a very good team. We have not done well here this year. And we have to do well here to end up in first place. You just can't do that any other way."

The Rays are 0-for-2 on this nine-game road trip and 0-5 this season at Fenway Park. Their only immediate source of solace after Wednesday was that they still can depart tonight for Texas leading the division if they salvage the third game with Boston.

But who needs solace? The Rays got feisty in the eighth inning, when center fielder B.J. Upton was ejected for vehemently arguing a called third strike, and Maddon got into a shouting match with Boston's Coco Crisp after Crisp slid hard into second baseman Akinori Iwamura on an unsuccessful stolen base attempt.

"I was not pleased with the slide," Maddon said.

Crisp told reporters he was upset because of an earlier play, a sixth-inning stolen base on which he jammed his left thumb when shortstop Jason Bartlett's knee blocked the bag. Crisp said he thought Bartlett's maneuver was "shady," and he warned the Rays shortstop that he would see him again.

Instead, Crisp saw Iwamura covering second two innings later. Crisp was thrown out by catcher Dioner Navarro, but the slide came late and Crisp's elbow connected with Iwamura's midsection as the two collided.

Crisp was unrepentant. His only regret seemed to be that Bartlett wasn't the one covering the bag the second time around.

"If you're going to do something like that, cover the bag and take your own licking," Crisp said. "I'll take mine."

When given the chance to respond after the game, Bartlett said only, "If it's about that, I don't want to talk about it."

Maddon, meanwhile, took the very public opportunity provided by an eighth-inning pitching change to let Crisp know exactly how he felt about the late slide.

"I was kind of looking into the dugout until I found him," said Maddon, who remained near the mound as Trever Miller prepared to pitch to Jacoby Ellsbury. "And then it was a long-distance exchange.

"There was something that happened earlier that I believe provoked him, but you could ask him, specifically. But I totally felt there was intent to hurt one of our players. And that's what upset me."

The game, witnessed on television by a national cable audience, did not illustrate the Rays at their best. Starter Edwin Jackson (3-5) gave up four runs in five innings, and Tampa Bay's Pena-less lineup struck out 10 times (five against Boston starter and winner Josh Beckett) while going 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position.

"We're striking out way too often," said Maddon, whose team has fanned 19 times in the first two games of the series. "It's not the umpire's fault. It's our fault. We have to do a better job. One of our goals this spring was to really cut down on strikeouts, because we struck out way too often last year. So, we have to make better adjustments and we can't lay it off on anybody else."

Reporter Carter Gaddis can be reached at (813) 259-8291 or igaddis@tampatrib.com.

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