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Balfour's Stuff Plays Critical Role In Victory

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 19, 2008

ST. PETERSBURG - The conclusion of Tuesday night's Rays-Cubs game was about as hair-raising as it gets, and Troy Percival deservedly racked up his 340th career save for closing the door.

That said, the out Grant Balfour recorded to end the fifth inning might have been just as critical in the Rays coming out on top.

"It was pretty large," Rays manager Joe Maddon said Wednesday. "That was a pretty tight moment."
Balfour came on to replace Scott Kazmir with the bases loaded and two out, the Cubs having tied the game at 1 two batters earlier. Balfour was brought on to face cleanup hitter Aramis Ramirez and went with heat all the way, using all mid-90s fastballs to work a called third strike and end the inning.

"We went with him at that point based on his stuff and it was just a matter of him throwing strikes or not, and he did," said Maddon. He's been doing a lot better job with that."

When Balfour is in the strike zone these days, no one is hitting him. Opponents are 3-for-27 against him (including 1-for-16 for righties) and he has struck out 12. Balfour did his best to maintain that approach against Ramirez.

"You've just got to go right at him," he said. "That's my job, is to go out there and get guys like that out."
Balfour admitted his adrenaline was flowing as if it was a ninth-inning save situation, and that was obvious by how fired up he was after getting the strikeout.

"When he walked off the mound yesterday and came in this dugout - I've never seen that out of him," Maddon said. "I've never seen that kind of emotion out of him. Never."

OUT OF WHACK: Kazmir needed 110 pitches to get through 42/3 innings Tuesday - a definite sign that something was off mechanically. He said Wednesday he was flying open in his delivery the entire game, keeping him from driving his pitches in on right-handed batters.

"The command wasn't there at all," Kazmir said. "I couldn't get to the inside part of the plate on a righty, so everything was up and away."

No matter what he tried over the course of the game, he couldn't make an adjustment.

"I was trying real hard as the game was going on to try to fix it, but I was landing on my heel the whole time and there's no way you're going to stay closed like that," he said. "It just got worse and worse as it was going on."

SUSPENSION WATCH: LF Carl Crawford returned from a four-game ban Wednesday, and with 2B Akinori Iwamura appealing his three-game penalty, the Rays had a full bench for the first time since June 6, the day after the brawl with the Red Sox.

"It's kind of nice," said Maddon.

Iwamura is appealing mostly for logistical reasons, with SS Jason Bartlett's status uncertain for the next week (or until his wife gives birth), but he took some satisfaction in taking the matter to the commissioner's office.

"Personally, I wanted to appeal, too," Iwamura said through his interpreter.

REHAB UPDATE: Rocco Baldelli had a big day Wednesday in his second appearance as the DH for Vero Beach, homering twice in the second game of a doubleheader against Brevard County. Baldelli also walked in the seven-inning nightcap. ... 1B Carlos Pena played catch with a baseball (as opposed to a tennis ball, which he did Tuesday) and took about 25 swings.

Marc Lancaster

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