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Hits Keep On Coming For These Rays

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By MARTIN FENNELLY | The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 20, 2008

ST. PETERSBURG - As the ivy began to grow on all those stunned Cubs fans, Carl Crawford circled the bases under the soon-to-be-orange dome, with three runners touching home plate ahead of him. It was grand, it was a slam, and there was no stopping his team.

Not these Rays.

For three June nights, they got the Chicago Cubs' goat and made a nightmare out of Lou Piniella's homecoming. It was one big Bartman.

With one lash of Crawford's bat in the bottom of the seventh inning, what seemed lost was won, and what seemed two out of three from the team with the best record in baseball turned into a 8-3 win and a series sweep. It was a night the Rays and Rays fans might look back on if this thing keeps growing, or one of the nights. They just keep coming.

"This is a big moment here," Crawford said.

No Stopping These Rays

They just keep winning.

They swept the Cubs after the Cubs took a 3-1 lead after knocking Rays starter James Shields from the game.

They swept the Cubs no matter who the Cubs threw out there, including lights-out reliever Carlos Marmol, whose intriguing pitching line (walk, walk, hit batter, hit batter) paved the way for his relief, Scott Eyre, whose fastball paved the way for Crawford's second career slam, which turned 2-3 into 6-3 just like that.

Heck, the Rays swept the Cubs no matter who the Rays threw out there. Jason Bartlett injured his foot during batting practice, so third baseman Evan Longoria moved to shortstop. Eva could have played shortstop. There is no stopping them.

Not these Rays.

They moved to 14 games over .500 for the first time in their history. Out front, the Red Sox are trying to pull away, but can't. The Yankees are mounting a charge from behind, seven wins in a row and counting, but they're not gaining much ground on the team in the Trop.

Not these Rays.

For six innings, Shields held the Cubs scoreless, just the kind of outing his team needed from him, but it fell apart in the top of the seventh, just enough. After two doubles sandwiched around a walk, a bloop hit and a grounder that had eyes gave Chicago a 3-1 lead.

Every ball seemed just out of reach. It seemed like one of those nights for the home team. Well, two out of three from the Cubs wasn't bad ...

Only it wasn't enough.

Not for these Rays.

In the bottom of the seventh, Crawford paused as his home run sailed over the right-field fence.

"I was just watching it. Just watching to see what would happen."

You can't take your eyes off this team.

You want to see what happens.

They're No Fluke

They won their 43rd game Thursday. Last season, they won their 43rd game Aug. 8. Think about that. Crawford has. He has been thinking about all those lost seasons.

"You go from then to now and you have to wake up and pinch yourself a little bit. It's like, are we really this good?"

They're no fluke. They show no signs of wilting under pressure.

"I don't want to seem arrogant or anything, but we've got a pretty solid ballclub," Crawford said.

Funny, but one of our writers, Carter Gaddis, mentioned that in 2003 Crawford hit a walk-off homer to win Lou Piniella's first game as Rays manager at the Trop.

Maybe he just homered in Lou's last game at the Trop.

You know, unless the Cubs play the Rays in the Series.

Don't wake the home team up yet.

They're dreaming big.

Yeah. These Rays.

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