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Sweep Is Just Business

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By MARC LANCASTER The Tampa Tribune

The Tampa Tribune

Published: May 12, 2008

ST. PETERSBURG - Six weeks into a six-month season, not a trace of skepticism remains in the Rays' clubhouse.

There have been no brash assurances that this particular team is headed for October, though J.P. Howell did note Sunday that the Rays' ability to pick one another up is something "most championship teams have in common." But neither has there been much in the way of discouragement.

So the Rays went into Fenway Park last weekend and got blasted, a made-to-order reality check. They have responded by winning five of six games since then, wrapping up a sweep of the Angels with an 8-5 victory at Tropicana Field on Sunday that was acknowledged without fanfare, as if this is what the Rays have come to expect.

"We don't ever feel like we're not in the game," said designated hitter Cliff Floyd, who had a pair of run-scoring singles in his return from the disabled list. "We don't ever feel like guys are going to come in and just whip our butt. I don't know what's happened in the past; I only know what's happened in the last few months, and this team believes that we're going to win."

There's little doubt about that at this point. The Rays have ridden a so-far self-fulfilling prophecy since spring training, when they showed up talking a good game and - unlike in years past - have found a way to back it up on an unprecedented scale once the games began to count.

At 21-16, the Rays are five games over .500 for the first time in their 11-year history. They have won five of their past six series, sweeping three of them. And those outside the Rays' clubhouse have begun to concede that some sort of corner has been turned in Tampa Bay.

"I think they're starting to figure out how to play this game," Angels center fielder Torii Hunter told reporters. "You come in here thinking you should sweep the series or at least win two out of three - psych! They will knock you out."

In applying the final blow to the Angels on Sunday, the Rays even switched things up a bit. The scoreless streak assembled by Tampa Bay's pitchers came to an end at 24 when the Angels scored three times off Andy Sonnanstine after two were out in the third inning to tie the game, but the Rays' bats finally came alive and more than compensated for an early-game letdown on the pitching end.

Everyone in the Rays' lineup except Evan Longoria collected at least one hit, and the rookie still managed a contribution with a first-inning sacrifice fly as the Rays dropped three runs on Ervin Santana out of the gate. In all, the Rays totaled 15 hits to tie their season high, with Akinori Iwamura, Carl Crawford and B.J. Upton collecting three apiece.

"When you start winning close games like we have, the real offshoot to the whole thing is the confidence level begins to rise," Rays manager Joe Maddon said. "When you have confidence, it really doesn't matter who you're playing against or who's pitching against you."

The Rays demonstrated that by scoring five times off Santana, who entered the day with a 6-0 record and 2.02 ERA, and they hammered the point home against their new favorite foil, reliever Justin Speier.

Tampa Bay scored four runs with Speier on the mound in the sixth, flipping a 5-4 deficit into an 8-5 lead, mostly on the strength of a three-run homer by Crawford. Upton accounted for the final run by doubling off the wall in center, then moving up to third on a Speier wild pitch and scoring when the reliever who served up Longoria's game-winning homer Friday night uncorked another two pitches later.

The lead secured, Howell locked it down with two scoreless innings before Troy Percival recorded the save in the ninth. It all seemed so natural.

"There is nothing they did that surprised us," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. "They have a lot of good things going and I think we saw it first hand."

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

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