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Sonnanstine In Good Company

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: May 21, 2008

Updated: 05/21/2008 01:12 am

OAKLAND, Calif. - The three winningest pitchers in baseball since Aug. 15 are Arizona's Brandon Webb (15-2), Chien-Ming Wang (12-3) of the Yankees and ... Andy Sonnanstine?

He doesn't have the name recognition of the other two, but Sonnanstine has just about matched their results with an 11-3 mark over that span.

"Very cool," Sonnanstine said when informed of the company he's keeping. "Any time I'm in the same sentence as those guys - I mean, those guys definitely know how to win games, so I definitely enjoy being compared to them."

Those aren't the only impressive numbers Sonnanstine has posted as he has settled into the Rays' rotation. He shoots for his seventh win of the season tonight, looking to tie Scott Kazmir's club record for the fastest to reach that plateau. And he'll do it in the midst of a run in which he has gone 5-0 with a 2.98 ERA over his last six starts.

In the last one, Friday at St. Louis, he allowed one run and didn't walk a batter in eight innings, and along the way managed to end Albert Pujols' streak of reaching base in every game he had played this season.

Not that Sonnanstine is paying much attention to such things. He said he believes it's counterproductive to check out his own stats.

"I try not to," he said. "I'll glance at them every once in a while. I feel the more I look at my numbers, the more bad things happen."

AKI SITS: For the first time since April 15, Akinori Iwamura wasn't in the lineup for the Rays on Tuesday night.

Manager Joe Maddon finally got Iwamura the day off he has been promising with LHP Greg Smith on the mound for Oakland. Smith's impressive work against left-handed hitters (.170 average) contributed to the decision, but so did Maddon's desire to avoid having one of his hottest hitters go two straight days without seeing live pitching. That would have happened if Iwamura sat out today's series finale with an off day for the team looming Thursday.

"He's been hitting so well, I thought one day off was good but two days in a row off would not be as good," Maddon said.

HE'S A FAN: James Shields liked what he saw from teammate Jason Hammel on Monday night as Hammel worked three scoreless innings of relief in his first appearance since May 7.

"That's the best I've ever seen him pitch," Shields said. "He had just amazing stuff Monday. I actually went and watched his video again Tuesday. He pitched like he had a little chip on his shoulder. I loved it."

REHAB WATCH: 3B Willy Aybar (left hamstring strain) is making progress but still is seven to 10 days from returning to the Rays, Maddon said. Aybar is 1-for-7 in a couple of rehab starts for Vero Beach, but most importantly is feeling better on the move.

"He's finally getting to the point where he's running in a manner that it doesn't show that there was something wrong with his leg," Maddon said, "so it sounds like we're on the right track with the whole thing."

CATCHING THE DRAFT: Senior adviser Don Zimmer will represent the Rays once again at the Major League Baseball draft June 5 at Disney's Wide World of Sports. He'll be joined by Brian Anderson, who retired after suffering a career-ending elbow injury during spring training and has been working as a coach for the Rays.

Marc Lancaster

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