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Sonnanstine Shows His Mastery On The Mound

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By TONY FABRIZIO

afabrizio@tampatrib.com

Published: October 7, 2008

CHICAGO - Andy Sonnanstine was mildly irritated about losing his cell phone earlier in the day. Nothing else bothered him Monday night at hostile U.S. Cellular Field.

The fourth man in a four-man postseason rotation - a guy who wouldn't even have pitched had the Rays swept - Sonnanstine zipped up Chicago like a winter parka in a 6-2 playoff victory that advanced the Rays to the American League Championship Series.

He gave up two solo home runs to the American League's top home-run hitting team - to Paul Konerko and Jermaine Dye - but the White Sox touched him for only one other hit in 5 2/3 innings.

"To be honest with you, I just tried to stay within myself and not build the game up in my mind," Sonnanstine said. "I tried to keep an even keel and work to my strengths."

Sonnanstine doesn't get the notice that James Shields, Scott Kazmir or Matt Garza do on the Rays rotation, but some of his recent work has been masterful.

There were the September pennant race games against Boston, one on the road and one at home against Josh Beckett, in which he didn't allow an earned run over 13 innings in two close Tampa Bay victories.

With a hit here and there, Sonnanstine could have won 15 or 16 games rather than 13 in the regular season.

"His pitching today did not surprise me," said Maddon, whose bullpen combined with Sonnanstine to hold the Sox to four hits Monday. "He made two mistakes with the fastball and they were both hit out. He is a winner. You have to have a lot of faith in him."

Sonnanstine had a couple of crucial strikeouts. The first put down Jim Thome in the first after Dye had reached with a two-out walk, raising the hopes of the towel-waving White Sox hopeful. The second retired Ken Griffey Jr. after Konerko had just taken him deep.

"Thome was a curveball, and Griffey was a slider," Sonnanstine said. "They're two great hitters. My mentality in those situations was to just keep them in the yard."

Sonnanstine doesn't have a 95-mph fastball. His fastball resides in the 88-mph range, and he uses breaking balls and change-ups to keep batters off balance. His approach is to throw strikes and let hitters beat him if they can.

The Chicago White Sox didn't have much success.

"He's just fearless," Rays pitching coach Jim Hickey said. "It was a very, very impressive outing for me."

Reporter Tony Fabrizio can be reached at (813) 259 7994.

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