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Perez Runs With Green Light, Rays Go To 1-1

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By JOEY JOHNSTON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 12, 2008

ST. PETERSBURG - Rays pinch-runner Fernando Perez was tagging up at third base, waiting for the shallow fly ball to be caught.

That's when he had his "conversation'' with Rays third-base coach Tom Foley.

"The funniest part? No words were exchanged,'' Perez said early Sunday morning, moments after scoring the winning run in the 11th inning as the Rays turned back the Boston Red Sox 9-8 in Game 2 of the American League Championship Series at Tropicana Field.

"I wanted to go. We were looking at each other, waiting for one of us to say something. He was trying to read my facial expressions. I was trying to read whether he would be mad at me if I would go. I talked to him afterward. He was happy with the decision.''

Obviously.

When B.J. Upton lifted his one-out fly ball to Boston right fielder J.D. Drew – at a depth where the strong-armed Drew would normally cut down a runner – Perez had no hesitation.

"Before the play, when we were talking, I said we're going to challenge any arm – and Drew was the strongest arm,'' Foley said. "The ball's caught and I'm looking at Fernando, saying, 'Come on. Come on.'

"Then he flies right by me, like Secretariat.''

Drew's throw was off-line. Perez slid in before Kevin Cash could scramble for a tag.

That set off a mad celebration. The Trop's clock read 1:35 a.m.

"In a straight-up race, I've got him [Perez] over Seabiscuit,'' Rays manager Joe Maddon said. "I'm dating myself a bit. I'm sorry, but that's the first horse that came to my mind.''

At least Foley was more modern, thinking more clearly.

Well, sort of.

"What was that game? Eighteen innings?'' Foley said.

It only seemed that way.

Perez kept loose by riding an exercise bike in the tunnel – "from midnight on.''

"Man, that was a long, long, long game,'' Foley said. "When you've got a guy like Fernando, you're going to challenge. You've got to put pressure on them. He's fast.''

How fast?

Perez, who said he only ran track "for about a week'' in high school, couldn't say.

"We've got a lot of fast guys on this team,'' said Perez, who was a September call-up to Tampa Bay. "We're all different runners.

"B.J. [Upton] has that glide. Carl [Crawford] looks like the gods are pulling him by his chest. Nathan Hayes [minor-league teammates] used to tell me I ran like I was running from the police or somebody with a gun, like a stole something. Another time he told me I ran like Jackie Robinson. He was flailing hard, didn't care what it looked like, as long as the job got done.''

The job got done early Sunday morning.

The long game ended rather quickly.

Given the opportunity, Perez was off and running.

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