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Hitting Woes Push Rays To The Brink

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By MARC LANCASTER

mlancaster@tampatrib.com

Published: October 26, 2008

Updated: 10/27/2008 12:56 am

PHILADELPHIA - The Rays' mission tonight boils down to one simple objective: Get home. And get there with something to do besides pack their bags and disperse for the winter.

After falling behind three games to one in the World Series following a 10-2 beating by the Phillies on Sunday night, the Rays will truly be taking tonight's Game 5 as a standalone entity.

"We haven't shown our best in this World Series," said Scott Kazmir, who will get the ball tonight. "If we can go ahead and get this next one and take it back to our home field, it'll be a different story. We've just got to get it there."

Perhaps they can switch to a new set of bats upon arrival. Their offense once again let them down in Game 4, though the spectacle of all four Rays pitchers to take the mound Sunday allowing a home run overshadowed the continued lack of production to a certain extent.

The story was much the same Sunday as it has been throughout the series, with some signs of life around the edges but a giant hole in the middle of the Rays' batting order. Carlos Pena remains hitless since dropping down a bunt single in the fifth inning of Game 5 of the ALCS, and Evan Longoria looks as ineffective at the plate as he has all season. Those two, who have done so much to carry the Rays this season, have one hit in their past 45 at-bats.

"When your big boys in your lineup are not hitting, it's plain as day," Cliff Floyd said. "Things are not going to go your way."

It certainly hasn't to this point. With most of the Rays unable to even get on base against Joe Blanton, the pair of two-out solo homers they hit in Game 4 barely made a ripple.

Carl Crawford's just-enough fly over the fence in right in the fourth brought the Rays to within 2-1. But Ryan Howard's three-run drive off Andy Sonnanstine in the bottom of that inning rendered the mammoth pinch-hit homer Eric Hinske produced in his first postseason at-bat a mere annoyance to the Phillies.

And sure enough, the impact of Hinske's blow was negated minutes later when Philadelphia's ninth-place hitter - Blanton, of all people - took Edwin Jackson deep in the bottom of the fifth. That last shot was the 15th home run by a pitcher in World Series history but the first since Ken Holtzman did it for the A's in 1974.

Impressive as that feat was for the burly hurler, his work on the mound carried the day.

The Rays had had plenty of success against Blanton during his days pitching for the A's. The righty entered the evening 2-3 with a 6.05 ERA in eight previous starts, usually undone by his tendency to elevate pitches. But aside from those two homers, they had nothing to show for their work. No doubles, only a couple of walks - they just can't string together that big inning.

Of course, there were plenty of nights during the regular season when the Rays' offense wasn't clicking - often for series at a time. Aside from the seven-game skid heading into the All-Star break, the Rays still managed to keep an even keel, usually on the strength of their starting pitching.

But they haven't had enough in this series, and Sonnanstine turned in the least effective performance yet Sunday even though he didn't get much help from his defense or the umpires.

The latest questionable call of the series helped put the Rays in a 1-0 hole in the first inning. Longoria appeared to have Jimmy Rollins tagged out after he got caught in a rundown between third and home, but umpire Tim Welke didn't see it the way the television cameras did, calling Rollins safe despite Longoria's demonstrative protests. Sonnanstine ended up walking Pat Burrell to force in Rollins with the first run of the game.

Errors by Akinori Iwamura to open the third and fourth innings - the first one an obvious boot, the second one that could have been ruled a hit - led to a pair of unearned runs. But the Phils earned everything they got later, as Howard cranked another longball off Trever Miller two batters after Jayson Werth hit a two-run homer of his own vs. Dan Wheeler.

It will be up to Kazmir to stop the power surge today as the Rays look to find an answer to Phillies ace Cole Hamels. On paper, that doesn't sound very appealing for the American League champions, but there's nothing they can do but play.

"Just lay it on the line tonight and relax - try to - and have some good at-bats against Hamels," Floyd said. "If it's not good enough, we'll go home. Why not? Why not just go out there and play carefree?"

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