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MIND OVER MATTER

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By JOEY JOHNSTON

jjohnston@tampatrib.com

Published: October 30, 2008

Under normal circumstances, Rays manager Joe Maddon faces dozens of decisions in a game.

Relief pitchers can chill for four or five innings, knowing they won't be needed until late-inning situations.

Non-starters may be called up for pinch-hitting or pinch-running duties, but again, not immediately.

Wednesday night at Citizens Bank Park, things were not normal.

Far from it.

When Game 5 of the World Series reconvened, nearly 48 hours after it was suspended in a 2-2 tie as torrential rain brought unplayable conditions, it was the ultimate chess match for Maddon and Phillies manager Charlie Manuel.

Not counting the possibility of the game remaining tied and going to the 10th, it was a 31/2-inning mini-game.

"When you attempt to figure out all the different potentialities of this moment, it's kind of weird," Maddon told reporters in a pregame news conference at Philadelphia. "You probably do it every night and not give it that much thought, when you are actually playing the game all the way through.

"But now that it's magnified in this one moment, trying to set it up appropriately in the bottom of the sixth inning is kind of freaky."

Maddon pulled those strings all season. Wednesday night, there were new twists, the shortened game, pitchers hitting in the National League park, one run becoming so important.

Managers generally play the percentages.

"Joe does that sometimes, but he's not afraid to do different things," Rays center fielder B.J. Upton said. "He'll try something he believes in."

During the regular season, Maddon famously intentionally walked Texas slugger Josh Hamilton - with the bases loaded - bringing the potential winning run to the plate. It worked.

Maddon liberally shifts his infielders and outfielders. He used five infielders and just two outfielders, trying to cut down a run at the end of Game 3.

"I don't think it's rocket science, it's more common sense," Maddon said. "I don't think you need to do something just because it has always been done that way.

"Baseball strategy is a give and take in your mind. Sometimes, you look at the batting order and if you take somebody out, you're asking 'Are they going to come back up at a crucial moment?' Sometimes, you have to forego that and just say the heck with it. We have a chance to win the game."

Sometimes, you wonder about playing a card too early.

In late-game situations, Maddon has Fernando Perez, a premier pinch-runner. His presence meant everything in Game 2 of the American League Championship Series, when he raced home with the winning run from third base on an 11th-inning medium (at best) fly ball to right field.

Perez, almost on his own, can create a run.

But he must be used at the right moment.

"Sure, it's a hard job," Perez said. "You never really know when the right time is for a pinch-hitter or a pinch-runner. Opportunities present themselves and then they go. You can kind of go all-in early in the game, and it can kind of bite you in the end. Joe has done a pretty good job of picking his spots.

"As for me, I'm always assuming I'm going in. I'm always getting ready. You have to kind of think a few batters ahead. You have to always to be expecting to go in. You don't have a lot of time. You've just got to go for it."

Never was that more evident than Wednesday night.

For baseball strategists, it was a moment like none ever seen at the World Series.

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