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Rays Stay Loose As Their Grip Gets Tighter

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By MARTIN FENNELLY | The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 1, 2008

Updated: 09/01/2008 12:34 am

ST. PETERSBURG - - September starts today.

It will be a month like no other in Rays history.

Oh, what pressure.

We went to the pressure-packed Rays clubhouse at Tropicana Field after another sweep, after another 10-run fest against the Orioles. In the clubhouse, veteran Eric Hinske, the lovable Ski, counseled Evan Longoria, like Obi Wan to young Skywalker.

"You've got to stay focused," Hinske said.

Longo nodded.

"The picks are only 90 seconds apart," Hinske said.

They were awaiting the start of a team fantasy football draft.

"You can't think about the games all the time," Hinske said. He was arranging a table and his computer so he could see the draft board. This was big, real big.

Meet your fantasy team, Tampa Bay.

September starts today.

You wouldn't know it by the Rays.

Winning And Laughing

Yes, pressure will come. There are big games ahead, including that showdown in Boston next week. But the Big Ray machine is loose and it is rolling. Sunday the score was 10-4. The Red Sox lost. The lead is 51/2. The Rays have won five in a row. They went 21-7 in August and are 29-12 since the break. And they're 1-0 when shortstop Jason Bartlett hits a home run.

Bartlett, the glove who saved the world, our write-in candidate for team MVP, threw some wood on this fire Sunday, going 4-for-4 and blasting - yes, blasting - one 384 feet for his first homer in more than a year, a span of 471 at-bats.

The Orioles hit him with a pitch his next at-bat.

Imagine if he hit one every 371 at-bats.

Of course, no one rose to greet Bam-Bam Bartlett when he reached the Rays dugout.

The treatment was silent - and wonderful.

"I had my back turned toward him," Rays manager Joe Maddon said. "I didn't think it up, of course, I'm not that mean. Somebody else did. I was forced to play along."

"It was a good laugh for everybody," Bartlett said.

The Red Sox aren't laughing, and the Yankees, up next for the Rays, can only cry. Bartlett's bunch has the best record in baseball. They just finished scoring 34 runs in three days. The Rays are doing what teams do in September when they're having fantasy seasons. They're dropping the hammer.

September starts today.

Will someone tell the Rays?

It's No Fantasy

James Shields went seven innings for the win, allowing just one run. Seven different Rays drove in runs. It always seems like seven different Rays are doing something. Every night, there's a different star, and a lot of them aren't stars.

"We're an anonymous group and we're playing in a non-anonymous way right now," Maddon said. "Two-fifty hitters? My God, you think they're going to come through every time."

Take Ben Zobrist (.225), shortstop turned all-purpose Ray. Friday, Zobrist hit his first career grand slam. Late in Sunday's game, he played center field for only the third time in his big-league career. He made a great diving grab in the eighth. Sure, why not?

"People talk about team of destiny and all that stuff," Bartlett said. "I think this is how it happens, not one guy carrying a team. It's pitching, defense, a timely hit by somebody different every night."

And it's fun.

Hinske won a World Series title with the Red Sox last season. He says fantasy football is all the Red Sox talked about in September.

Ski rolled out the Rays' philosophy.

"If we lose, OK, we got to win tomorrow."

Jason Bartlett was going home to maybe watch ESPN.

"I want to see what they say about my homer," he said with a grin.

He then quieted down.

Ski and the guys were starting the fantasy draft.

Talk about pressure.

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