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Rays Defy Explanation So Just Enjoy The Ride

HENDERSON COLUMN

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By JOE HENDERSON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 17, 2008

ST. PETERSBURG - As the ninth inning unfolded layer by layer Tuesday night amid the bedlam at Tropicana Field, the thought occurred that, perhaps, there really is something to this destiny thing.

You could choose to explain the Rays' 2-1 victory against Boston as the result of a clutch hit by Dioner Navarro to drive home Jason Bartlett with the winning run. Navarro definitely deserves the hero's robe on this night, along with the now-obligatory shaving cream pie in the face.

But how we got to that point — as 32,079 at the Trop could bear witness — sure could make you believe the baseball gods have chosen their messenger, and you know it as the Tampa Bay Rays.

With the score tied and first place in the American League East in the balance, the Rays loaded the bases in the ninth on:
• A bloop leadoff single by Bartlett that dropped into a Tropicana Triangle over the infield and along the right field line, followed by ….
• A walk to Carlos Pena, which happened only because a ball got loose from the Boston bullpen and rolled onto the field just as he swung and missed at what would have been strike two. It was ruled, instead, no pitch. Later in the at-bat he swung and missed at strike three – uh, two – before getting the walk, which was followed by …
• An 0-2 pitch to Cliff Floyd that got away from Boston's Jeff Masterson and clipped him to load the bases.

That brings us to Navarro, and you know what happened there.

"We've been catching little breaks all year," Navarro said, and while that is true there is another important part of this story that deserves more than a passing nod. They take advantage of those breaks just about all the time.

"We've done that before," Rays manager Joe Maddon said. "Our guys believe that if we keep it close, they'll figure out a way to win."

Kept Composure

So once again we marvel at the team most likely to be in the playoffs and still be ignored on fantasy league draft day.

This collection of Navarros, Bartletts, Penas and, lest we forget, Andy Sonnanstine, continues to build one of the best stories you've ever seen in the game of baseball. Seriously. They're way past the ol' "playing for respect" ploy. They're charging head-long toward sporting immortality.

They still lead the American League East. No one could have envisioned anything like this when this season started, but the Rays have answered every challenge and asked for more. They've done it with pitching, defense, and some of the timeliest stuff in the clutch you will ever see.

"You look at games like this and hopefully the games we'll be playing down the road here and [composure] is so important. People don't understand that. It's a simple word and people don't really focus on what it means sometimes. But when you're able to maintain your focus, your thought process, your composure, it's important.

"People screaming, stuff going on, everything is speeding up — slow it down. As we get into more significant games, I'd like to believe we're starting to know how to do that."

People were screaming. I mean, why not? We've talked a lot about what September baseball really means — well, you just saw it. Sonnanstine pitched brilliantly for the Rays, again, allowing only an unearned run in six innings.

He had to be good because Boston's Josh Beckett was perfect into the fifth inning, and who knows what would have happened if Pena hadn't gone opposite-field to lead off the seventh, clearing the wall to tie the score.

That is what these Rays have done all year, too. They'll take a pitcher's best shot — look helpless, dominated, beaten.

And then win.

Celebrate Good Times

So there was Navarro, sending the game-winner flying deep to center field and over the head of Coco Crisp — justice, eh? The lads came charging out of the bench for him and they all had a grand time, jumping all over like middle-school kids who just got released for summer vacation.

In fact, the celebration continued between shortstop and third base, a mob scene with Navarro in the middle. Except for the location, maybe, we've seen it all before. We've seen the mob wait for Pena, for Jonny Gomes, for Gabe Gross. They jump, they dance, they celebrate good times.

It's all so real.

"Pitching, defense, timely hitting," Maddon said, his voice still hoarse.

The baseball gods tend to smile most on teams that have those things. Maybe it's destiny, or maybe it's just a team that is larger than its individual parts. However you choose to explain it, the Rays just went face-to-face with another challenge and prevailed.

Maybe there is no explanation. Trying to reduce everything that's happening here to an explanation would be a futile gesture anyway. Perhaps it's best to just enjoy.

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