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Rays look like old selves in drubbing Mariners, 9-3

The Associated Press

Evan Longoria, left, and Carl Crawford celebrate after scoring against the Mariners on a double by Carlos Pena in the first inning.

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By MARC LANCASTER | The Tampa Tribune

Published: April 23, 2009

Updated: 04/23/2009 02:42 am

SEATTLE - The Tampa Bay Rays looked like the team they expect to be Wednesday night.

Their offense struck early and often, scoring at least once in each of the first six innings, they forced the action with aggressive base running, and Jeff Niemann led a more than adequate performance by the pitchers.

Whether all those elements coming together in the midst of a 9-3 drubbing of the Mariners can be attributed to a players-only meeting called by Carlos Pena prior to batting practice is debatable. But there's no question the basic elements of what apparently was discussed behind closed doors came through once the game began.

"I was very happy with how everything worked out," Pena said afterward, beaming like a proud father.

Losers in six of their previous seven games, the Rays appeared to be squeezing their bats to splinters much of the last week. Manager Joe Maddon believed his guys were trying too hard to make something happen, and he told them as much Tuesday, checking in with each player individually in an effort to get his team to calm down.

Maddon isn't a big believer in team meetings, but he has no problem with the veterans in his clubhouse taking matters into their own hands. Cliff Floyd took the initiative to call a meeting during the Rays' crucial series in Fenway Park last September, and Pena did the same prior to Game 7 of the American League Championship Series.

The message Wednesday afternoon was a reinforcement of what Maddon had been saying: relax, have fun, don't get hung up on the results.

Of course, the result Wednesday was exactly what the Rays needed. They scored three times in the first inning off Chris Jakubauskas, a 30-year-old making his second major-league start. Included in that uprising were four consecutive hits, keyed by a two-run Pena double to the gap in right-center. The Rays batted around in the frame, leaving the bases loaded when Jason Bartlett's bid for a grand slam came up a couple of feet shy of the wall in left.

That inning alone matched the Rays' best offensive output from any of their previous three games, but they weren't done. Tampa Bay tacked on one run each inning from the second through the sixth, with everyone in the lineup but Dioner Navarro recording at least one hit in the first five innings.

Carl Crawford finished the evening with four hits, scoring three times, and Evan Longoria went 3-for-4 with three RBIs to reach 101 for his young career. Only two active players reached 100 RBIs quicker than the 135 games it took Longoria to get there: Ryan Braun and Albert Pujols.

"You saw the line drives today – there was a much better approach," said Maddon. "We were on the ground more, we were on a line more, opposite field more. All the things we were talking about before the game just started showing up. Just a little bit better thought process going into the at-bat, which is necessary.

"When things aren't going well everybody wants to get it done, everybody wants to help break you out of that bad moment. But then again it's always about each guy doing his job per at-bat, and we did a much better job of that tonight."

As the Rays' offense picked up some much-needed steam on a cold night at Safeco Field, Niemann was untouchable for a while. The right-hander retired the first 12 men he faced before a throwing error by Bartlett allowed Adrian Beltre to reach base leading off the fifth. Niemann walked the next batter, Ronny Cedeno, on four pitches, then saw his no-hitter disappear when Jose Lopez blasted a three-run homer over the wall in left.

Niemann (1-2) finished the inning and got one out in the sixth before handing things off to the bullpen perhaps a little earlier than the Rays would have preferred. But they needed this win too badly to risk letting it slip away late. Not to worry, though. J.P. Howell, Dan Wheeler and Lance Cormier blanked the Mariners the rest of the way.

"Things were rolling and clicking," Niemann said. "It was good to feel that."

That went for just about everyone in a Rays uniform Wednesday night. They knew it was way too early to panic about their standing a mere 10 percent of the way through the schedule, but watching that games-back deficit grow was getting a bit uncomfortable. And it remains a work in progress.

"I think we just need to settle in a little bit more," said Longoria. "We don't have a whole lot of time, we don't want to say, 'Oh, we've got a bunch of time,' when in reality, if we don't start winning some games here, it's going to get tough to get back into the race. We need to start winning a bunch of games in a row and get back above .500."

Put a run of games together that look like Wednesday's and the Rays will have a good chance to do that. In their minds, nights like this should be the norm rather than the aberration.

"That's perfect. That's what we're capable of doing," said Pena. "And most importantly I loved the fact that the guys were enjoying themselves and having a good time out there. Everything else took care of itself. It was nice."

Reporter Marc Lancaster can be reached at (813) 259-7227

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