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Rays hoping to build on interleague success

The Associated Press

Dioner Navarro, left, celebrates with relief pitcher Randy Choate following the Rays' 4-1 victory over the Blue Jays on Monday.

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By MARC LANCASTER | The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 30, 2009

Updated: 06/30/2009 09:04 am

TORONTO - The American League's superiority over the NL has been well established the past few years in interleague play (if not the World Series, much to the Rays' dismay) and that was the case again in 2009.

AL teams went 137-114, topping the NL for the sixth consecutive year, and the Rays at 13-5 were second only to the Angels (14-4) in interleague success.

Coming off a run of 15 consecutive games against NL opposition to dive back into AL East play Monday with their first matchup against the Blue Jays this year, the Rays hoped to build on the positive momentum they gained in a bid to pick up even more ground in the division.

"I think it's going to be a tight race all year, and playing division games is a little bit different than playing interleague," CF B.J. Upton said. "Not saying that interleague games don't mean anything, but I think the games are more magnified when you're playing inside your division - especially when you're playing these guys for the first time."

Monday's game was the first of 18 the Rays have remaining against Toronto thanks to another one of those MLB scheduling quirks that leaves one team or another scratching its head just about every season. Three of the Rays' next seven series will be against the Jays, who didn't play a single game against AL East opposition in April and, probably not coincidentally, were in first place most of that month.

The two teams are headed in opposite directions now, though, as the Rays past Toronto in the standings for the first time this year Sunday.

"You just go out there and try to keep the good vibes going, especially those important games in the division," Jeff Niemann said after picking up the win Monday. "We haven't played them yet, so it's good to get off to a good start."

Northern hospitality

Upton didn't realize it, but he narrowly avoided an early shower courtesy of a couple of fans in center field in the eighth inning.

As Upton finished a long run to pull down a Marco Scutaro fly ball at the warning track for the second out of the inning, a stream of liquid cascaded over the outfield wall in his direction. Not close enough to douse him, though.

"I didn't know what was going on," Upton said. "I was turned around to walk back to my position and I saw the umpire walking over and everybody was looking out at me - I had no idea what was going on. I was coming off the field after the inning and the umpire goes, 'Are you all right?' and I'm like, 'What happened?'"

Between innings, stadium security entered the section and escorted two women from the building for the misdeed.

Free Willy

Ben Zobrist had started 33 of the Rays' previous 34 games (and the last 21 in a row) before getting a well-deserved break from the lineup Monday night. Manager Joe Maddon said he was as interested in resting Zobrist, who had cooled off a bit and had only six hits in his previous 40 at-bats, as he was finding some playing time for his replacement at second base, Willy Aybar.

Aybar had started once since June 11 before getting the nod Monday, as Zobrist's torrid run at the plate and the recent hot streaks turned in by Gabe Gross and Gabe Kapler have made it difficult to carve out playing time for the utility infielder.

"You've seen all the big moments he's had recently for us, and to just sit him for long periods of time really bothers me," Maddon said of Aybar. "It's hard to get Ben out of there right now and I don't want to, and I think Willy would be the first one to understand that."

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