One game at a time, sure, but Rays are aware of the standings

Carlos Pena walked into the Tampa Bay Rays' clubhouse Tuesday afternoon. As usual, the newspaper Sports sections were just inside the door, dutifully arranged by a clubhouse manager. Tuesday, they detailed Monday's carnage: the Rays' drop-dead ghastly 11-4 loss to the Yankees.

Pena gently scooped up the Sports sections. Holding them like a mother would her baby, he gently carried them to a trash can and threw them in.

Then the Rays went out and drew a line in the Trop. They beat the Yankees, 6-2, and cut a game off what was becoming an increasingly ominous New York lead in the American League East.

Maybe there was a little denial in Pena's act - or maybe, just maybe, it was just a way of getting serious, of saying, well, "Enough with this garbage."

His team played like that.

The Rays have talked and talked about not paying attention to the standings, per manager Joe Maddon's mantra: "It's about what we do."

But Tuesday, there was urgency everywhere you looked.

It was there as Scott Kazmir, of all people, turned back the clock and looked like that young lefty with the limitless future.

Kazmir pitched into the eighth - the eighth! - allowing only one Yankees run on five hits to get his first win in 80 days.

The urgency was there as the Rays got to Yankees starter CC Sabathia for six runs.

It was there in that Evan Longoria home run, that defense from Jason Bartlett at shortstop and B.J. Upton in center, and that hustle on the base paths from Bartlett, Ben Zobrist and Gabe Kapler.

"It was about, 'Put the standings away and win,' " Kapler said.

They still trail the Yankees by 6½ games and the Boston Red Sox by four games. But this team needed this.

It started with Kazmir.

"We needed to show some fire," he said.

He showed himself. There have been rumors about Kazmir possibly being on the trading block. Maybe the rumors are far-fetched, but at this point, if anything helps Kazmir fetch his old promise, all the better for the Rays, especially given that other news, that the Red Sox are actively trying to deal for Toronto's Roy Halladay.

Kazmir? He wondered as he took the mound Wednesday whether this would be his last Rays start, since the trading deadline is Friday.

"I'd be lying if I said it didn't cross my mind," he said.

Then he went out and made his pitch.

"This game was all about Kaz," Kapler said. "He set the tone. We needed to rise to the occasion, and he rose to the occasion."

"That was pretty nice to see, wasn't it?" Maddon said.

Whether we'll see it again tonight against the Yankees is the question. The Rays have been an on-and-off proposition this season. They have put off facing the reality that they have underachieved all season.

They followed that amazing comeback win in Toronto - from 8-0, then 9-1 down - with consecutive losses in which they were outscored 16-5.

They've acted calm and cool as New York's and Boston's leads grew.

Too cool, too calm, if you ask me.

It was time to start a new reality.

Maybe Pena's pregame action will go down in Rays history, right there with that Dan Johnson homer last September in Boston.

Maybe they'll wind up bronzing that trash can.

After the game, Kazmir was talking about keeping it going after Wednesday. Suddenly, across the clubhouse from him, Carl Crawford and James Shields yelled. They were looking up at a TV. The Athletics had just tied the Red Sox. Oakland went on to win in 11.

"Yeah, we don't follow the standings much," Kazmir said with a grin.

Here's an idea: Whatever Ray gets to the clubhouse first today, grab up all the newspaper reports about the big Tuesday win ... and throw them away, too.

It's another day.

It's time to win again.