Another Eventful Victory For Rays

The Rays and Angels are slated to meet for the final time this season tonight at Tropicana Field, but they might not be done yet.

Tuesday night's contest, a 4-2 Rays victory that saw the home team mount a stunning three-run rally in the eighth, again had all the earmarks of October, and it just might come to that for these two teams.

The Rays' victory lifted their record to 77-48, surpassing the Angels (76-48) in the American League and tying the Cubs for the best mark in baseball.

"Yeah," said a wary B.J. Upton. "Right now."

Sure enough, there's a ways to go before having the best record actually counts for something, but each game like this brings the Rays closer to once-unthinkable territory.

"It just means that we're starting to do things in the right way," Rays manager Joe Maddon said. "We're making less mistakes, we're starting to believe in what we're doing. Well, we've been believing, but when you get to that level, then you're truly believing. And if anybody hasn't bought in at this point, they have to buy in as of now."

The Rays sold it with an opportunistic comeback in the eighth. Finally free of the stranglehold Ervin Santana had on their bats through the first seven innings, the Rays scored three times despite recording one hit in the inning.

The inning began with two walks by reliever Scot Shields and a throwing error by catcher Jeff Mathis that loaded the bases with nobody out. Upton took a called third strike, but Carlos Pena got the benefit of the doubt. The slugger drew his third straight walk on a full-count pitch by Darren Oliver, forcing in the tying run. After Cliff Floyd struck out, it was up to Willy Aybar. The fill-in third baseman got it done, ripping a solid single to left to score a pair of runs.

It was the big inning the Rays thought they had brewing in the sixth before a controversial call derailed it.

The Rays finally had broken through on Santana in the bottom of the sixth, as Jason Bartlett's one-out double to left halted a no-hit bid and Akinori Iwamura followed with an infield single to put runners on the corners.

Upton sent a soft grounder toward first that was fielded by Mark Teixeira. He hesitated, then sent an errant toss to Santana as the pitcher moved to cover the bag. The ball got away as Upton crossed the bag safely and trickled a few more feet down the line in foul territory.

Seeing the ball loose, Upton twitched momentarily in the direction of second base, but he immediately straightened out and stopped running. Howie Kendrick picked up the loose ball, tagged Upton, and first-base umpire Jerry Meals signaled an out, prompting a dismayed Upton to grab his helmet with both hands as Maddon shot out of the dugout to argue.

Batters are permitted to run through first base on any play, but Rule 7.08(j) says a batter can be tagged out "if he attempts to run to second." The Rays didn't believe Upton made such an attempt, and Maddon was quickly ejected as he made that point.

Afterward, Maddon described the call as "unconscionable," "wrong," and "fabricated."

"The rulebook is very plain on it, and it was nowhere near the rulebook interpretation of that being an attempt to go to second base," he said. "It's in a crucial part of the game, you've got a pennant in the balance, and to make that call at that point, a fabricated call, to me, cannot happen."

Umpire crew chief Gary Darling declined to respond to Maddon's criticism, telling a pool reporter it was the proper call.

"He made an attempt to run to second base. Little jab step and a shoulder," Darling said. "I've called guys out for less."

The Rays were able to overcome the dispute, thanks in large part to the work of James Shields (eight innings, two runs) and three stellar defensive plays early on - a line-drive double play started by Bartlett, a leaping catch at the wall by Gabe Gross and Upton gunning down Torii Hunter at the plate with a pinpoint throw.

Once again, everything came together for them. They just had to wait until the end to apply the finishing touches.

"That's what I've been doing all season - I think that's my job," Shields said. "If I can keep our team in the ballgame, we're going to score some runs no matter what."