Diminutive Iwamura Powers Tampa Bay To 2-0 Lead

The way their bullpen has performed through the first two games in the playoffs, the Rays would have felt confident taking a one-run lead into the ninth inning Friday night.

But the three runs they tacked on in the bottom of the eighth, whipping Tropicana Field into a frenzy on the way to a more emphatic 6-2 victory against the White Sox, could end up bolstering the Rays' confidence even further as they seek the series-clincher this weekend.

The Rays boarded a plane to Chicago needing only one win in three chances to move on to the American League Championship Series, and history is firmly on their side. Of the 32 teams that have taken 2-0 leads in previous division series, 27 have advanced - all but six via a sweep.

"It gives us a great shot," Rays catcher Dioner Navarro said. "If you put it in the worst-case scenario, we finish at home with a potential Game 5 on Wednesday. But we ain't trying to do that. We're going to try to wrap this thing up in Chicago."

Even though they are leaving their season-long safe haven, where another raucous full house of 35,257 cheered them on Friday night, the Rays have ample reason to feel good about their chances.

Though both games to this point have been tightly contested, there hasn't been anything fluky about the Rays' victories. In Game 2, they again got outstanding pitching from several contributors, led by Scott Kazmir.

That in itself was a surprise, considering the lefty spent much of the top of the first looking as if he was on the verge of a meltdown - to the point that long reliever David Price got up to do some light stretching with the fourth batter of the game at the plate. Kazmir hit the first man he faced and walked the second, with both Orlando Cabrera and Nick Swisher coming around to score.

As Kazmir battled to keep the White Sox right there in the first, and finally did so by striking out Juan Uribe with his 37th pitch, he finally got settled in. It still took a bit of convincing, though, as a pair of two-out hits in the second prompted Manager Joe Maddon to get Price and Chad Bradford up in the bullpen. But Kazmir weathered the challenge, pitching into the sixth with minimal trouble before handing it over to the Rays' untouchable relievers.

Thanks to his teammates, he did so in position to pick up the victory. The Rays had tallied a run on Mark Buehrle in the second on a single by Navarro, but Akinori Iwamura became the hero du jour with an opposite-field two-run homer in the fifth that put Tampa Bay on top 3-2.

The Rays' bullpen stepped into a starring role there, as Grant Balfour relieved Kazmir just in time to shut down new nemesis Orlando Cabrera with no fireworks whatsoever and grab another out to end the sixth. J.P. Howell then bailed out Balfour in the seventh, inheriting a pair of runners with nobody out and retiring three in a row. Howell took it to another level in the eighth by getting three called third strikes to preserve the Rays' slim edge.

Too slim for their liking, actually, against a Chicago team loaded with mashers.

"A one-run ballgame against those guys, they can pretty much spoil your night with one swing," said B.J. Upton, who promptly set about to widen the gap.

His leadoff triple in the eighth got things rolling, and old standbys Carl Crawford and Rocco Baldelli provided a run-scoring single apiece to make it 5-2. Baldelli would then deliver the final message by motoring all the way around from first to score on Navarro's bloop double to shallow right-center.

"We tacked it on, and hopefully that swung the momentum really in our favor," Baldelli said.

That ultimately will be determined by what happens when the teams reconvene Sunday at U.S. Cellular Field. The season will be on the line for the White Sox, who already have won three elimination games this week just to get to the playoffs.

With that in mind, there was no sign of panic among the veteran group.

"We've been in this situation before - just the other day," said Jermaine Dye, who went 4-for-5 on Friday. "We know what we've got to do. We've got to win three in a row, and if not we go home."

The Rays, meanwhile, would prefer not to have to return to the Trop to finish off their first playoff series. They'll have to win on the road to reach their ultimate goal, and no one needs to explain to even this inexperienced group how significant an edge they have.

"All year, you give us a little seam and we'll take advantage of it," Upton said. "I know the guys know in here that we've got a little advantage right now, and we're definitely going to be looking to finish it in Chicago."