Rays-Red Sox: September Showdown

The extraordinary dynamic that awaits the Rays as they prepare to open a potentially pivotal three-game series at Fenway Park tonight is best illustrated by the way the Red Sox reacted to Tampa Bay's walk-off loss Saturday afternoon.

The Boston Herald recounted a scene that featured about 20 Red Sox players and staff gathered around the big-screen television in the visitors' clubhouse before their game at Texas exploding with joy when Gregg Zaun's grand slam beat the Rays. The hunters celebrating as the hunted lost another step.

The Red Sox were in the midst of their game when the Rays fell 1-0 to the Blue Jays on Sunday, so there was no chance to repeat that celebration - nor any real need after they disposed of the Rangers. Both teams converged on Boston late Sunday with the Rays clinging to a division lead that could be gone by Tuesday night and momentum taking them in the wrong direction.

Having dropped five of their past six games, the Rays' 11/2-game edge is their thinnest since they were up one game July 28. The AL East upstarts continue to insist there is no need to panic and the next three games won't make or break their season, but they're more vulnerable now than at any time since the All-Star break and running out of margin for error.

"We know what we've got to do and they know what they've got to do," Rays starter Matt Garza said of the Red Sox. "Right now, we're up top. They're chasing us. We keep playing our ball and this thing will turn around. Right now we're in a little bit of a rut - what is that, five out of the last six? That's nothing bad."

Taken in the context of a 162-game season, it probably isn't. But with only 21 games left, this is not the time for the Rays to be losing the kind of games they have won all season. The last two defeats at Rogers Centre certainly fit into that category, with momentum squandered in extra innings Saturday and the Rays unable to produce even one big hit Sunday to back Garza's stellar seven-inning performance.

"We've just been losing close ballgames," said B.J. Upton, who was 3-for-4 Sunday. "I don't think we're really used to it - we've been winning them all year."

The first challenge for the Rays the next three evenings will be keeping the games close. In going 0-6 at Fenway this season, the nearest the Rays have come to the Red Sox is three runs, in a 7-4 loss June 3.

Pitching has let the Rays down in their previous trips to Boston this year. The Red Sox have averaged more than seven runs per game while hosting the Rays, outscoring Tampa Bay 45-16 in six meetings.

Tonight's starter, Edwin Jackson, has been among the primary culprits. In two losses at Fenway in May and June, Jackson allowed a combined 15 hits and 10 runs in nine innings. He'll take the mound tonight coming off a 31/3-inning start against the Yankees last week that matched his shortest of the season, and he said the gravity of the situation is understood.

"Every game, every series is important right now," Jackson said. "There's no need to put any added pressure on yourself because of the team you're playing if you look at every game as big anyways. But, definitely, we want to go in and try to get the ball rolling in a good direction, take first blood. That's always the plan."

The plan has held up for the Rays throughout much of the season, and Manager Joe Maddon maintains that is the case even now. In reviewing the Rays' string of losses to the Yankees and Blue Jays, he sees his team playing as he wants them to play and simply coming up a bit short.

Perhaps a brief dip into the superheated Fenway Park environment will give the Rays the extra push they seem to need at the moment. Their manager is looking forward to finding out.

"This is uncharted territory for us as an organization going into this series this time of the year with all this stuff at stake and I think it's fabulous, actually," Maddon said. "If anybody feels as though there's more pressure applied to it, that's wonderful, because when you play with lack of pressure that means you're going home at the end of the month."