Niemann has been a revelation for Rays

No one involved with the Rays has been pleased with how the 2009 season has unfolded.

A disappointment since the championship banners were raised at Tropicana Field the second Monday in April, the defending American League titlists enter the season's final three weeks as afterthoughts who now must focus on maintaining a winning record through the finish line.

Given all that has gone wrong for a team that expected to contend this year, imagine where the Rays would be without Jeff Niemann doing what he has done this season.

Everyone expected a Tampa Bay starter to contend for Rookie of the Year honors, but no one had Niemann in the pool when David Price was waiting in the wings coming off a virtuoso performance as a reliever last fall.

As Price grappled for consistency, Scott Kazmir struggled with his mechanics, Andy Sonnanstine fell apart and James Shields and Matt Garza were victimized by poor run support and simply were unable to get over the hump, there was Niemann, an unlikely stabilizing force in the Rays' rotation.

No one saw this coming, and Niemann's debut as a full-fledged big-league starter hardly was an indication of what would transpire the rest of the year. On April 11 at Camden Yards, the Orioles batted around on Niemann in the first inning, with a Melvin Mora grand slam capping a five-run outburst.

The consensus opinion that day was that Niemann was jittery, nervous, as he finally stepped into the rotation spot he had earned by beating out Jason Hammel in spring training. He has shown no signs of any such issues since then, keeping his mechanics in line and his wits about him in plowing through lineups for the bulk of the season.

And now that team goals have all but officially fallen by the wayside, Rays manager Joe Maddon has pulled out the stump speech he used in Delmon Young's favor two Septembers ago and didn't really need to deploy for Evan Longoria last year.

"I think he should be Rookie of the Year," Maddon said on either side of Niemann's impressive start at Yankee Stadium on Wednesday night.

Allowing one run - which scored on the bullpen's watch after he had departed - in seven-plus innings on national television against baseball's most dangerous lineup certainly bolstered Niemann's candidacy, and Maddon said afterward it might have been the best game the 26-year-old has pitched this year.

That performance had plenty of company for consideration, though. His two complete-game shutouts, June 3 against Kansas City and July 10 against Oakland, obviously would be in the mix. Zack Greinke, Roy Halladay, Josh Beckett and Jered Weaver are the only other AL pitchers with a pair this season.

He has beaten Halladay twice and lost out on head-to-head victories against Felix Hernandez and Justin Verlander when the Rays' bullpen gave up leads in the late innings.

Niemann has allowed two earned runs or fewer in 17 of his 26 starts, and at 12-5 with a 3.57 ERA, he has outpaced his fellow rookie starters in the AL such as Toronto's Ricky Romero (12-7, 4.14) and Detroit's Rick Porcello (12-8, 4.26).

Both of those pitchers will be in the discussion for Rookie of the Year honors, along with A's closer Andrew Bailey, Rangers shortstop Elvis Andrus and White Sox infielder Gordon Beckham.

Not surprisingly, Maddon is sticking with his candidate.

"I've seen them all, and I think his work's been the best," Maddon said.

Starts like the one Niemann made on a big stage Wednesday can only help, but Longoria noted that the Rays' fall from playoff contention might hurt Niemann's candidacy, just as their run to the postseason last year helped his. Detroit appears a good bet to secure the division title, which should aid Porcello, and if Texas can stick close to Boston in the wild-card race, Andrus should get more publicity.

Nonetheless, Longoria, Maddon and those who have seen Niemann duel and often beat the best of the AL East all season feel strongly about his case.

"I really believe he should be at the forefront," Longoria said. "For this team and for what he's done, he has, I think, gone a lot above and beyond what anybody expected him to do."