All Eyes On Rays Pitching And Defense

By MARTIN FENNELLY The Tampa Tribune

Published: May 10, 2008

ST. PETERSBURG - If these bats ever catch up with these arms and gloves …

"When it comes, look out," Rays pitcher James Shields said.

You thought that as Evan Longoria circled the bases at Tropicana Field on Friday night after his first walk-off home run in the majors. He was on his way to that mob of teammates at home plate, not to mention a water-jug bath (supplied by Jonny Gomes) and a shaving cream pie in the face (Eric Hinske). You can't take your eyes off these guys. Not for a second.

Really, you can't.

And this just in:

Pitching and defense?

Longoria's two-run, ninth-inning shot beat the Angels 2-0 and backed up the spooky good Shields, who pitched, oh, a complete-game one-hit shutout. The last game the Rays played at home, Shields shut out the Red Sox. Yawn.

Throw in superb defense, including maybe the best catch Carl Crawford has ever made, and the Rays had their second win in 23 hours when you throw in that ever-so-slight extra-innings miracle in Toronto. The team charter didn't touch down in Tampa Bay until 4:45 Friday morning.

Hey, who can sleep?

You can't take your eyes off these guys.

16 Straight Days Above .500

The Rays are 19-16. Today marks a franchise-record 16th consecutive day they've been above .500. Baby steps, but steps nonetheless.

They began their climb with that three-game sweep of the Red Sox three Fridays ago, the sweep Shields finished with that shutout.

And they picked up where they left off at home after turning what could have been a downer nine-game road trip (complete with a Boston sweep at Fenway) into a throughly upbeat 4-5 swing, having won two of three series.

That's thanks to that rubber game in Toronto on Thursday night, when somehow, some way, the Rays blew a 3-0 lead in the ninth on Troy Percival's first blown save, but somehow made the ending uplifting - Dan Wheeler striking his way out of a jam in the 10th, then a five-run 13th, with Dioner Navarro's grand slam.

Thursday was the kind of game the Rays lost last season.

"In the past? Yeah, that's no secret," Crawford said.

Friday was the kind of game they lost, too.

They didn't. They wouldn't.

You can't take your eyes off these guys.

The potentially scary thing, for the American League, at least, is the Rays haven't even started to hit, not truly. Oh, there has been timely hitting, but not hitting hitting. The first six weeks have been about, get ready: pitching and defense.

"If we start hitting, imagine what we can do," Navarro said.

Imagine.

Short Game, Long Anthem

In 2 hours, 13 minutes, or about the time Trop guest and "American Idol" finalist Syesha Mercado took to sing the national anthem, the Rays won their own way.

Center fielder B.J. Upton dove to grab a shallow fly by Angels leadoff man Gary Matthews Jr. Longoria made some nice grabs at third. But Crawford took the most breath away with an all-out sprint and diving grab of a drive to left center in the third inning, saving a potential run.

"We're doing a lot of things to win," Crawford said.

Shields, coming off the second-shortest outing of his career, a shelling at Boston, needed only 92 pitches for his complete game, retiring the last 17. All he needed, really, was someone to pick him up. Or someone to pick up, like, well, the man who hit the game-winner. "I ran out there as fast as I could," Shields said.

Maybe attendance has to catch up to pitching and defense, too. A throng of 12,039 elbowed its way into the Trop on welcome-home night.

OK, maybe you can take your eyes off these guys.

They're still worth a look. Maybe even a Look Out.