Rays keep remarkable season rolling

CHICAGO—They rushed toward the mound, these remarkable Rays, and immediately formed a circle. Jumping together like fraternity brothers, they resembled party regulars in the post-season.
Worst in the majors last year, Tampa Bay now will play for a spot in the World Series.

“It means everything. We’ve been at the bottom of the barrel for so long,” B.J. Upton said yesterday after homering twice in a 6-2 win over Chicago that clinched their first-round playoff series.
“I think there was a point in time where people didn’t even know who we were,” he added.
They do now, for sure.
Andy Sonnanstine pitched 5 2/3 solid innings as manager Joe Maddon’s surprising Rays won 3-1 in the best-of-five series—their first trip to the post-season. Next up, they’ll host wild-card Boston in Game 1 of the AL championship series Friday night.
Ray-markable!
“We feel like we belong and it’s showing right now,” Upton said.
They want more, too. So why stop now?
“Like Carlos (Pena) said, we’re kind of a fraternity. And we stick together at all times no matter what happens,” Upton said. “As long as we keep that attitude and continue playing as a team, and doing the little things to win, I don’t think there’s any reason why we can’t win this whole thing.”
After staving off elimination several times and then winning a tiebreaker for the AL Central title, the White Sox finally were knocked out.
The loss dashed Chicago’s hope for a championship—days ago, local fans were thinking the Cubs and White Sox might meet in a Windy City Classic. But the Cubs got swept by the Dodgers and now both teams are done.
Upton, the game’s second batter, homered to left-centre to put the Rays ahead. He went deep again in the third—driving a full-count pitch from Gavin Floyd to centre—and the confident Rays had a two-run cushion.
Tampa Bay, which never won more than 70 games during its 10 previous seasons, went from 96 losses last year to 97 wins and passed the big-spending Red Sox and N.Y. Yankees in the AL East.
No longer bedeviled, the Rays won all year with young talent and improved pitching. Sonnanstine, who pitched a three-hit shutout against the White Sox at Tropicana Field back in April, reversed a late-season slide that saw him go winless in his final seven starts.
Last night, he allowed two runs and three hits before J.P Howell relieved. Grant Balfour completed the four-hitter—striking out mid-season addition Ken Griffey Jr. to end it.
“Obviously, this is an incredible accomplishment and we’re going to take tonight and really enjoy it, but when you are mired in the day-to-day, it’s hard to step back and appreciate what we’ve accomplished this year,” Rays’ general manager Andrew Friedman said.
“We’re focused on having two more celebrations.”
Upton, who hit nine homers in 531 at-bats during the regular season, also homered in Sunday’s 5-3 loss. Benched by Maddon during the season for not hustling, the talented 24-year-old’s power display came against a team that relied on homers all year and led the majors in long balls.
“B.J.’s special,” Maddon said. “He’s very capable of those types of games.”
Tampa Bay increased the lead to 4-0 in the fourth when Carl Crawford walked and scored as veteran Cliff Floyd, a Chicago native, doubled to left. Dioner Navarro followed with an RBI single to finish Floyd.
Paul Konerko hit a solo homer for the White Sox in the bottom half and the white towel-waving crowd dressed in black had a reason to get excited.
But Tampa Bay struck right back in the fifth against Clayton Richard as Akinori Iwamura singled and scored on Pena’s single that made it 5-1.
Jermaine Dye hit a solo home run in the sixth to finish Sonnanstine.
“Hats off to him,” Upton said of Sonnanstine. “He threw a great game when we needed it.”