Rays looking revamped and revitalized

RAYS 10, WHITE SOX 3: New lineup romps again to back a solid Joe Kennedy outing.

By MARC TOPKIN, Times Staff Writer

© St. Petersburg Times
published August 5, 2002

ST. PETERSBURG -- Manager Hal McRae says he'll stick with a revamped lineup that features more speed and defense as long as the Rays can generate enough offense.

After a second straight impressive victory, 10-3 over the White Sox on Sunday at Tropicana Field, he plans to keep things the way they are for a while.

"I'm sleeping better," McRae said. "And I like to sleep."

Expect to see Felix Escalona at second base instead of Brent Abernathy for an extended period of time. Same with Jason Conti in rightfield in place of Ben Grieve. Andy Sheets will play shortstop ahead of Chris Gomez for at least a few more days. And don't be surprised to see power-hungry Jared Sandberg remain in the cleanup slot, splitting lefties Aubrey Huff and Steve Cox.

Those moves all were part of Sunday's success story, as Escalona and Conti combined to be on base five times, Sheets had three hits (including a nifty squeeze bunt) and Sandberg teamed with Huff for the Rays' first back-to-back homers in more than a year.

Also key was another strong effort by Joe Kennedy, who allowed one earned run over seven innings to improve to 7-8.

"The guys played a real baseball game today," McRae said. "We were alert, we played heads-up ball, aggressive, patient at the plate. Everyone did a fine job. Joe did a marvelous job. ...

"Sometimes you go out and you play and they call the game baseball, but you don't play baseball. We played baseball today."

The game figured to be a close one given the matchup of Kennedy and Chicago All-Star Mark Buehrle, two of the top young left-handers in the league. "I was expecting a classic good old baseball game, a pitchers' duel," Sandberg said.

You had to figure the Rays were at a disadvantage given their paltry previous performance against left-handers: 4-14 in games started by lefties, a league-low .222 average and a puzzling lack of production from their right-handed hitters. "I don't understand it," McRae said before the game. "It's been terrible."

The Sox had just retaken the lead at 2-1 when the game turned in the sixth. Conti, who brings better range and a powerful arm, quelled a Chicago rally by throwing a one-bounce strike to the plate to nail Frank Thomas (for the second time in two games). Kennedy got Josh Paul on a fly out to end the inning, and the Rays hitters took it from there.

"It was probably the play of the game," Kennedy said. "It was a big momentum swing for myself and for the team, a pick-me-up."

Huff, who took over the No. 3 slot July 25, homered over the centerfield fence on an 0-and-1 pitch, his 11th of the season and second off a left-hander. Sandberg then drove a 1-and-2 fastball into the leftfield seats, his sixth homer in a 40 at-bat span and team-leading 13th overall in 210 at-bats. It was the first time they'd hit consecutive homers since June 25, 2001, a mind-boggling 196 games in between.

"Jared's really swinging with pop," Huff said. "When he hits it, it makes the best sound off anybody's bat that I've ever heard. So he's going to be good there (in the cleanup slot), he's got the stuff to be there."

The Rays put the game away with a six-run seventh inning that unfolded about as well as they could envision.

Randy Winn led off with a single, Escalona bunted him to second and Huff doubled him home. Sandberg knocked in Huff, Cox singled Sandberg to third and, with two outs, Sheets caught third baseman Joe Crede back and dropped a perfect bunt. Conti finished things off with a two-run double, marking the sixth time in 13 games the Rays scored five or more runs in an inning.

By the time they were done, the Rays had 17 hits, including a career-high 11 against Buehrle. They're 5-5 on a season-high 11-game homestand that ends today, having hit .314 and averaged 5.9 runs, and they have a shot today to win their first series since late June.

"We're doing a lot of things right and the guys are having some fun," McRae said. "This is what it's all about. You need to have fun and your confidence level needs to be high, and you've got to have fun to relax. It takes some success to have fun. We can talk about it, but it takes some success by the individuals that are playing in order to have fun. You can't manufacture fun. You've got to play good and you'll have fun."