Rays/MLB

Watching and learning

Manager Joe Maddon wants his players to do the little things needed to win. Monday, the Angels provide a good example.

By MARC TOPKIN
Published July 25, 2006

	[Times Photo: Dirk Shadd]
	Devil Rays pitcher Jae Seo pitches in the first inning against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

ST. PETERSBURG - Devil Rays manager Joe Maddon speaks often about preparation, about the process and about playing conceptually. He stresses the importance of situational hitting, of doing the little things right, and of having the right mental approach.

Monday, though, he didn't need to talk about it.

He and the rest of his players could just watch as his former team, the Angels, once again showed them how the game can be played, the 8-4 victory marking their sixth win in seven meetings with the Rays.

The Angels did it as they often do, with strong starting pitching, this time eight solid innings from John Lackey, and an offense that is built around Vladimir Guerrero but can be productive from top to bottom.

"What they do is they play in a conceptual manner and they really preach the situational hitting and the baserunning," Maddon said. "That's more in tune with what I want to see.

"We're going to hit home runs. Eventually, I think we're going to show you more power up and down the lineup. But from an academic perspective regarding baseball, there's little things we have to do better. We've got to keep preaching them. We need more spring trainings. We need to inundate the minor leagues with those concepts, and we will. And they'll keep getting better.

"Those are the things I was part of preaching over there, and I'm going to be preaching over here. And eventually, it's going to show up. It didn't happen overnight on the other side either."

The Rays are well-versed in patience. They reached the 100-game mark with a 41-59 record, which actually matches the third-best mark in their nine-season history. Maddon said he was "not disappointed or discouraged or none of that stuff" and he expected improvement as the season went on.

"What your seeing is we get going and we might stub our toe a little bit, then we get going and we stub it again," Maddon said. "We just have to get to the point where we can get on a roll and sustain it. And I think as we finally arrive at a group of players that we're going to keep for many months or years, you might be able to see some kind of a change there."

The Angels, meanwhile, won 8 of 9 before the All-Star break. And taking advantage of a schedule that had them opening the second half against the AL's three worst teams, they have kept it going, winning 8 of 11 against the Rays, Indians and Royals to move to the brink of first place in the AL West.

Monday, they built a 6-0 lead in five innings against Jae Seo, who remains winless since being acquired from the Dodgers, going 0-5 with a 5.58 ERA.

The Rays scored twice and threatened to make it more interesting when Robb Quinlan came through with exactly the type of at-bat Maddon was talking about.

With two on and two out in the seventh against Ruddy Lugo, the second of four Rays relievers, Quinlan fought off a nasty full-count pitch and slapped a groundball single to right that scored two runs and made it 8-2.

"They come through with good situational hitting," Rays infielder Ty Wigginton said.

"They're real good," Rays designated hitter Jonny Gomes said. "Besides Vlad, there's not too many big name players. They're just low-key and they get the job done. They've all got their roles and they're good at it - getting 'em over, hit-and-runs, bunting, stealing bases.

"We've got an offense just like them. We can learn from them and learn from our mistakes."

[Last modified July 25, 2006, 01:27:16]