Zobrist compensates for a rookie mistake
By DAMIAN CRISTODERO
Published August 7, 2006
ST. PETERSBURG - Ben Zobrist had quite a day Sunday.
The Devil Rays rookie shortstop, playing his sixth game since his callup from Triple-A Durham, had two hits, including his first major-league home run, and three RBIs.
He also overcame a terrible play in the fifth inning in which he was late covering second after first baseman Travis Lee snagged Alex Cora's ground ball.
Lee shoveled the ball to Zobrist, who was two steps behind the bag. Alex Gonzalez was safe, and instead of a third out, Boston got its third run of the inning and a 5-2 lead.
"I got caught watching the game," Zobrist said. "Travis Lee is a great first baseman. I'm not really used to first basemen making a great play like that and shoveling a pass to me. I wasn't expecting it."
Good thing, then, for Zobrist's home run in the third off starter Jason Johnson, the two-run double in the seventh and sacrifice bunt in the ninth, a skill with which the Rays have struggled all season.
"I'm not going to say I felt like I erased it," Zobrist said of his fifth-inning flub. "You have to take each play on its own and keep out of your mind some of the stuff that might have happened earlier in the game that you screwed up. I tried to put it behind me as soon as it happened."
Manager Joe Maddon said it helped that Zobrist, acquired in the Aubrey Huff trade, is 25.
"He's not a baby," Maddon said. "He's got a great way about him, and what he did tonight didn't surprise me. I would expect whenever he makes a mistake, the very next play he's going to want the ball hit to him. That's what we're looking for."
As for the home run, Zobrist's 12th as a pro in 1,028 at-bats, he said he was in "ecstasy."
ROAD WARRIORS: At 29-26, the Rays are competitive at home. The trick, Maddon said, is to reverse an 18-39 road record, and there is no better time to start than today in Seattle.
"We don't have to win, but we have to come out and play right and play hard," Maddon said. "We have to have it carry on a little bit."
Maddon said the boost from an emotional win such as Sunday's might be the catalyst.
"If you want to be the best you have to beat the best," he said. "These kinds of games definitely can do something for your confidence. I really believe that. The way our guys are mixing it right now, I like it."
ROSTER MOVES: Reliever Edwin Jackson was sent to Durham to make room for Dan Miceli, who has been rehabbing a shoulder injury at Double-A Montgomery.
"Of course I'm not going to be happy about it," said Jackson, who had a 6.75 ERA in 17 outings.
Maddon said the organization wants Jackson to learn to close. With Brian Meadows and soon Seth McClung in that job, Jackson was not being used in the right situations.
"If we're going to keep putting him in different spots, the fifth and sixth inning, up, down, he's not going to get to the point we want to get him with," Maddon said.
BIG DAY FOR BALDELLI: Tonight's game is a dividing line of sorts for Rocco Baldelli, who has missed four straight with a sore right hamstring. Maddon said if the centerfielder can't go, his worry lines will form.
"If it starts being day to day after (Sunday)," he said, "then I'll start being concerned."
SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS: Maddon on Saturday said David Ortiz complimented his Jean Paul cologne. Maddon said he was tempted to buy some for the Red Sox slugger in exchange for fewer home runs against Tampa Bay.
Ortiz hit his 40th Sunday, but Maddon still sent the gift with a note that read, "You're a special person. Thank you for what you mean to the game."
MISCELLANY: Scott Kazmir (shoulder) reported no ill effects from Saturday's 30-pitch bullpen session and said he is on track for Friday's start at Oakland. . . . The Rays got their third walkoff win of the season, matching the team high. . . . Ortiz is the first Red Sox player with 40 home runs in three straight seasons. . . . Lee's fifth home run since the break is one more than he had before it.