Rays take a bow

Crawford's seventh-inning grand slam sends the Yanks packing.

By EDUARDO A. ENCINA
Published April 25, 2007

ADVERTISEMENT [Times photo: James Borchuck] Carl Crawford is congratulated by Devil Rays third base coach Tom Foley after putting the Rays ahead with a seventh-inning grand slam. It was Crawford's first career grand slam.

ST. PETERSBURG -- Rays leftfielder Carl Crawford is comfortable in most situations on the field, except when it comes to curtain calls.

But after Crawford's teammates nearly pushed him out of the dugout following his winning grand slam -- the first of his career -- to acknowledge the cheering Tropicana Field crowd, Crawford said he could embrace those situations after his dramatic hit led the Rays to a 6-4 win over the Yankees Tuesday night.

"I don't like doing that stuff," Crawford said. "I just don't feel comfortable doing it. ... I could get used to it though. I think anyone could get used to it if it happens enough."

The Rays (9-11) leapfrogged the Yankees in the AL East, sending New York home in last place by half a game. Albeit just a two-game series, it was the Rays' first sweep of the Yankees since 2000, and the second in 52 series against New York.

"Our guys have a lot of fight in them now," Rays manager Joe Maddon said. "The energy is fantastic. I really felt we believed we were going to win that game."

On a day the Rays learned they would miss starting third baseman Akinori Iwamura, arguably the team's best overall player thus far, for four to six weeks with a strained oblique, Crawford led the way.

Leading 3-2, Yankees manager Joe Torre sent submarining left-hander Mike Myers to the mound to face Crawford with the bases loaded and two outs. Crawford grimaced when took a tailing low slider for a strike to run the count to 2-and-2. But when Myers threw the same pitch again, Crawford was ready, extending his arms and pulling the ball into the rightfield stands for his fourth homer of the season, tying Ty Wigginton for the team lead.

"With the timing and what it did for us to win the game, it was probably the best home run I ever hit," Crawford said. "It definitely felt good to hit it after what just happened. I ain't going to sit here and say I was looking for it."

Said Maddon: "Carl is good at putting the past in the past. ... It just jumped off his bat."

The slam, which prompted Crawford's first career curtain call, capped a four-hit night. He is 8-for-16 against the Yankees this season, but it was just his second homer in 347 career at-bats against them.

"We let one get away," Torre said.

Rays lefty Scott Kazmir, coming off his shortest start of the season, didn't feel his best, still recovering from the effects of a flu bug in the clubhouse.

"I was just pouring sweat," Kazmir said. "By the fourth inning, I was all out of sweat. It was all adrenaline."

Kazmir stole the spotlight from AL Cy Young Award runnerup Chien-Ming Wang, who made his first start of the season for the Yankees after a stint on the disabled list.

After allowing a solo homer to Hideki Matsui and an infield single to Jorge Posada in the second, Kazmir retired the next 12 batters. But an otherwise remarkable performance unraveled in the seventh inning, when Kazmir's throwing error to first base snowballed into a two-run inning that gave the Yankees the lead.

The Rays bullpen held the lead late. Shawn Camp entered with one on and no outs in the eighth and allowed just one hit, a run-scoring Matsui single. He had a huge strikeout of Alex Rodriguez, who was 0-for-3 on the night. Al Reyes retired the Yankees in order in the ninth for his seventh save.

[Last modified April 25, 2007, 01:25:26]