After ALCS power surge, Rays return to their quirky, small-ball ways
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- We know the Phillies had something in their World Series scouting report about the Rays hitting home runs. We're pretty sure there was a lot in there about James Shields' changeup, and about David Price's 97 mph fastball and 89 mph slider.
We're almost positive Cliff Floyd's speed was never mentioned.
Not that it should have been mentioned.
"I'm slow," the Rays designated hitter said. "Let's get that right."
And yet, in a World Series where the Phillies have struggled with the seemingly simple concept of moving runners from third to home, the Rays just won a game in which Floyd scored on a squeeze play.
"You know what? Anything to surprise the other team," Floyd said.
You know what? Two games into this World Series, the most surprising number documents the Phillies' near-total failure with runners in scoring position (1-for-28). But the most surprising sight was Floyd (6-4, 230 pounds) scampering down the third-base line on back-to-back fourth-inning pitches, attempting to score on a Jason Bartlett bunt.
The Rays were just as proud of the other three runs they scored Thursday in their series-tying, 4-2 victory in Game 2. Despite all those home runs they hit against the Red Sox, they've always considered themselves a small-ball team, and this was a small-ball win.
But it was a small-ball win with one very big guy scoring a big run on a squeeze.
To be fair, it was a safety squeeze, which means Floyd was supposed to run only if Bartlett got the bunt down. To be honest, it was closer to a suicide squeeze, because even Floyd will admit that if the bunt didn't get down, he had no chance.
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| Joe Maddon's faith is greater than Cliff Floyd's speed, but together it produces an insurance run. (AP) |
The first time, Floyd started very early, so early that even some of his teammates wondered if this was a suicide squeeze.
"You could kind of hear him coming down that line," said Bartlett, who bunted that first Brett Myers pitch foul.
Ever-unconventional Rays manager Joe Maddon put the same play on again. Floyd, who admitted to surprise at seeing the sign, broke a little later this time. Bartlett bunted fair, and Floyd scored easily.
His fun-loving teammates loved it.
The Rays were back to being the Rays. Just as in the ALCS against the Red Sox, they lost a so-so series opener, then bounced back to win the next night by looking much more like themselves.
"It seems to be working out," said Shields, the winning pitcher. "We're going to try not to make this a seven-game series, though."
Shields held the Phillies scoreless over the first 5 2/3 innings, so he was a big part of making this a 1-1 series. The Phils had 10 chances with runners in scoring position while he was on the mound, and the only hit was a Shane Victorino infield single that didn't score a run.
Maddon followed Shields with Dan Wheeler, who began the postseason as Tampa Bay's closer. Then, with two outs and a man on in the seventh, Maddon turned again to Price, the rookie lefty who saved Game 7 against Boston.
Price struck out Ryan Howard looking to end the seventh, and Maddon stayed with him. Price gave up a pinch-hit home run to Eric Bruntlett in the eighth, but Maddon stayed with him. And when Price survived an unearned run and finished off the game in the ninth, he didn't have an official save -- but might as well have.
"All it showed me," Floyd said, "is that the AL East had better be ready."
First, the Phillies have to be ready for everything the Rays will throw at them. And that includes the possibility that a guy with one steal in his past 233 games will take off from third base on a squeeze.
"I just know that Joe will do anything at any time," Floyd said. "But you know what? If I managed a team, I'd do it just like him."
The Rays players said Maddon has them work on the safety squeeze a lot. Maddon didn't want to talk about it, preferring to discuss the two first-inning runs that scored on ground balls.
"I can't tell you how happy I was with that," he said. "I turned to (bench coach) Davey Martinez and I said, 'This is what we have to emphasize next year in spring training -- scoring runs with outs. We've been horrid with that all year.'"
So there you go -- sometimes things happen in the World Series that haven't happened all year. Sometimes, things happen that maybe haven't happened ever.
Sometimes, Cliff Floyd scores on a squeeze.
"That's probably the first safety squeeze I've ever been a part of," Floyd said.
Naturally, Maddon was the manager who called for it. What other manager would have Floyd scoring on a squeeze?
"Maybe John Boles," Floyd said, thinking of his manager years ago with the Marlins. "But you've got to remember -- in those days, I used to be fast."
Now, not so much, even if one of his teammates did nickname him Big Brown while the Triple Crown races were going on last spring.
Now, even Floyd will admit to being slow -- as long as you don't try to suggest he's as slow as a catcher or, God forbid, a pitcher.
"No. 1, pitchers are uncoordinated in my mind, and I'd never give them the benefit of the doubt," Floyd said. "And with catchers, if a catcher beats you running, the end is not far."
Now, in part because of Floyd running, the end of this World Series is not near.
"This is going to be a good series," Floyd said.
Maybe, thanks in part to him, it already is.
