World Series: Play at home a key for Tampa Bay Rays

Joe Smith, Times Staff Writer
In Print: Thursday, October 30, 2008

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PHILADELPHIA — Throughout their remarkable season, the Rays played an aggressive style of baseball, both on the bases and in the field.

Often, their gambles paid off.

But in the Rays' season-ending, 4-3 loss Wednesday night to the Phillies in Game 5 of the World Series, a few key risks by Tampa Bay weren't rewarded.

Both Phillies runs Wednesday came on hits past a drawn-in infield.

And Jason Bartlett was thrown out at home trying to score from second base on an infield single, ending the Rays' seventh inning.

Manager Joe Maddon wouldn't second-guess the decisions; he just hoped for a different results.

Bartlett said he was just making "a hard baseball play," after getting waved home by third-base coach Tom Foley.

Bartlett hit a single with one out in the seventh, just after Rocco Baldelli delivered a tying solo homer off unflappable Phillies reliever Ryan Madson.

Rays reliever J.P. Howell, batting in the ninth spot, moved Bartlett to second with a sacrifice bunt, setting up Akinori Iwa­mura for a potential go-ahead RBI opportunity with two outs.

Iwamura hit a sharp grounder up the middle, which second baseman Chase Utley made a nice play on to field. When Utley looked up, Bartlett was rounding third, and Utley craftily faked a throw to first before — while on the run — throwing home.

The throw was to the left of catcher Carlos Ruiz, but it beat Bartlett home, and Ruiz had time to reach over and tag out Bartlett, who tried to avoid Ruiz with a headfirst slide to the infield side of the plate.

"I was just running hard —Foley sent me and I tried to score," Bartlett said. "It's a hard baseball play. If I'm not hustling, maybe he stops me.

"But that's the way you should play, you should hustle all the time."

The score remained tied only until the bottom half of the seventh, when Pat Burrell doubled and Pedro Feliz hit an RBI single.

Bartlett said he didn't see or notice if Iwamura's hit went through the infield.

"It's just something where I'm going hard and if Aki beats it out or if Utley bobbles it, something," Bartlett said. "To tell you the truth, I'll do that every time."

Joe Smith can be reached at joesmith@sptimes.com

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World Series: Play at home a key for Tampa Bay Rays

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