Sweet Sweep: Upton's Blast Lifts Rays

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ST. PETERSBURG -- At-bat after at-bat, inning after inning, manager
Joe Maddon sat in the Rays' dugout Thursday and watched his team
constantly spoil opportunities with men on base in a one-run game.

But all along -- as he would proclaim afterward -- Tampa Bay's skipper knew his team would eventually erupt.

The eruption he finally heard came from one massive swing of B.J. Upton's bat.

Down one with two outs in the eighth, the Rays' center fielder
drilled a two-run homer to catapult his team to a 3-2 comeback win over
the Royals -- who are now losers of seven straight -- in front of
16,103 roaring fans at Tropicana Field.

With the victory, Tampa Bay finished its six-game homestand
with a 5-1 record and earned its first series sweep since Sept. 22-24
at Baltimore. The last time the Rays swept at least a three-game series
at home was Aug. 29-31 against those same Orioles.

"I really felt we were going to win that game somehow," Maddon said. "I just didn't know how."

Added confident starter James Shields, whose eight innings of
two-run ball kept the Rays in it: "Joe's got his methods to madness,
man, you know? But I have faith in our team, that's the bottom line."

Thanks to Upton's blast and another solid performance by the
pitching staff -- which compiled a 1.67 ERA over the homestand -- the
Rays moved to .500 for the first time since May 24.

But Tampa Bay has been there before -- seven times previously this
year, to be exact -- and the club has not been able to take the
proverbial step forward. Now, an upcoming four-game series at the new
Yankee Stadium will decide whether the Rays can finally make their
climb.

"We've done it once before, then we slipped back," said Maddon,
whose team was 34-22 at this point last season. "We need to maintain
our traction and keep moving forward."

Down, 2-1, and having trouble manufacturing runs, the Rays got
the eighth inning started off right when Joe Dillon singled to center
field. Then, after Michel Hernandez grounded into a fielder's choice at
second base and Reid Brignac struck out swinging, Upton solved all of
the Rays' offensive woes with one swing.

The 24-year-old speedster took a first-pitch fastball right
down the middle from Jamey Wright and hit a no-doubter to left field
for just his third home run of the year.

"Fastball kind of worked its way in on me," Upton said. "I just happened to catch it out front before it got by me.

Upton added that he just trying "to a good swing on it and maybe give the guys behind me a chance."

After hitting .160 with no home runs in his first 26 games,
Upton has hit .286 (26-for-91) with three home runs and eight RBIs over
his past 21.

"I'm feeling a lot better up there, this past week," said Upton, who is
currently riding an eight-game hitting streak during which he has
batted .440. "There's still a long way to go, but if I can stay where I
am right now, I can help this team."

After Upton's heroics, J.P. Howell checked in for the ninth and
had a seven-pitch inning to collect his fifth save in 124 career
appearances.

"Seven pitches to get three outs, that's beautiful," Maddon said. "That
makes him available for [Friday] night. You love when that happens."

Shields' only rough inning was the third.

In that frame, the 27-year-old allowed his only two runs and
threw 27 pitches to six batters. But despite loading the bases with one
out, it looked like Shields would get out of the threat unscathed when
he got Albert Callaspo to ground into a double play. But the very next
batter, Billy Butler, took a 3-2 slider out over the plate and hit a
two-run double into the right-center field gap.

It ended up being Shields' only mistake of the afternoon.

Take out that inning, and Shields -- who entered the game 3-1
with a 2.83 ERA in five home starts this year -- pitched seven shutout
frames while giving up two hits, walking none and striking out seven.

"I felt like I had to battle [on Thursday]," Shields said. "I
don't think I had my good stuff. It was just one of those times where,
before the game, you go into the game not knowing what's going to
happen, and you get it done."

Royals starter Gil Meche pitched a workhorse-like six-plus
innings of one-run ball, giving up six hits and five walks while
striking out two and throwing 110 pitches.

Meche's only run allowed came against the last batter he faced
-- Carl Crawford. Leading off the sixth, Crawford, who finished 2-for-4
with a walk and another stolen base to give him a Major League-leading
34, took a chest-high changeup after being brushed back the pitch
before and sent it out to right field to cut the deficit in half.

Unfortunately, Tampa Bay couldn't get that production with men on base
beforehand. The Rays finished the afternoon 0-for-13 with runners in
scoring position and stranded 11 runners -- including at least one in
each of the first eight innings.

But none of that mattered with two outs in the eighth, when Upton's hot
bat moved the Rays to 20-8 against the Royals since July 28, 2005.

"The thing I tell my guys is, 'We're producers, not
directors,'" Maddon said. "You can't necessarily decide where the
ball's going to go once you've swung the bat. It just happens.

"I just love the fact that we're there for nine innings."