Major League Baseball

A Ray of hope?

Published Oct. 11, 2010 10:09 p.m. ET

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ARLINGTON - It doesn't take an outrageously bad decision to swing the momentum in a short playoff series. The simplest of head-scratchers can do it just as easily.

Rangers manager Ron Washington made one mound visit too many Saturday afternoon. Or one mound visit too soon, to be sure.

As a result, the Tampa Bay Rays avoided elimination by rallying for a 6-3 victory at The Ballpark in Arlington. The series continues today at noon with the Rays suddenly confident against a shortened Texas bullpen.

Bringing in Neftali Feliz in the eighth inning of a tie game, Washington banked on his closer doing a job that Darren O'Day might have done better.

Washington said he was going to bring in Feliz one batter later, anyway, and that Jason Bartlett had a good track record against O'Day, so he called for his closer in a nonclosing, eighth-inning situation.

This was despite the fact that O'Day had faced just one batter, striking out B.J. Upton.

After Feliz walked Bartlett, John Jaso singled in the go-ahead run, and Carl Crawford homered off Feliz in the ninth. The Rays managed two more runs off Dustin Nippert to grab at least the feeling of momentum going into today's Game 4.

"We've been dormant the last couple of days," Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon said. "A lot of it had to do with Cliff Lee and a lot of it had to do with C.J. Wilson. Finally, we were able to push that rock the other direction."

This is how it is in postseason baseball. The Rays lose the first two games, and people wonder what Maddon was thinking with Rocco Baldelli hitting in one game and James Shields pitching the next.

With the Rays back on the winning track, those questions moved to the back burner.

And Washington takes the hot seat.

O'Day, the Rangers' sidearm ace, has been largely unhittable for two years. He entered Saturday's game and struck out Upton on six pitches.

So it was surprising to see Washington, who has only 10 pitchers on his playoff roster, beating a path to the mound to bring in his sixth pitcher of the day.

Sometimes you ask your closer for a four-out save when all is falling apart and you lack a better option. That's understood.

This wasn't that situation. It was a tie game that had a chance to go to extra innings. And O'Day was a perfect option to stay for another batter or two, it seemed. Bartlett is 3-for-5 against O'Day but 1-for-3 over the last two years - hardly a large sample of evidence to suggest change was demanded.

Washington disagreed.

"I had Nefty ready to face Jaso, and he was going to be in there in the ninth inning, anyway," Washington said.

"I don't think we gave them anything. The runs they got they earned."

It's true that the Rays deserve credit. This wasn't just about the Rangers blowing a pair of one-run leads.

As Maddon said, "Ninety-six wins in our division don't just happen. Our team has disappeared a few times this season, but we've bounced back."

The Rangers have the luxury of knowing that Lee will be available for Game 5 in Tampa, but a team that wins the first two games of these short series on the road never wants to squander two chances to advance at home.

One of those is gone.

With Tommy Hunter set to make his first playoff appearance today, the Rangers bullpen figures to be a key factor again. Hunter hasn't pitched more than six innings in any of his last four starts.

The bullpen has served Texas well this season. But with just a 10-man staff, it's not quite as deep right now as it was during the regular season. And after Saturday's loss, it doesn't look quite as invincible to the Rays, either.

"It almost feels like we are winning the series right now," Crawford said.

The Rays aren't. The odds still favor the Rangers.

In these best-of-5 series, just one bounce, one call, one manager's move can change those odds quickly and irrevocably.

Busy day for bullpen

It will be a short night's rest before today's 12:07 p.m. start for the Rangers' bullpen as manager Ron Washington used all six members of his bullpen in Saturday's loss. Here are their pitch counts:

Derek Holland 9 balls, 5 strikes

Alexi Ogando 3 balls, 4 strikes

Darren Oliver 9 balls, 18 strikes

Darren O'Day 2 balls, 4 strikes

Neftali Feliz 7 balls, 12 strikes

Dustin Nippert 7 balls, 8 strikes

Breaking out

Tampa Bay's offense came to life in the final four innings of Saturday's game. A look at the first 23 innings vs. the last four:

The Ballpark was a sea of red, white and blue-clad fans, 1A

Evan Grant: Walks do in Rangers pitchers, 7C

Related coverage, 6-9C

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