Major League Baseball

Peña finally has a moment to remember

Published Oct. 20, 2010 10:16 p.m. ET

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By Martin Fennelly

mfennelly@tampatrib.com

ARLINGTON, Texas - It seemed like he was down to his final at-bat as a Ray. His team was five outs from elimination. What chance did he have, really? They were going to go quietly in the night.

Now the Rays are alive in this division series.

And Carlos Pe?a is back from the dead.

"I'm very grateful to live in this moment tonight, to come through," Pe?a said.

The man with the lowest batting average this season among all major-league qualifiers, who batted just .111 in September, grabbed hold of a couple of fastballs and some old magic Saturday night for two hits in as many innings. And so now there are more innings to play today.

Pe?a's first was a line single to right field to tie the Texas Rangers at 2 in the eighth inning. His second cleared the fence in the ninth for two runs to pad a 6-3 Rays victory at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington.

"There are those times as an athlete everything gets quiet, simplified," Pe?a said. "Just the moment - so quiet."

There were others who came through in this game, like rookie catcher John Jaso, whose RBI single after Pe?a's eighth-inning hit gave the Rays their first lead of this series, 3-2. But this was senior night, and Rays seniors, refusing to make this their last game, came through large.

There was Carl Crawford, who had two hits, including a homer, and who made a lunging catch in the seventh and then a sliding grab of a Josh Hamilton sinking liner to end the eighth.

But you returned to Carlos Pe?a, who struggled mightily down the stretch, so mightily that he hardly played as the Rays took the last two games of a crucial September series in New York. So mightily that so many people gave up on him.

He hit only two homers and drove in just five runs in September. He looked beyond lost. He was going quietly, and it was a sad thing, knowing what Pe?a has meant to this team since he arrived in 2007. He struck out three times in Game 1 of this series, twice looking. He sat in Game 2.

So, how many of us gave the man as chance as he stepped into the box lately, including the eighth against Rangers left-hander Darren Oliver? Pena hit .179 against lefties this season. How many had given up on the man teammates call 'Los?

What's it this time, strikeout or grounder?

'Los came through.

"It's kept my faith in my own abilities, and faith that Joe (Maddon) and the guys have in me," Pe?a said. "Our backs were against the wall. I know I've been struggling, but I just tried to find something."

No matter how far he had fallen, or how sure most of us are that Pe?a won't be back in 2011, the man has remained a warm, wonderful person and a magnet for teammates.

Pe?a spoke to the team in the clubhouse after the Rays worked out Friday. He did the same thing before the Rays played Game 7 against the Red Sox after blowing a 3-1 lead in the 2008 ALCS.

Friday, he told them to forget the odds, forget the people who say you can't come back from 0-2 down in this series, because they'd beaten the odds their whole lives - they were major-league baseball players. How many guys get to do that? He told them, remember what we've done, who we are.

Saturday night, Carlos Pe?a remembered, too.

He drew a walk in the second and one in the sixth. In the fourth he nearly got hold of one, lifting a long, high fly ball to right field with two Rays on base.

But it settled into a glove around the warning track.

"I felt I was close," Pe?a said.

He came through, rapping an Oliver fastball over the shift to bring home Desmond Jennings.

An inning later, Pe?a smashed a fastball, middle in, from Texas right-hander Dustin Nippert. The two-run shot, coming after Crawford's solo homer to start the ninth, put the game out of reach.

Carlos Pe?a emerged from the interview room with his ball cap on backwards, like some kid on a playground. He always talks about playing with a child's joy, and though that happiness has been missing some lately, the man wore it like a badge Saturday night.

Pe?a did two quick TV interviews and then headed down the hall. Rays baseball ops chief Andrew Friedman came up to him. They just hugged. There were no words.

For one night at least, 'Los was back.

Photo Credit: Staff photo by BOB HANSEN

Photo: Rays first baseman Carlos Pe?a is greeted at the plate by Sean Rodriguez after hitting a two-run home run in the ninth inning to pad the Rays' lead in their 6-3 victory in Game 3.

Photo Credit: Getty Images

Photo: Rangers shortstop Elvis Andrus watches as the Rays argue with second-base umpire Jeff Kellogg for Andrus being called safe at second.

Copyright ? 2010, The Tampa Tribune and may not be republished without permission. E-mail library@tampatrib.com

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