Major League Baseball

Rays better start hitting to keep playoffs going

Published Oct. 8, 2010 11:31 p.m. ET

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They're not hitting for power, not hitting for average and almost never hitting with anyone in scoring position.

The only thing Tampa Bay Rays batters are consistently doing this postseason is striking out.

Two games into their division series against Texas, they have one measly run on eight hits.

It's enough - or, rather, not enough - to make you wonder how they won 96 games, most in the American League.

The slump has left the Rays in the worst kind of 0-2 count. They must win three straight games, starting Saturday, or this series will be done.

Matt Garza will pitch Game 3 for Tampa Bay. More importantly, Carl Crawford, Evan Longoria and Carlos Pena will be looking to get the offense going against Texas' Colby Lewis.

''We just have to find a way, some kind of way,'' said Crawford, whose .125 average this series matches the team average. ''Hopefully we can have good at-bats and get something going.''

Lewis is a right-hander, so maybe that will help. The first two starters the Rays faced were lefties, and darn good ones in Cliff Lee and C.J. Wilson.

The change of scenery can't hurt, either. Tropicana Field in Tampa Bay is the worst for hitters in all of baseball; Rangers Ballpark is sixth-best.

Plus, the Rays know all about busting out of hitting slumps and losing streaks.

They hit only .247 for the season, lowest of any playoff team since the 1972 Oakland A's, yet still managed to score the third-most runs in baseball. The Rays also mastered the pendulum swing of going from losing at least two in a row to winning at least three in a row, doing so seven times, including just a few weeks ago in a pivotal series against the Yankees.

So it's little wonder the message from manager Joe Maddon is to keep on keepin' on.

''There's no extraordinary effort necessary,'' he said Friday. ''I want nothing other than just going out there and having pretty much a good old time and really not overanalyzing anything.''

Players followed orders during the trip to Texas on Thursday night and the bus ride to the hotel. Carlos Pena said players were being silly. He called the mood pure comedy.

''If you would've been on the flight you would've thought we'd won it already,'' he said, smiling.

''We've never been the type to sit and mope, so why would we start now?'' added Sean Rodriguez.

Well, the stat sheet is pretty mope-inducing.

Take Rodriguez's 0-for-5 start this series. He's not even the worst of the oh-fers. Or the second-worst.

Of the 15 batters used by Tampa, eight are hitless. Ben Zobrist and Jason Bartlett are tied for the most hits with two. That pair gets extra credit as Zobrist is among four guys who've walked and Bartlett is the only one to be hit by a pitch.

''We just haven't had enough base runners,'' Maddon said. ''We cannot create the havoc that we normally do. Our at-bats, we have not seen enough pitches.''

Coming into this postseason, there were 38 division-round series that started 2-0. Only four have gone to five games, and all four ended up being won by the club that lost the first two.

It may not offer much hope, but it's something these loosey-goosey, all-or-nothing Rays can appreciate. Remember, this club went from baseball's worst record in 2007 to the 2008 World Series.

''If you look around our clubhouse, there are stories that should have never happened,'' said Pena, who is among that group, having gone from a first-round pick (by the Rangers) to being traded twice, then released before he'd even turned 28. ''This is a team made of fighters, of underdogs who have achieved and overachieved. So that's the heart of our team, that's our culture.

''We keep on fighting for the impossible and the next thing you know, it materializes,'' Pena added.

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