Upton's power display clinches playoff game for Rays

By Rick Gano

CHICAGO

They rushed toward the mound and formed a circle. Jumping together like fraternity brothers, they resembled regulars in the postseason.

Worst in the majors last season, the Tampa Bay Rays will play for a spot in the World Series.

"We've been at the bottom of the barrel for so long," B.J. Upton said Monday after homering twice in a 6-2 win against Chicago that clinched their AL playoff series. "I think there was a point in time where people didn't even know who we were."

They do now.

Andy Sonnanstine pitched 5 2/3 solid innings as manager Joe Maddon's Rays won 3-1 in the best-of-five series - their first trip to the postseason. Next up, the Boston Red Sox or Los Angeles Angels, starting Friday.

"We feel like we belong and it's showing right now," said Upton, a Greenbrier Christian graduate.

They want more. So why stop now?

"Like Carlos (Pena) said, we're kind of a fraternity. And we stick together at all times no matter what happens," Upton said. "As long as we keep that attitude and continue playing as a team - and doing the little things to win - I don't think there's any reason why we can't win this whole thing."

After staving off elimination several times and winning a tiebreaker for the AL Central title, the White Sox were finally knocked out.

"They played better than us. There's no doubt. They pitched better. They execute better. They got big hits," White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said. "They really did a tremendous job."

Upton, the game's second batter, homered to left-center to put the Rays ahead 1-0.

He went deep again in the third, driving a full-count pitch from Gavin Floyd to center to give the Rays a two-run cushion.

Tampa Bay, which had never won more than 70 games during its 10 previous seasons, went from 96 losses last year to 97 wins. No longer bedeviled, the Rays won with young talent and improved pitching. Sonnanstine, who pitched a three-hit shutout against the White Sox at Tropicana Field in April, reversed a late-season slide that saw him go winless in his final seven starts. He allowed two runs and three hits before J.P. Howell relieved; Grant Balfour completed the four-hitter, striking out Ken Griffey Jr. to end it.

Griffey struck out three times.

"Obviously, this is an incredible accomplishment and we're going to take tonight and really enjoy it, but when you are mired in the day-to-day, it's hard to step back and appreciate what we've accomplished this year," Rays general manager Andrew Friedman said. "We're focused on having two more celebrations."

Upton, who hit nine homers in 531 at-bats during the regular season, also homered in Sunday's 5-3 loss. Benched by Maddon several times during the season for not hustling, the 24-year-old's power display came against a team that relied on homers all year.

"B.J.'s special," Maddon said. "He's very capable of those types of games."

Tampa Bay increased its lead to 4-0 in the fourth when Carl Crawford walked and scored when Cliff Floyd, a Chicago native, doubled to left. Dioner Navarro followed with an RBI single to finish Floyd.

Paul Konerko hit a solo homer for the White Sox in the bottom half, giving the white towel-waving crowd dressed in black a reason to get excited. But Tampa Bay struck right back in the fifth against Clayton Richard; Akinori Iwamura singled and scored on Pena's single to make it 5-1.

"When you have to play playoff baseball the last two weeks of the regular season, it's just so hard to get over that first hump," Konerko said. "We just ran out of gas."

Jermaine Dye hit a solo home run in the sixth to finish Sonnanstine.

"Hats off to him," Upton said. "He threw a great game when we needed it."

Maddon, who likes fine wines, good books and inspirational slogans, has pushed a decade-long loser to the doorstep of a pennant.

"We all came together and said we're going to play team ball," Upton said. "That's what we do, day in and day out."

Earlier in the week, Maddon spotted some fans wearing "retro Devil Rays stuff." He'll be looking for even more signs of the team's popularity when he honeymoons in Europe next month.

"My goal is to see someone walking around either Rome or, you know, Barcelona or somewhere with Rays gear on," he added, promising to photograph it.