PHILADELPHIA – Evan Longoria didn’t want to talk about what every body is thinking: How tough will it be facing Cole Hamels tonight in a World Series elimination game.
“He is a good pitcher and leave it at that,” the Rays’ frigid cleanup hitter said of Hamels, who starts Game 5 tonight at Citizens Bank Park, looking to hurl the Phillies, who lead, 3-1, to their second World Series title and first since 1980. “He will make pitches and we have to make adjustments.”
Longoria, who went 0-for-4 and fanned three times in last night’s 10-2 spanking, is hitless in 16 at-bats. Carlos Pena, the Rays’ No. 3 hitter, is 0-for-13.
In addition to their muscle going soft, the Rays picked a very bad time to play poorly.
Second baseman Akinori Iwamura, who made seven errors in the regular season and none in October until last night, committed two mistakes that contributed to a pair of unearned runs.
Starter Andy Sonnanstine lasted four innings, gave up five runs (three earned) and six hits. And the Rays’ hitters appear to be using wet newspapers instead of bats.
Joe Blanton, who homered, went six innings, allowed two runs and four hits and four relievers provided three scoreless frames.
“We have to get better [tonight] fast,” Rays manager Joe Maddon said of his club that is batting a woeful .187 in the four games and was limited to three at-bats last night with runners in scoring position and held hitless. “We didn’t play well overall. We didn’t pitch good or swing the bats as well as we can.”
Getting healthy against Hamels is a chore. He is 4-0 with a 1.55 ERA in four October starts and beat the Rays in Game 1 with a seven-inning, two-run outing.
“With Cole Hamels it looks like every pitch he throws, everything that he does, you feel like he’s on point right now,” said Scott Kazmir, who was the Game 1 loser. “So it feels like every pitch you throw is going to be a crucial pitch. You feel like you want to throw up zeroes. If you don’t it’s going to be tough to win. It feels like you have to be on you’re A-game to beat that guy.”
Kazmir is 1-1 with a 4.15 ERA in four postseason starts.