BBTN MINUTE: ARE ASTROS THIS YEAR'S ROCKIES?

RAYS, RED SOX PUSHING TOWARD FINISH

By Rick Sutcliffe, ESPN

The closers for the Red Sox and Rays, Jonathan Papelbon and Troy Percival, both hit a bump in the road recently. Percival left Wednesday night's game with an apparent injury after loading the bases in the 14th inning.

As a pitcher, you've got to know that's going to happen sometimes. I remember my second spring training. I had had a great spring. I got a lot of people's attention, but then I gave it up pretty good to the Big Red Machine … Joe Morgan got me -- everybody got me. In about the fourth inning, Walter Alston came to the mound to get the ball, and as I handed it to him and started to walk off, he said, "Kid, you had it coming." And I stopped. It ticked me off. I said to him, "What?" He said, "You've been shoving it up their rear end all spring training. It was about time they got you. You'll start another good streak tomorrow." And I thought, "Wow. That's a great way to look at it."

I not only kept that mentality the rest of my career, but I've passed that along to people from Greg Maddux to Trevor Hoffman to Jake Peavy. I'm sure Terry Francona told Papelbon something like that after Tuesday night's outing.

Percival does a lot of things for the Rays. Right now, they are 34-1 in games in which he enters the game in a save situation. Now, he hasn't saved them all and he's given up the lead sometimes, but that is a pretty good number for a guy who was basically out of baseball not long ago. But what he's done in that clubhouse, along with Cliff Floyd, has been valuable.

I went down to the hotel coffee shop Wednesday morning and there was Rays manager Joe Maddon over in a corner all by himself. Before I headed out, I went over and said, "Big win [Tuesday night], huh?" I got to know Joe well when he was Mike Scioscia's bench coach with the Angels, and he's real measured with his words. He kind of nodded his head, so I asked, "Biggest in the history of this franchise?" He thought about it a little and he said, "Yeah. I think you're right."

I think that tells you a lot. They've been watching 10 years of bad baseball down in Tampa Bay, and everybody's been waiting for something. As you look at their lineup and what they are throwing out there now, then compare it to the Yankees and Red Sox, you have to ask, "What are they doing? How is all this happening?" But not only is it happening, but the "Beast of the East" plays in Florida now.

The Red Sox are a good team, but they are not a great team. They're a great team at Fenway. They are very average when you get them out of that ballpark and that environment. That environment intimidates a lot of people. Teams and, at times, some young umpires can get rattled. These fans get to that ballpark "prepared," as Lou Piniella once told me, referring to all the bars near the park. They are "prepared" when they come in, and they have a good time.

WEDNESDAY'S NOTEWORTHY PERFORMANCES

GOOD

• Scott Lewis pitched eight shutout innings in his major league debut as the Indians beat the Orioles, 7-1. Lewis allowed three hits, struck out three and did not issue a walk.

BAD

• The Mets seemed headed toward an easy win, building a 7-1 lead against the Nationals. Mike Pelfrey and the Mets bullpen couldn't hold the lead, and needed David Wright and the offense to bail them out in a 13-10 victory.

UGLY

• Jason Bay got plenty of chances against the Rays in the Red Sox's 14-inning loss. Bay didn't convert any of them, going 0-for-7 with three strikeouts in the 4-2 defeat.

STAT OF THE DAY

According to Inside Edge's scouting data, more than 44 percent of two-strike at-bats ending with a curve, slider or split-fingered fastball have resulted in strikeouts this season. The two-strike changeup has induced a punchout just 37 percent of the time, but against the following hitters it's still the best pitch for registering a strikeout:

Highest strikeout pct. of ABs ending with two-strike change (min. 20 ABs ending in two-strike change)
Hitter	Team	Strikeout pct. of ABs
Geovany Soto	Cubs	76.7
Mark Reynolds	D-backs	62.5
Rickie Weeks	Brewers	62.5
Dan Uggla	Marlins	61.3
David Dellucci	Indians	60.0