World Series: Rays show composure to swim back into Series contention

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — B.J. Upton and the Tampa Bay Rays were everything they promised to be in Game 2 of the World Series — relaxed, confident and resilient.

With Upton leading the way, the AL champions rebounded from a punchless offensive performance in a one-run, series-opening loss by reverting to the unselfish brand of baseball that's carried the team this far.

"We just feed off each other," Upton said after Tampa Bay's 4-2 victory over the Phillies on Thursday night.

Upton singled in his first two at-bats after going 0-for-4 and grounding into two double plays during a 3-2 loss to Philadelphia in Game 1. The center fielder also scored a run and made a nice ranging catch of Pedro Feliz's liner that ended a Phillies threat in the second inning.

"He's the backbone of this team right now," designated hitter Cliff Floyd said.

Upton struggled for much of the regular season, in part because of injuries. The 24-year-old also was benched twice for not hustling, but accepted responsibility and moved on.

Once the Rays hit the postseason, Upton turned up his game. He has a .296 average with seven homers and 16 RBIs in the playoffs.

"He's got a lot of confidence and he's using it to his strength," Floyd said. "He's told himself, I'm going to put everything aside — the shoulder, the quad — and go out there and give myself an opportunity to help this team. I tip my hat to him because without him you don't know where this team would be."

Although the Ray were fourth in the AL in home runs, they were hardly the big thumpers who bashed their way through the first two rounds of the playoffs. Strong pitching, solid defense and timely hitting have been a winning formula all season — and helped them even the series against Philly.

James Shields set the tone in Game 2. The right-hander worked 5 2/3 scoreless innings after losing both of his starts in the AL championship series.

The Rays got a nice throw from right fielder Rocco Baldelli to double a runner off first in the fifth inning and built a 4-0 lead for Shields with Upton stepping up while the rest of Tampa Bay's big bats continued to struggle.

They scored twice in the first despite hitting only one ball out of the infield. Upton's single to right was misplayed by Jayson Werth, allowing Upton to go to second and Akinori Iwamura to take third with no outs.