Between the Seams | Rays turn East upside down

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Pennant fever is alive in the oddest of places.

Ticket lines are longer, television ratings are rising and the young, budget-minded Tampa Bay Rays are in first place in the AL East, looking down on the big-spending Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees.

"First-place Rays halfway to history," read one newspaper headline. Three days later, the surprise owners of baseball's best record awakened to "Lowering The Broom," "How Sweep It Is."

"It's a really good feeling," manager Joe Maddon said after Wednesday night's 7-6 victory over Boston gave the Rays (52-32) their second home sweep of the Red Sox and a 3 ½-game lead in the division.

"Our guys are playing with a very high level of ability and emotion," Maddon said. "We've got that feeling about us right now. We believe."

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Tampa Bay is the first team other than New York or Boston to lead the AL East this late in a season since 2000, when Toronto led on July 6 before finishing third.

"I'd be surprised if they're not in the hunt the whole way," Boston's Mike Lowell said, noting the Rays are getting solid pitching from a young rotation headed by Scott Kazmir, James Shields and Matt Garza.

"Not to take away from their offense, but without pitching, you can't slug every night," Lowell added. "Their pitching keeps them in games."

And when the score is close, the Rays feel they will find a way to win.

They are 16-10 in one-run games. And it's not as if they've been feasting on bad teams while becoming the second club in major-league history to have the best record in the majors this deep into a season after finishing with the worst mark the previous year.

Of Tampa Bay's first 84 games, 56 were against teams with winning records at the time. Among the club's seven sweeps, six came at home, with the AL West-leading Angels and NL Central-leading Cubs among the victims.

They've done it with an opening-day payroll of $43.8 million, second lowest in the majors. The Rays have thrived despite not having an obvious pick for the All-Star Game.

Although attendance has lagged much of the year, it is picking up. The three-game set against Boston drew 101,305, the highest figure for a weekday series since the club's inaugural season in 1998. Wednesday's sellout of 36,048 was the fourth at Tropicana Field this year.

After averaging 17,671 for the first 32 home dates, the team has drawn 28,820 a game over the last 14. Figures are up 38.5 percent overall, the largest increase in the majors.

Boston's David Ortiz thinks it would be good for baseball if the Rays, 6-0 against the Red Sox at Tropicana Field but 0-6 at Fenway Park, can remain in contention for the rest of the summer.

At the same time, the slugger believes the experience of the Red Sox and Yankees eventually will prevail.

"There's a lot of games left. One way or another, [the Yankees] know how to figure it out. We know how to figure it out," Ortiz said.

"I'm not saying that they will drop, but if you go by the numbers, that's normally what happens. The guys with more experience at the end of the year take over."