Rays Beat Halladay Again
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Thursday, July 9, 2009; 9:08 PM
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- The Tampa Bay Rays offer a simple explanation for their success against Roy Halladay.
Some pretty good pitching of their own.
"In order to beat Roy Halladay, you have to pitch well, period," manager Joe Maddon said Thursday after the AL champions beat the Toronto ace 3-2, their second victory over the five-time All-Star in 11 days.
"There's no secret. You don't beat him up, you don't hit a bunch of homers, you don't get a lot of hits. There's not a lot of things you can do against him," Maddon added. "He only permits so much to happen."
Rookie left-hander David Price pitched six strong innings, and Carlos Pena snapped a fifth-inning tie with a two-run double to help Tampa Bay complete a three-game sweep.
Probably because of Price and Halladay, no home runs were hit at Tropicana Field for the first time this season. It had been the only park in the majors with a homer in each game.
Price (3-3), rebounding from the shortest start of his career, allowed one run and six hits in six innings. The 23-year-old was rocked for six runs in 1 1-3 innings of a loss at Texas last weekend.
The No. 1 pick in the 2007 draft called his outing against the Rangers embarrassing. To get back on track, Maddon urged Price to follow his instincts against the Blue Jays.
"We always talk about pitching to your strength first and not to the hitter's weakness," the manager said. "I just want David to go out there and pitch. Just work his game plan."
Like every team, the Rays compile lots of data on opposing batters and share it with pitchers before games.
Maddon asked pitching coach Jim Hickey to not go over the reports with Price.
"We have so much information, and it's good. It's good to utilize it and we do utilize it," he said. "But there are certain moments when you really want to walk away from it and just permit your instincts" to take over.
