GTMI (get the man in)

This taken from the Rays web site.

ANAHEIM -- Baseball number crunchers have to be scratching their heads these days when examining Rays hitters.

On the one hand, the Rays entered Thursday leading the Major Leagues with a .310 average with runners in scoring position. On the other, they ranked 19th in the Major Leagues in hitting at .253. What gives?

"We seem to be clutch hitting, getting hits when we need them," Carl Crawford said. "When times come up where we have runners in scoring position, we find a way to get it done. Remember how the hitting was in '08? It was all about timely hitting."

In 2008, the Rays never seemed to strand a runner, even though few, if any, players on the team had career seasons. In contrast, several Tampa Bay players experienced career seasons in '09 and the club set a franchise record by scoring 803 runs. So the team didn't have any trouble scoring runs, it just had difficulty bringing the runs home when it mattered most.

"I think [what we are doing this season is] unusual a little bit," Ben Zobrist said. "If you look at our individual stats, a lot of guys were having better years last year at this point. So you look at the ability to be able to score some runs, a lot of that has to do with guys just stepping up.

"A guy like John Jaso for example, coming in here and getting as many hits as he has, as many RBIs as he has very quickly -- that's boosted our offense. And you've always got [Evan Longoria], who comes through in the clutch. I think you need to have the right mindset with guys in scoring position. And that was a decided thing during Spring Training that we were working on."

Zobrist pointed to another facet of this year's team: the selfless style of play.

"I think overall the hitting has really concentrated on doing whatever you need to do to get the run in," Zobrist said. "If you have to give yourself up a little bit, we're willing to do that as a team right now. I don't know necessarily if we did that as much last year."

The Rays wear T-shirts around the clubhouse with the initials "GTMI" written across the front. The meaning is simple, but hardly easy: Get the man in.

The Rays have embraced the concept. And even though several hitters are struggling, they still manage to get the hits when needed. Even Pat Burrell, whose entire tenure with Tampa Bay can be judged a struggle, has come through with two of the team's biggest hits this season, with homers against the Red Sox and A's that gave the Rays the lead.

"We have done a great job with runners in scoring position," manager Joe Maddon said. "That was a major emphasis during Spring Training. Some of the guys just have not hit to their level yet. And the only thing I can really think about that is we've been playing in a lot of cold weather, and that has a lot to do from a hitter's perspective offensively.

"I think as it warms up, you're going to start seeing some of our guys start swinging the bat better in regards to actual batting-average numbers. But I'm more concerned with working good at-bats, seeing pitches, maintaining our slugging percentage, our OPS ... and that's why we've been so successful to this point."

Prior to the start of every series, the Rays conduct what could best be described as a reminder session.

"We throw out the little mantras we created during Spring Training to make sure that all these little things we're trying to emphasize are being kept up on," Maddon said. "[Hitting coach Derek Shelton will] talk about that, and we'll talk about our baserunning issues and different things like that. So that's always addressed prior to the first game of the series."

Count Carlos Pena among those struggling to get into a groove this season, but he isn't panicking and he believes there's a reason why the Rays have become good in the clutch.

"It goes back to that maturity thing," Pena said. "Like [Monday night's 5-4 loss]. We were getting pitched well, we were hitting balls right at people and things weren't going our way. All the way until that last out, we thought we had a chance to win that ballgame."

Even though the Rays lost the game in extra innings, they mounted a successful three-run comeback in the ninth inning to tie the game.

"We kept plugging away and look what happened," Pena said. "And it happened against their closer. That's what we expected to happen. So we weren't surprised. It was like finally we've got it.

"I think all of that goes hand in hand with maturity. When we see a situation, we try to capitalize. We relax and focus on the task at hand to get it done. So it goes back to that maturity level. We're more mature than we were in the past. We try to seize the moment. It goes back to this team growing."

With so many at-bats during the season, the question regarding whether hitters could actually treat one at-bat more importantly than another seemed to hold some significance. Zobrist managed to differentiate between hitting with runners in scoring position and otherwise.

"I think the way you treat it is just with a little more focus [when runners are in scoring position]," Zobrist said. "And the pitcher does, too, because he's trying to bear down.

"If you have a man on third, you want to get it out there to the outfield where he can't throw him out on a sac fly. In that kind of situation, it's more you pull back on your own approach a little bit to get the runner in. Getting the runner in is the most important thing in that situation."

And when nobody's on base?

"It's kind of just between you and the pitcher, where you're battling to drive the ball somewhere," Zobrist said. "Get the ball to the gap, whatever."

Crawford said the Rays seem to focus better in important situations.

"So maybe we need to bring that kind of focus to the other [at-bats]," Crawford said. "Do something like that. Maybe we'll be better off."

Shelton didn't seem too caught up in the odd numbers put up by his hitters, because he is not a big believer in the statistic of batting average.

"I can honestly say statistically, batting average is probably one of the least important stats I look at," Shelton said. "I'm looking at getting on base -- if we're having good at-bats, if we're doing a good job with runners in scoring position. I'm looking at those things.

"I don't place a large emphasis on what the actual batting average on the club is. I honestly think it's kind of an old-school stat. If we're making pitchers work and we're drawing walks and we're getting runners on base -- we're getting runners in -- I think that's what I look at."

However, Shelton does believe in the concept of clutch hitting.

"I think guys can have better at-bats, yes, and I think it's a focus," Shelton said. "And I think it's why you have to talk about it and make it a focus, where they realize that those at-bats are extremely important. And the outcome of those at-bats affect whether you win or lose games."

No matter how the Rays' hitting numbers are interpreted at this juncture, there is one thing everybody can agree on, and that is their reflection on winning.