And more of the same means pitching and defense.

“I believe that pitching and defense has gotten us to this point, as far as our success,” Rays manager Joe Maddon said. “And that’s really allowed us to be consistent and have four consecutive winning seasons.”

Maddon is an easy rider — nothing ever seems to bother him. However, there is one thing that will make his stomach a little queasy.

“It’s very uncomfortable to look out on the field and feel like there’s not an above-average defender at each position,” Maddon said. “I’m telling you, it’s so comforting to see [above-average defenders at each position for the Rays], especially when you are nurturing this kind of pitching staff. Our success is really rooted in pitching and defense.

“You look at each spot defensively and we’re above average at each spot. Sometimes the same guys who are getting criticized for their offensive contributions are the same guys who are preventing runs on a nightly basis. If I’m a Major League pitcher, I want to turn around and see those boys playing defense. I think that’s very comforting.”

Rays fielders committed the fewest errors in the Major Leagues with a club-record 73 in 2011, and their fielding percentage of .988 tied the Phillies for tops in the Major Leagues. Only four American League clubs all-time have made fewer errors in a full season. Down the stretch, the Rays committed only seven errors in the final 22 games and just 21 in the final 58 (opponents committed 46 over that same 58-game period). Further proof of the team’s defensive excellence is illustrated by the fact that since June 21, 2010, they have made just 110 errors in 255 games, which is the fewest in the Major Leagues and 36 fewer than any other AL club.

Combine their stellar defense with the fact that Rays pitching held opponents to a .234 batting average — the best in a full season by an AL club since 1972 — and an AL-low 614 runs, and you start to get the idea of why the Rays are married to their formula for success.

“To walk away from that formula at this point would not be wise,” Maddon said.

In an ideal world, the Rays would bring in a thumper to hit in the middle of the lineup this offseason to give Evan Longoria some protection in the order.

“People have focused a lot on our offensive shortcomings,” said Andrew Friedman, Rays executive vice president of baseball operations. “And we’re an above-average offensive team. Would we have liked to have been better? Of course.”

However, there are constraints when it comes to bringing in that offensive force.

“I would love to maintain the caliber of defense that we have and add offense,” Friedman said. “Often times that’s very difficult to accomplish. But that is the goal.

“If you add offense, more than likely you’re detracting from the defense. So we’re not going to do things where it’s a net neutral move, or even to where we take a step back. All of that is going to factor in. Because optically, we could go out and get someone who people say is going to hit 30 home runs and feel like we’re going to be a better team. But you won’t necessarily be a better team if you give back on defense.”

Maddon added: “If we find the right guy, that would be great. As we fill in the blanks in the future, we have to maintain that level. Because every night you look out on that field, you see all the above-average guys who really get into their defense and care about their defense. It’s outstanding.”

If the Rays did identify a player who could fit in offensively and defensively, many would assume that trading some of Tampa Bay’s healthy reservoir of starting pitching would be the way to acquire such an addition. But listening to Friedman, one quickly gets the idea that that scenario is remote. The fact that the Rays are seven or eight starting pitchers deep doesn’t necessarily make them feel compelled to deal from the group.

“You look at teams around the league, and teams that broke camp thinking they had an ample amount of starting pitching depth,” Friedman said. “And that got exposed. That’s something we can’t have happen.”

So looking ahead to the Hot Stove part of the season, think about the Rays as a modified game of rock, paper, scissors. In the Rays’ world, leather trumps lumber every time.

Ahead of Longoria on the list are: Albert Pujols, 10; Mickey Mantle, 9; and Manny Ramirez, 9.

Longoria's home run off Uehara came in just his 23rd career postseason game — the same number of games it took Mantle, Pujols and Duke Snider to hit eight postseason home runs.

The Rays third baseman is one of 10 to reach eight home runs in 23 games or sooner. Carlos Beltran was the fastest to eight postseason home runs, doing it in nine games.

Longoria also took over as Rays' all-time leader in postseason home runs, passing teammate B.J. Upton, who has seven.

Maddon wants Rays to stay focused on present
ST. PETERSBURG — Obviously, Game 3 is pivotal for both teams. The team that wins will have a 2-1 advantage, putting the other team on the brink of elimination.

Rays manager Joe Maddon was asked about the significance of winning Game 3.

"You want to believe it's very big," Maddon said, "especially when you're home like this. If we could gain momentum going into [Tuesday], day game after a night game, you think of all these crazy things — of course, at home, winning the third game, with a day game to follow. It's a pretty good warm fuzzy at that point.

"You want to be able to be in that position. Then again, if you're not. … it's September again, and it's last year again when we're down 2-0 — go over there, win two games, come back. We've been in these moments before. All I ask of our guys to do is stay in the present tense. Go out there and play. Don't try and overthink it. See what happens."

While the Rays don't want to be down 2-1, they are used to playing in elimination games. In fact, the month of September had the feel of playing in an elimination game almost every night. Maddon was asked if his team would have any sort of benefit from having played under those circumstances.

"I don't know if there's a benefit," Maddon said. "But I'll say this, our guys won't be overly impacted by the thought. We have been faced with these moments many times [over the last] month. I just did my walking around in the food room and every place else. They seem to be pretty much the same group. Regardless of what happens tonight, I expect us to be the same way tomorrow. And that's the beauty of our group, right now. We've been able to maintain this present-tense mentality."

Jaso gets start behind plate for Game 3
ST. PETERSBURG — Rays manager Joe Maddon said he mulled over Game 3's lineup while on a bike ride on Monday morning before coming up with what he called his best guess.

Catcher Kelly Shoppach, who homered twice in Game 1 and drove in another run on Saturday, was not in the starting lineup to face Texas right-hander Colby Lewis.

John Jaso, whose go-ahead two-out RBI single in Game 3 of last year's American League Division Series gave Tampa its first lead of that series, was penciled in.

During the regular season, Jaso caught 18 of David Price's 34 starts. With Jaso as a battery mate, Price has a 3.34 ERA. Price holds a 3.58 ERA in 14 starts with Shoppach behind the dish.

At shortstop, left-handed-hitting Reid Brignac will get the start over the righty Sean Rodriguez, who is 0-for-8 in the ALDS.

"We do a lot of our own little work, and there was a lot of evenness between Reid and Sean," Maddon said. "But looking a little bit more deeply into Lewis, you look at his numbers, right and left, they are incredibly different — even to the point where I was somewhat toying with the idea of messing with the batting order a little bit, because he has been kind of deft on righties."

Lewis has drastically different splits against left-handed and right-handed hitters. Righties are hitting just .204, while lefties are .274.

"I wanted to keep the integrity at the top with those three guys that are doing a great job, and just stack the left-handers," Maddon said. "Thinking about it and trying to come to some good conclusions, and we are very fluid on a daily basis regarding our lineups and the structure, etc."

Farnsworth available for Game 3 work
ST. PETERSBURG — After being unavailable to pitch in the first two games of the American League Division Series, Rays closer Kyle Farnsworth said he is good to go, if needed, in Game 3 at Tropicana Field on Monday.

Farnsworth has been dealing with right elbow soreness since the beginning of September. Whether he can pitch in consecutive games will be determined by how he feels on a day-to-day basis.

"It's the playoffs, so you've got to be ready every day," Farnsworth said.

The 35-year-old right-hander returned to action on Sept. 24 after sitting two weeks, and pitched four of the next five days — including the last three regular-season games.

"We just have to monitor it. So going into [Monday's] game, based on what he told me the last couple of days, I think he's feeling pretty good," Rays manager Joe Maddon said.

In his first season with the Rays, Farnsworth is 5-1 with a 2.18 ERA and a career-high 25 saves. In 63 games, he has thrown 57 2/3 innings.

"If he's ready to roll, he'd be the guy at the end," Maddon said.

Extra bases
Tuesday's Game 4 at Tropicana Field will be played at 2:07 p.m. ET, which is a time manager Joe Maddon said was "not optimal from our perspective, but it doesn't surprise me. I just like to play later in the day. Just play later in the day, get a little better night's sleep, don't have to get up as early, that kind of stuff. But we've been a better day team this year. That's the one thing, even last year in Texas, we had two day games and played well. We've kind of turned the corner on that. I'm not upset about with it. I just prefer [later]."

The Rays are 34-24 in day games this year, which was the sixth-best winning percentage in the Majors this season. The Rangers are 10th with a 26-22 mark.

Tickets are still available for Game 4 of the American League Division Series at the club's website, through all Rays ticket outlets, including the Tropicana Field box office, Rays Tampa Pro Shop & Ticket Outlet, all Ticketmaster locations and by calling 888-FAN-RAYS.

Jeff Niemann threw a bullpen session Sunday, and according to Maddon, the outing went well for the right-hander, who worked through some upper-back tightness late in the season. "He said he felt really good," Maddon said. "I talked to him afterwards. He was very pleased. You could see it in his face. I said, 'Did you feel any kind of restriction?' He said no, that he felt really good." Niemann is not active for this round of the playoffs. Maddon said if the Rays advance to the AL Championship Series, they will re-visit Niemann's status.

When Jeremy Hellickson starts for the Rays in Game 4, it will be only the 10th time since 1900 that a team has used two rookie starters in the postseason. The 2007 Rockies were the last team, with Ubaldo Jimenez and Franklin Morales.

With a raucous crowd of 27,773 watching, the Rays moved to within 1 1/2 games of the American League Wild Card-leading Red Sox. Boston lost to the Yankees, 9-1, on Saturday afternoon.

“It’s outstanding,” Rays manager Joe Maddon said. “If you would have told us at the beginning of Spring Training we’d be in this position right now, I think the whole organization would take it, the players would take it and the fan base would take it.”

Jeff Niemann started the game but left after one inning, opening the door for Alex Torres to shine. Tampa Bay’s playoff hopes hung in the breeze when the rookie left-hander entered the game to make his fourth Major League appearance, which have all been in relief after he made 27 starts this season at Triple-A Durham. Torres responded with five scoreless frames in which he allowed just three hits and a walk while striking out five.

“I never feel nervous,” Torres said. “When I came up to the Rays the second time this season, I told Joe Maddon, ‘I’m just going to make adjustments, because I’ve been a starter all year in Triple-A.’ Like I said to him, ‘If you’re going to use me in any situation, I’ll be ready for that.’”

Maddon noted that Torres’ performance was “really above and beyond.”

“They hit some balls hard against him the first couple of hitters,” Maddon said. “Then after that, he really settled in and started making some better pitches. I thought he brought the changeup into the mix more consistently.

“He knew where the fastball was going, too. And once he had those two things going on, he got really good. Definitely he’s a tough guy. He’s got the right kind of makeup to play here. He’s got AL East makeup, that’s fantastic.”

Jose Lobaton’s work behind the plate went a long way toward offering Torres a calm voice as the pair had worked many times as a battery at Durham this season.

“I tell him, ‘High pitch here, they’ll kill you, so just keep it down,’” Lobaton said. “So I put my glove down, and he threw it to my glove.”

In a briefer outing — but just as impressive as Torres’ stint — Brandon Gomes pitched the seventh and set the Blue Jays down in order, striking out two of the three hitters he faced, before Joel Peralta pitched a scoreless eighth.

“How about Gomes tonight,” Maddon said. “Gomes really elevated what he’s been doing recently. … The look — he went right after them and made good pitches. He was definitely in the moment.”

Tampa Bay clung to a precarious 3-2 lead heading into the bottom of the eighth. That’s when Johnny Damon came through with the big hit, a two-out, three-run homer off Ricky Romero to put the Rays up 6-2.

“It’s disappointing — obviously I don’t want to be the reason why those guys go to the playoffs,” said Romero, who took his 11th loss of the season. “I’m pitching my heart out out there, we’re playing our hearts out and we want to win every game from here on out. It’s disappointing, but there’s nothing you can do.”

Kyle Farnsworth, who had not pitched since Sept. 10, retired the Blue Jays in order in the ninth to finish out the win.

“Pitching in a game is totally different from throwing off the mound,” Farnsworth said. “Bullpens and stuff don’t compare to getting out there and getting into game situations. So we talked about today if I could get in sometime in a good situation. Today was a good situation. Go out there and just knock the rust off.”

Niemann did not look sharp from the beginning, surrendering a two-run homer to Jose Bautista that gave the slugger 43 on the season and staked the Blue Jays to a 2-0 lead. Given the time left in the season and the way Niemann looked, Maddon couldn’t afford to let Niemann find himself.

“I did not like the way he looked in the beginning of the game,” said Maddon, who noted that Niemann getting lifted had nothing to do with the upper-back stiffness that delayed him starting by two days. “I didn’t see the normal snap in the breaking ball and I didn’t see the normal velocity. … So I thought, ‘Why wait?’”

On many occasions this season, a 2-0 deficit would have spelled doom for the team’s erratic offense. But the Rays fought back in the bottom of the first with a little help from the Blue Jays and Tropicana Field.

First came B.J. Upton’s popup that Blue Jays first baseman David Cooper lost in the backround of the Trop’s ceiling, and the ball fell to the ground in foul territory. Upton then dropped a single into right and stole second base. One out later, Ben Zobrist hit a ball to shortstop and Mike McCoy threw wild to first, allowing Upton to race home with the Rays’ first run.

Damon followed with a pop to center field that was placed perfectly in the shared area past second base that is patrolled by the shortstop, the second baseman and the center fielder. When Blue Jays second baseman Kelly Johnson backed up looking to make the catch, center fielder Colby Rasmus suddenly backed off — as did Johnson — and what should have been an out turned into an RBI double that tied the score at 2.

Zobrist led off the fourth against Romero by hitting his 18th home run of the season — and third in the last seven games — into the left-field stands for a 3-2 Rays led.

The Rays met their magic mark by scoring six runs Saturday night — they have won 26 consecutive games when scoring five or more runs — but the game clearly belonged to a bullpen that logged eight scoreless innings to set a new club record.

“Those young guys, you can’t say too much about them — they looked awesome coming in there and shutting the door,” Farnsworth said. “Picking up Niem and the team and everybody, it was an all-around good win.”

“The Rays will join communities across America in commemorating the 10th anniversary of the events of September 11, 2001,” said president Matt Silverman in a statement issued by the team. “We will gather together to remember those who lost their lives and to honor the first responders and other heroes for their actions that solemn day.”

The schedule includes displays in and around Tropicana Field, on-field ceremonies, a video tribute to the victims and recognition of the Tampa Bay area’s first responders.

The first 30,000 fans will receive a miniature American flag, and the first 10,000 kids 14 and under will receive a Rays Fire Helmet presented by Chili’s.

The displays include a steel beam from the rubble of the World Trade Center, a large American flag suspended over the Rotunda entrance at Gate 1, a wall where fans can write messages to first responders and victims, and the University of South Florida robotics machine that was used in the recovery and search after the attacks. A commemorative “9.11.01″ will be carved on the back of the pitcher’s mound, and a remembrance logo will be visible throughout the ballpark.

Eighteen local fire chiefs, police chiefs and military personnel will throw out ceremonial first pitches, as will Captain Mark Bogush from Tampa Fire Rescue. Bogush and his search and rescue K9 Marley were dispatched to the World Trade Center days after the attacks.

The national anthem will be performed by Hillsborough County Sheriff Belinda Denbigh, who will also sing “God Bless America” in the seventh inning.

At all Major League parks on that day, a video will be shown, and all players will wear caps and jerseys featuring an American flag patch.

A decision on when the rescheduled game would be played resulted in a prolonged delay for the announcement, based on the fact both teams had other wishes for when the game would be played.

According to Rays player representative Evan Longoria, the Rays did not want to play a doubleheader on Saturday, while the Yankees preferred to play a split doubleheader, which, in large part, was motivated by the fact that Derek Jeter is pursuing his 3,000th career hit and is two hits shy. The Yankees’ captain now has two remaining games at home before the All-Star break in which to reach the career milestone.

“The initial thought was they wanted to play a doubleheader tomorrow,” Longoria said. “I think we all know why they’d like to get these three games in, and, obviously, they’re rooting for Derek to get his 3,000th hit here in this series. I mean, we’d like to see him do it, too. And he’s got two more days to do it.

“As far as both teams go, it’s not real smart for us to play a doubleheader. It stretches guys out. It doesn’t give opportunity for a couple of teams to rest who are banged up, and just play one game and then another one.”

Longoria said the final decision came down to a “negotiation process” between both teams.

Jeremy Hellickson, who was supposed to start Friday night for the Rays, will now be bumped, while David Price and James Shields will make their scheduled starts on Saturday and Sunday, respectively.

In addition to not wanting to play a doubleheader, the Rays have Johnny Damon nursing a swollen left hand, and they are without starter Wade Davis, who was placed on the disabled list Thursday. The Yankees also have injury problems they are dealing with, as Mariano Rivera, Alex Rodriguez and Nick Swisher are all nursing various injuries, with Rivera, Rodriguez and Jeter already having announced that they will skip the All-Star Game in order to rest.

Sept. 22 would have been an off-day for the Rays and the Yankees following a two-game series between the two teams, which made sense for the makeup date they agreed on, according to Longoria.

“It’s a mutual off-day, and we’re here already, so it’s not like we’re having to travel from somewhere else,” Longoria said. “It will just be like playing a three-game series instead of a two-game series.”

Yankees player representative Curtis Granderson explained his understanding of the decision-making process.

“There’s a line of command, and I don’t know the exact rule, but I know the road team has a little more weight on them just because they have to either come back or they’ve already come now,” Granderson said. “So it goes there, then it goes to the number of split doubleheaders that are on the schedule now because of previous rainouts, or are forthcoming.

“And then other factors, such as if you add a game how many consecutive days in a row does that put you at? And there’s a couple other factors, so it’s a list of checkmarks across the board before you finally can get to who actually has the right of way on this whole thing.”

Cormier, 30, had been released by the Los Angeles Dodgers on June 2. He made nine relief appearances for the Dodgers this season, going 0-1 with a 9.88 ERA (13 2/3 IP, 15 ER).

Cormier has spent parts of eight seasons in the Major Leagues, including two full seasons (2009-10) with the Rays. During his time with the Rays, he made 113 relief appearances, compiling a 7-3 record with a 3.55 ERA. He went 4-3 with a 3.92 ERA in 60 games for the Rays in 2010, and was 3-3 with two saves and a 3.26 ERA in 53 games in 2009.

In a separate move Monday, right-handed pitcher Edgar Gonzalez was released from the Durham roster.

The Rays have gone four games without a home run and are 1-3 in those games, but opportunities to score have been there. The Rays have left 25 runners on base in the last three games, including eight on Monday, which proved to be a deciding factor in the 6-3 loss to the Tigers.

“It’s very killer. We can’t stand that,” manager Joe Maddon said. “It’s one of the areas we have to get better at. We have to drive in runs on a more consistent basis, have better at-bats and just move the ball. We tend to strike out in those moments too often.”

One of those moments came Monday, when the Rays had the bases loaded with one out and a pitcher making his Major League debut for the Tigers. But infielder Felipe Lopez and catcher Kelly Shoppach both struck out, and the Tigers came back to win.

“We let them off the hook a little bit too much early in the game,” Rays outfielder Johnny Damon said Monday. “We can’t do that, especially since we don’t hit a lot of home runs as a team. We’ve got to score those runs.”

The winner of the Honorary Bat Girl Contest for the Rays is Shari Elliott.

At the age of 35, Elliott was diagnosed with breast cancer, but the mother of two has decided to “live with cancer instead of thinking of dying of cancer.” She volunteers and participates in numerous breast cancer awareness events and helps other women who have recently been diagnosed with the disease cope with the news.

On May 15, Elliott will throw out the ceremonial first pitch prior to the Rays game against the Baltimore Orioles. In conjunction with Elliott’s recognition, the Rays have donated 200 tickets to Susan G. Komen, and volunteers at the game will be handing out pink ribbons, a symbol for breast cancer awareness.

The Honorary Bat Girl program was introduced in 2009 to raise additional awareness and support for the annual Going to Bat Against Breast Cancer initiative, celebrated on Mother’s Day. In three years, nearly 4,000 testimonials have been submitted, and more than six million fan votes have been cast. Going to Bat Against Breast Cancer is a joint partnership between MLB, its licensed partners and Susan G. Komen for the Cure to raise awareness about the breast cancer cause, while also raising funds to support breast cancer research.

Elliott is one of the 30 winners, one for each MLB club. She was among more than 1,500 entrants that were selected by more than a half-million fan votes on www.HonoraryBatGirl.com, a Web site powered by MLB.com, and a panel of celebrity judges.