Just call him BJ “Ziggy” Upton

August 19, 4:50 PMTampa Bay Sports ExaminerTed Fleming

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I like to think certain sports writers and commentators are nothing more than big bags of wind, somewhat like Tropical Storm Fay turned out to be. She threatened Tampa Bay closing schools and businesses only to blow past us in a huff leaving everyone to wonder what just happened.

The answer is nothing. The baseball band played on and the expected Tuesday cancellation is going on as per usual. Same same Wednesday.

The only thing left behind by the wannabe hurricane were some brisk winds and the bags of wind blowing through the radios and newspapers as if the Rays’ BJ Upton had become public enemy number one.

Upton launched a drive deep to left in Monday’s game against the Angels and came out of the box expecting to do either a home run trot or cruise into second with a double. The ball stayed in the field of play and two bases was his, or so he thought.

Not exactly the fastest man on the planet, first baseman Mark Teixeira trailed the play, grabbed the throw and tagged an unsuspecting Upton out. 

Dig into your dictionary folks because just about every negative one has been used against the soon to be 24-year old. Lazy. No hustle. Uncaring. Headlines blared Upton marred a great win by the Rays. We’ve been through this before. On and on and on.

The Virginia native brought the Wrath of Maddon down on himself after two benchings for lack of hustle. Skipper Joe Maddon said he would have yanked him out of the lineup the first time but didn’t have enough healthy bodies to do it. Upton sat the next day.

The second time, the Virginia native went to his position and in a scene reminiscent of Gil Hodges removing Cleon Jones from left field so many years back, Upton was pulled.

On the face of it, Upton appeared to have repeated it a third time Monday. No one wanted to hear anything, just that it was a gaffe and Upton’s name was in the same sentence. Like the cartoon character Ziggy, the perpetual cloud over his head had moved inside Tropicana Field and over the head of one Melvin Emmananuel Upton.

A few years ago when the Rays had arguably the three best prospects in baseball: Upton, Delmon Young and Elijah Dukes. I tabbed them The Devil’s Triangle. Young was tossing bats at the men in blue, Dukes was making headlines saying the shower water in Durham was from the sewers while big leaguers bathe in Evian and Upton was nailed for underage DUI. But I still hoped.

At the time my sense was the trio was eventually going to be broken up and Upton would be the survivor because he had more upside. The DUI was a youthful indiscretion, he didn’t play with the sense of entitlement like the other two and his athleticism was arguably the best in the Tampa Bay system.  

The transformation to centerfield from shortstop has been near flawless, has an arm that will make jaws drop when he unleashes one from his position and he can hit. 2008 was supposed to be a breakout season but everything seems to be broken.

The swing since an early season shoulder injury has made Upton look as if he cannot pull the trigger on the fattest of pitches. His power numbers and ribbies are down, however, once on base he terrorizes battery mates.

So what’s up with the goof-ups?

Joe Maddon said after the game the mistake was not from lack of hustle but the assumption factor. To get a better idea of what “assume” means, go back to the Odd Couple TV show and watch how the Tony Randal character dissected the word - ass-u-me: making an ass out of you and me.

Designated hitter Cliff Floyd brought the subject up even though no one asked. He promised the veterans will speak on it and you will see a different Upton.

But it was a rather quiet conversation with first baseman Carlos Pena that seemed to put this all in perspective.

“There’s no doubt he could have run harder,” he said. He’s not expecting the first baseman to be running in behind him. It was a weird play. It’s kind of a routing play for us trailing the runner and I never saw that before where someone would throw the ball to me.

“It’s funny how things seem to find you. We’ve had a little trouble with BJ before and have been under the microscope and look what happened today.”

 Everyone to a man has nothing but good things to say about Upton and the fact the three incidents have happened in a such a short period of time makes for good fodder. I look at Monday as an aberration rather than some anticipating norm.

The first two times I suspect it is more the learning curve all young players go through. This time circumstances with this newfound cloud. In other words, everyone should just cool their jets a bit. BJ Upton will be just fine.