Carl Crawford leads historic base stealing attack of the Tampa Bay Rays

May 4, 1:00 PMTampa Bay Rays ExaminerRob Quinn

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This is what Jason Varitek sees in his sleep.  AP/Mike Carlson

Everyone around Major League Baseball already knew Carl Crawford was dangerous on the basepaths. Sunday’s performance, though, gave notice to future opponents that the four-time American League stolen base champ is back at the top of his game after slumping to only 25 steals in 2008. Crawford tied a modern Major League record with six steals in a 5-3 Rays’ win over the Red Sox.

The Rays’ leftfielder is now a perfect 17-for-17 in stolen base attempts on the season, putting him on pace for a career-high 105 steals (a six-steal game in early May will do that for you). The once-struggling Crawford is now hitting .317 – two points above his career-high of .315. He’s also posting an OBP of .385 – thirty points better than his career best of .355. Crawford’s average was as low as .224 on April 21, but he’s recovered nicely and now has his season back on track. If the Rays could only get B.J. Upton going.

Crawford’s Sunday stealing spree was part of a team-record eight steals in one game. The Rays are scorching the basepaths to the tune of 40 steals through 26 games. If the AL Champs continue to run wild at their current pace they will finish the season with 249 steals. The last Major League team to steal 250 or more bases was the 1992 Milwaukee Brewers, who stole 256 and were caught 115 times. The Rays, stealing at an 87% success rate, are on pace to be caught only 37 times. The Rays may not touch the impressive stolen base totals of the record-setting 1976 Oakland A’s (341 steals) or the 1985 St. Louis Cardinals (314 steals), but their success rate could make them the most effective base-stealing team in the history of baseball.

Yes, it’s early in the season and there’s no guarantee the Rays will maintain their current pace, but one thing is certain: manager Joe Maddon has no plans to slow down the Rays’ aggressive baserunning attack.

"Our goal is to steal at least 80 percent of the time. We talked about that in Spring Training."

Whether it is Crawford, Upton, Jason Bartlett, or Akinori Iwamura, opponents know the Rays plan on stealing pretty much every time they reach base. Even when armed with this knowledge, however, they can do nothing to slow down the Rays’ running game.

Going beyond base-running and looking at the big picture, Sunday’s win was huge. It gave the Rays three out of four from Boston on the weekend and marked their first series victory since taking two out of three from the Sox at Fenway to open the season. The Rays are now 11-15, fourth place in the AL East. They trail the first-place Blue Jays by 6.5 games. The week ahead for the Rays:

Monday vs. Baltimore at the Trop, 7:08 p.m. – Scott Kazmir vs. Adam Eaton

Tuesday vs. Baltimore at the Trop, 4:08 p.m. – Matt Garza vs. Koji Uehara

Wednesday vs. New York at Yankee Stadium, 7:05 p.m. – Andy Sonnanstine vs. A.J. Burnett

Thursday vs. New York at Yankee Stadium, 7:05 p.m. – Jeff Niemann vs. Andy Pettitte       

Will the Rays finish 2009 as the best base-stealing team in ML history? Let me know in a comment.

Jason Bartlett hits: 32

Jason Bartlett groundball singles between short and third: 7

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