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Roger Mooney

Roger Mooney covers the Tampa Bay Rays for The Tampa Tribune, TBO.com and News Channel 8. He has covered the Rays since their first season in 1998, including 11 years for the Bradenton Herald. Roger has also covered Florida, South Florida and Florida State football, the Bucs and the Lightning.

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Pena two games shy of tying home run record

Posted Jun 13, 2010 by Roger Mooney

Updated Jun 13, 2010 at 12:19 AM

ROGER MOONEY
ST. PETERSBURG A week ago today Carlos Peña had the lowest batting average in the major leagues. Now, he’s the hottest power hitter.

Go figure?

The Rays first baseman continued his power surge Saturday night with a first inning home run that extended his streak of games with a homer to six – the longest such streak in the majors since Frank Thomas homered in six straight games in 2006.

Peña now has seven homers in his last six games and 15 for the season.

“I keep on saying I’m just grateful I have an opportunity to do it,” Peña said after the Rays 6-5 win against the Marlins. “That is awesome, so I never lose sight of that.”

As for the power surge? Easy.

“I’m trusting myself a little bit more,” Peña said. “I’m trusting my plan, and I’m focusing on seeing the ball and trusting that the right swing will come out when my eyes recognize the pitch I want.”

Peña was 1-for-4 on Saturday, which was enough to push his average closer to .200, or the infamous Mendoza Line. He enters today’s game with a .196 average, which is up from the .169 he carried into last Sunday’s game against the Rangers in Texas.

Since then, Peña has a six-game hitting streak in which his batting .370.

For those who don’t already know, the record for consecutive games with a home run is eight, set by Dale Long in 1956 and matched by Don Mattingly in 1987 and Ken Griffey Jr., in 1993.

His recent run of round-trippers has his teammates in awe.

“I’m not going to say anything,” winning pitcher Matt Garza said after Saturday’s game. “Just keep doing what he’s doing. That’s all it is. He can just keep doing what he’s doing. I don’t care how he’s doing it, but just keep doing what he’s doing.”

Doing what he’s currently doing made Peña the most productive power hitter in the American League over the past four seasons.

Peña now has an American League-best 131 home runs since the start of the 2007 season, four more than Alex Rodriguez.

“I’m very happy about that,” Peña said when informed of his franchise-mark for consecutive games with a home run and other records now within his reach. “It’s really cool, but I don’t really keep track of stuff like that. Obviously, I’m not that savvy as far as numbers are concerned. But it does feel great to be in that bunch.”