Rays looking to Junior Caminero's bat, leadership in World Series - ESPN

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — After the Tampa Bay Rays made another uncharacteristic blunder on Saturday night to continue their strangely sloppy start to the World Series, the television broadcast caught a heated Junior Caminero yelling in Tampa Bay's dugout.

His team was playing poorly against the Milwaukee Brewers for the second straight night. The Rays were giving away outs to a team that pounces on mistakes. By the end of the sixth inning, a 4-0 first-inning Rays lead had evaporated. The frustration was mounting. Caminero felt the need to speak up.

«I was trying to help the team, trying to keep their heads up,» Caminero said in Spanish. «Encouraging them.»

The fiery motivation attempt did not flip the momentum. That 4-0 lead became a 5-4 defeat as the Rays fell in the series 2-0 with Game 3 scheduled for Monday night at Tropicana Field. But it was a public display of an evolution that has taken shape behind the scenes, of a budding superstar emerging as the 23-year-old leader of a club four wins from its first championship.

«Junior is a leader by example,» Rays second baseman Richie Palacios said. «He mostly just goes out there and does his thing. But what's exciting is when he does open his mouth, it's always useful, and it's in the time that we need it.»

It was not the first time Caminero spoke up this postseason. Earlier this month, he was the only player to address the room during a hitters' meeting ahead of the American League Championship Series. He told his teammates he believed in them. He told them it was time to show the world who they are. The message resonated.

«When he spoke in that meeting, it was a little surprising but nice because he hasn't been a vocal leader,» Palacios said. «We never asked him to do