"He is running out of time. In 2007, his first season as a Ray (then Devil Ray) he was named American League Comeback Player of the Year. But now there might be no coming back.

Carlos Pena wasn't in Joe Maddon's starting lineup Wednesday night at Yankee Stadium, even against a right-handed starter. B.J. Upton sat, too. Pena won't be in there tonight when the Rays face CC Sabathia. He understands why.

"There comes a time when you swallow your pride, you know what I mean?" Pena said.

He is 32 and batting .201. He has had the lowest batting average among major-league qualifiers for what seems like forever. He has been embarrassed. He has driven in only 27 runs since the All-Star break. He has turned fly balls into ground outs. He has one home run and four RBIs and is hitting .118 in September. He looks bad up there, a foregone out. Who really expects him back in Tampa Bay for 2011?

But there has been Pena pride, and occasionally it surfaces, like Saturday night, when he singled with two outs in the ninth to tie the Angels at the Trop.

Mostly this isn't easy to watch, because Pena remains very likable, but it's probably tougher on him. He was looking for a big deal after this season, if not here, then somewhere else, and that is probably dead, at least the "big" part. An injury didn't help. Maybe what makes it hardest is this pennant race. This is a guy who carried the Rays when Carl Crawford and Evan Longoria went down with injuries during the 2008 miracle season.

Carlos Pena drove in 47 runs the last two months of that season. He won a big September game in Boston with an extra-innings homer. He danced in dugouts before games, firing up his crew, easing tension, making them laugh. He became a leader. Now he's 32 and the end seems near for him, at least as a Ray. There's a pennant race and his great glove isn't enough. He sits.

He still has managed 27 homers and 81 RBIs this season despite his near constant struggle. He doesn't deny that he has pressed at times, sometimes thinking about next year, trying for a big contract, maybe his last, or about how big he came through for the Rays in 2008, about ...

"No doubt about it," Pena said. "The uncertainties of the future, what I've been able to do in the past, it all makes it more complicated. It definitely makes it a challenge for me, to stay focused despite the difficult times. It's not an easy thing to do. There are many times when you feel the pressure and the desire to perform works against you.""