Kennedy creating his own problems

© St. Petersburg Times
published April 12, 2002

BALTIMORE -- What will be remembered about Thursday's game is how it ended.

But Joe Kennedy wasn't all that pleased with how it started.

The 22-year-old left-hander had a second straight unimpressive start, leaving after five innings and 94 pitches.

"The Yankees game and this game I put myself into too many jams, too much trouble," Kennedy said. "It seems like every inning I've pitched there are guys in scoring position. You can't play that way up here."

Kennedy, who had trouble in the cold weather at Yankee Stadium last week, had problems from the start on a night at Camden Yards that felt much colder than the announced game-time temperature of 65 degrees.

He allowed the first three batters to reach, leading to a run in the first. The next inning he fielded Jay Gibbons' easy grounder, then nonchalantly threw high and wide of first, pulling Steve Cox off the base.

When the Rays handed him a 6-1 lead, he nearly handed it back. Kennedy allowed a run in the fourth, then another in the fifth, and struck out Gibbons with two on to get out of the inning.

After two starts, he is 0-1 with a 6.30 ERA, having allowed 23 baserunners in 10 innings.

"Once I'm able to get things under control and get things going and not put myself in these situations, it will be a lot better," Kennedy said.

HOMER HAPPY: When Ben Grieve hit a towering home run in the second inning, it was noteworthy for several reasons.

It was the Rays' first homer in a week, covering 149 at-bats. It was Grieve's second homer in eight games, one more than he hit last April on his way to a career-low 11. It also extended an odd trend: Of the six hits Grieve has in 25 at-bats off Baltimore's Sidney Ponson, four have been home runs.

UP AND DOWN: As long as Ryan Rupe keeps the ball down, things should be looking up. He pitched seven shutout innings in his season-opening start against Detroit and did a good job keeping the ball down.

"He stayed in the bottom half of the strike zone," pitching coach Jackie Brown said. "That tells me he was trusting his stuff. If he keeps his sinker down, he's going to get a lot of ground balls. And when a pitcher stays down, when he comes up it's by design, not by accident."

Tonight, Rupe, on seven days' rest, faces a Blue Jays team that has rung up 20 runs and 28 hits against the Yankees in its past two games.

HOMEBOYS: The Rays play 19 of their next 29 at the Trop, but don't expect to hear much from manager Hal McRae about a homefield advantage. "You lose 100 games, the advantage goes to the opposition," he said. "You don't have any."

IMPRESSIVE COMPANY: Since the 2001 All-Star break, right-hander Paul Wilson has a 2.20 ERA, third in the majors. Only Montreal's Javier Vazquez (1.75) and Arizona's Randy Johnson (2.03) have been better.

WELCOME BACK: Josh Hamilton, who missed most of last season and the first week of this one with back problems, was scheduled to be activated by Class A Bakersfield Thursday night. ... Durham outfielder Carl Crawford has a 16-game hitting streak, going back to the last nine games of 2001.

MISCELLANY: The 11 hits and 12 runs in the sixth also were O's records. ... Chris Tomashoff, a trainer in the Rays minor-league system, will sing the anthems before tonight's game. ... After going 6-for-17 in four rehab games for Double-A Orlando, Russ Johnson moved up to Triple-A Durham on Thursday. ... The first 5,000 children 14 and younger Sunday will get Rays baseball cards. ... Jennifer Hunter, an 11-year-old who pitched a no-hitter for her Tarpon Springs Little League team, will throw out the ceremonial first pitch tonight.