Hitless once more, Vaughn feeling 'low'

By MARC TOPKIN, Times Staff Writer

© St. Petersburg Times
published May 1, 2002

MINNEAPOLIS -- The way Greg Vaughn sees it, things can only get better.

After going 0-for-4 Tuesday, Vaughn extended his hitless streak to a team-record 33 consecutive at-bats and dropped his average to .099, the lowest of any major-league regular.

"This is an all-time low right now," Vaughn said.

Actually, Vaughn has done worse. He was 0-for-36 in the middle of the 1990 season with Milwaukee in which he hit .220. John Flaherty had the Rays team record for futility with an 0-for-30 during the 1998 season.

Several times during Vaughn's slump manager Hal McRae has said he saw progress, but Tuesday night he saw a 36-year-old DH who couldn't hit a 93-94 mph fastball from Kyle Lohse.

"He's still behind the fastball, and he's going to have to catch up to the fastball in order to get his timing," McRae said. "He was behind, a clip behind the fastball. That's been his major problem."

Vaughn, who has struck out 31 times, will get at least Thursday off. "It wouldn't hurt him to watch a couple games," McRae said. "I think you can think more clearly not playing than trying to figure stuff out in the heat of battle."

IN A RELATED MATTER: Toby Hall, who is 0-for-26 and hitting .200, is having similar problems.

"A few aggressive swings and hit 'em at them," Hall said. "It would be nice to find a few holes and get this going."

TANYON'S NIGHT: Winless in five April starts, Tanyon Sturtze can only hope to start May in the right way. "I need a win," Sturtze said. "I've got to get that zero out of there."

An 11-game winner and the team's most valuable player last season, Sturtze has been frustrated by his lack of success.

Sturtze takes solace in having pitched better than his record indicates recently; he would have gotten the win Thursday had Esteban Yan not blown a save.

"It's just been little, little things that have stopped me," Sturtze said. "I could be 3-2 right now very easily instead of 0-2, or I could be 0-5. It's just the way it's been going."

RETURN TO BUSINESS: Wilson Alvarez reported no problems after throwing a 15-minute sideline session Tuesday afternoon. Alvarez has been on the disabled list with a strained rib-cage muscle.

"I felt good," he said. "We'll do it again on Thursday and if everything goes well, they'll decide what I do. I hope to be pitching here early next week."

NEW LOOK: McRae continues to tinker with the batting order. Going back to a strategy that worked a couple of weeks ago, he put Brent Abernathy in the leadoff slot and dropped Jason Tyner to second, hoping to get Tyner on a roll.

"Since he's the catalyst of the offense it's important that he get on base and swing the bat well," McRae said. "This is an attempt to open up some holes for him. He's hitting a lot of ground balls to the right side. If Abby can get on that would open up that side for him."

Tuesday, Abernathy was 0-for-3 with a walk and Tyner was 0-for-4. The one time Tyner came up with men on base, he flied to center.

GOTCHA: Joe Kennedy caught two runners off first Monday and could reap greater rewards if he can continue to develop his pickoff move.

"In the long run, I could shave a half run off my ERA, maybe more," Kennedy said. "If you have a good move and people become aware of it, they're not going to steal as much, they're not going to get as good a jump when they do so Toby (Hall) can throw them out."

MISCELLANY: The 2-10 road record is the Rays' worst for any month. ... The .239 team batting average is the third lowest for a month. ... The eight double plays grounded into were a team-record low for a month.

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