Rays still failing to cash in

A'S 4, RAYS 2: Tampa Bay keeps putting them on and leaving them there, stranding 11 more.

By MARC TOPKIN, Times Staff Writer

© St. Petersburg Times
published June 3, 2002

	[Times photo: Michael Rondou] Rays starter Ryan Rupe shows his frustration after Greg Myers' home run in the fifth inning gave the Athletics a 1-0 lead. The right-hander walked five, tying his career high, but battled for six innings and held Oakland to three runs.

10 hits+ 3 walks = 2 runs.

And 1 (more) loss.

Continuing their latest disturbing trend, the Rays had another good day at the plate and a bad day trying to cross it, leaving 11 men on base and losing 4-2 to Oakland.

"The lack of clutch hitting is why we lost the game," manager Hal McRae said. "We couldn't seem to push anything across."

That has been why they've lost a lot of games lately. In the four-game series against the A's, the Rays left 51 men on base, converting 55 hits and 15 walks into 18 runs.

The Rays started working on situational hitting the first day of spring training, but it is painfully obvious they have yet to get it right.

Their .245 batting average with runners in scoring position is among the worst in the league, and when matched with their lack of power and absence of speed it makes their offense even less formidable.

"It's something that we're going to continue to work on, and it appears that it will take some time to get it solved," McRae said. "Inexperience is part of the problem, but you've got to win with what you got. If they're young, you've got to win with young ones. If they're middle-aged, you win with them. If they're old, win with them. That's where we are.

"They're not checking birth certificates at home plate."

A quality at-bat with runners in scoring position is the combination of the proper mental approach and the correct physical actions. The Rays are battling on both fronts.

"Right now we're pressing a little bit to get the big hits," Brent Abernathy said. "You aren't thinking with a clear mind when you're up there. Instead of being relaxed and letting your reactions take over, you're just pressing and thinking too much. Most of the time our reactions are good enough where they're going to be right. You start letting your head get in the way and that's when problems occur."

McRae wants the Rays hitters to at least swing at good pitches. Even though they were 3-for-11 with runners in scoring position Sunday, he said they actually did better than they had been.

"My concern in those situations is that we get good balls to hit, that we don't chase (bad pitches) and that we're patient," he said. "I thought we were patient today. We just didn't get it done."

Ryan Rupe, who went into the game with the second-best strikeout-to-walk ratio in the league, fought control problems (a career-high matching five walks) to keep the Rays in the game through six innings against a sharp Mark Mulder.

The Rays cut the score to 3-2 in the sixth after rookie catcher Paul Hoover's two-out bases-loaded single, but reliever Chad Bradford retired pinch-hitter Jason Smith on a groundout.

They got two on to start the seventh, but Greg Vaughn grounded into a double play and left-hander Mike Venafro got Steve Cox on a groundout.

The Rays had another chance in the eighth, when Jared Sandberg doubled with two outs and Hoover beat out an infield single, but the A's went to their deep and diverse bullpen again, with right-hander Mike Fyhrie striking out pinch-hitter Russ Johnson.

"We're just not coming up with big hits," Cox said. "To their credit, they're really bearing down with men in scoring position. (But) you've got to bear down as much as they bear down. Hitting with guys in scoring position is a mental thing. You've got to not give up too much and you can't start swinging at everything. You've got to lock in and get a pitch to hit.

"Sometimes it's easier than others. Right now, it's pretty hard. It's a hard game right now."

With the season one-third over and his team on pace for a 54-108 record, McRae said it has to play better. "We're not that talented to play a so-so game and win," he said. "We have to play good baseball games to win."

As the Rays headed out for the flight to Toronto and a four-game series with the nearly-as-bad Blue Jays, they were hoping better days, and a few clutch hits, were ahead.

"It will be good to have a change of scenery and a change of teams," Abernathy said. "Hopefully we can kind of relax a little bit, just play, have some fun, and smile again."