Rays extra

By Times staff writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published June 8, 2002

TONIGHT: RAYS VS. PADRES

• WHEN/WHERE: 6:15; Tropicana Field, St. Petersburg.
• RADIO: WFLA-AM 970.
• PITCHERS: Padres -- RHP Brett Tomko (3-4, 3.46); Rays -- RHP Tanyon Sturtze (0-7, 5.47).

WORTH NOTING: Sturtze's seven-game losing streak is the longest in the AL and matches the Cubs' Jason Bere and Juan Cruz for the majors' longest. The Tampa Bay record is 10 by Albie Lopez, and Sturtze's streak ties the longest to open a season, set last season by Bryan Rekar. ... Tomko hasn't won since May 13, with the Padres losing six of his past seven starts. He boasts baseball's fifth-best interleague ERA (2.38).

RAYS TICKETS: Available at Tropicana Field box office, through all Ticketmaster outlets, online at devilrays.com or ticketmaster.com and at the Rays Dugout Store at WestShore Plaza. Beach tickets ($5 for adults, $2 for children and seniors) go on sale two hours before home games.

INFORMATION: Call toll-free 1-888-FAN-RAYS.

OUTTA LEFTFIELD

Bucs coach Jon Gruden, on hand to throw out the first pitch, smiled for cameras before the game in front of the Rays dugout and autographed balls tossed to him from the stands.

As he tossed back a ball and pen to the crowd, the second request from one young Rays/Bucs fan had nothing to do with autographs.

"Coach, can you play Shaun King?" the fan asked. "He's my favorite player."

RAYS BY THE NUMBERS

(through Thursday)

HOME/ROAD: 11-17/8-22

DAY/NIGHT: 6-12/13-27

GRASS/TURF: 7-15/12-24

VS. EAST: 9-24

VS. CENTRAL: 6-7

VS. WEST: 4-8

VS. NL: 0-0

VS. RH/LH STARTERS: 17-31/2-8

AHEAD AFTER 6/7/8: 12-7/12-6/14-4

BEHIND AFTER 6/7/8: 3-25/3-30/1-31

TIED AFTER 6/7/8: 4-7/4-3/4-4

ONE-RUN/TWO-RUN GAMES: 8-9/3-9

EXTRA INNINGS: 3-2

LAST AT-BAT WINS: 7

COME-FROM-BEHIND WINS: 10

COME-FROM-AHEAD LOSSES: 20

HITTING HOMER: 10-20

SCORING FIRST: 11-11

SCORING 4 OR MORE: 13-10

SCORING FEWER THAN 4: 6-28

OUTHITTING OPPONENTS: 11-3

BEING OUTHIT: 1-30

GETTING 10 OR MORE HITS: 11-9

GIVING UP 10 OR MORE HITS: 7-23

TEAM LEADERS

(through Thursday)

TYING/GO-AHEAD RBIs: Vaughn 11; Grieve 9; Winn 8; Cox 7; Gomez 6; Abernathy, Johnson 5; Conti, Flaherty 3; Escalona, Sandberg 2; Huff 1.

INFIELD HITS: Winn 13; Abernathy, Gomez 5; Vaughn 4.

BUNT HITS: Winn 4.

CATCHER'S EFFICIENCY: Flaherty (3-17, .176), Hoover (1-2, .500).

OUTFIELD ASSISTS: Winn 7; Grieve 5.

ATTENDANCE REPORT

(through Thursday)

HOME DATES: 28

HOME TOTAL: 371,003

HOME AVERAGE: 13,250

2001 AVERAGE: 16,029

LARGEST: 38,142 vs. Tigers, April 2

SMALLEST: 10,130 vs. Athletics, May 30

Today's lineup

Rays