Wilson passes what might be an audition

RAYS 6, ORIOLES 1: RHP strong over 8 against backdrop of trade deadline.

By MARC TOPKIN, Times Staff Writer

© St. Petersburg Times
published July 30, 2002

ST. PETERSBURG -- Paul Wilson pitched very well Monday, well enough to lead the Rays to a 6-1 win over the Orioles.

It was Wilson's first victory in 2 1/2 months, answering the question of whether he would win again, though leaving open whether he can beat another team as all three of his victories are against Baltimore.

The bigger question: Did he pitch well enough to make general manager Chuck LaMar's phone ring today with a trade offer?

The Astros, who had a scout at Tropicana Field on Monday, have been interested, as have the Diamondbacks. Other contenders, such as the Mets and Cardinals, might want to be.

If they are, they will have to make their pitch soon. Otherwise, it doesn't appear the Rays are going to make any deals by Wednesday's 4 p.m. deadline for nonwaiver trades.

"There's always opportunities over the last two days to make a significant trade and we're still having discussions with several clubs," LaMar said. "But at this point there's a better chance we will not make a trade than we make one."

With no orders from managing general partner Vince Naimoli to dump players for financial reasons, LaMar has been free to pursue the best baseball deal.

Thus far he hasn't found one to his liking, not enough to part with All-Star outfielder Randy Winn, reliever Esteban Yan or Wilson, the primary subjects of conversation.

The closest the Rays might have come were talks with the Giants about Winn.

The Giants supposedly offered an upper-level pitching prospect and money. The Rays, somewhat reasonably, asked about their top pitching prospect being included in a package. The Giants chose to trade two lesser pitching prospects to the White Sox on Sunday for Kenny Lofton, who has not played nearly as well as Winn.

Wilson would seem to be appealing. He is 29, appears to be completely over the arm injuries that forced him to miss parts of 31/2 seasons, makes a reasonable $1.2-million this season and isn't a free agent until 2004.

Monday he dominated his eight innings with a hard sinker, allowing four hits and breaking at least a half-dozen bats.

"Just a terrific effort," manager Hal McRae said.

"(Baltimore's Melvin) Mora said he got a new order of 12 dozen bats so he said to keep throwing them," Rays catcher John Flaherty said. "It was obviously a testament to his sinker tonight."

Though Wilson has just the three wins against seven losses, he hasn't pitched that poorly. He has allowed three or less earned runs in 11 of 19 starts and has pitched into the seventh 16 times. His 4.02 ERA is among the 25 best in the AL, better than that of New York's Mike Mussina (who is 13-4), Minnesota's Eric Milton (12-7) and Anaheim's Kevin Appier (9-8).

Wilson said he never really thought Monday's outing could be his last as a Ray. "I'm trying to treat (the trade talk) the same way I've been treating it: There's nothing I can do about it," he said.

With the Yankees gone until mid September, Tropicana Field again was a good place to stretch out and relax. The paid attendance was 10,340, and there appeared to be about half as many.

The Rays didn't exactly have a productive night offensively, leaving a team nine-inning record 16 men on base (10 in the first five innings) and scoring five without hitting a ball out of the infield.

"We were creative in scoring the six; nevertheless we got them in," McRae said.

With the bases loaded in the third, they scored one when rookie Carl Crawford slapped a two-out single off Baltimore pitcher Travis Driskill's glove and another when Jared Sandberg drew a walk.

With the bases loaded again in the fifth, they scored when Brent Abernathy was hit by a pitch.

And after Flaherty, who had a season-high three hits, knocked in Steve Cox with an eighth-inning double, they got two more easy runs. One scored when Orioles middle infielders Jerry Hairston and Mora got too casual on what could have been an inning-ending forceout at second, the other when Chris Gomez raced home from second on a wild pitch.

For a change, the opposing manager had some explaining to do.

"Physically the effort was there, but mentally I didn't think we showed up," Baltimore's Mike Hargrove said. "I just felt like we should have been better."