Rays take next step to century loss mark

RANGERS 9, RAYS 3: Texas roughs up Travis Harper to send Tampa Bay to its 93rd defeat.

By KEVIN KELLY, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published September 7, 2002

ST. PETERSBURG -- History is days away.

The Rays, who have experienced a 15-game losing streak this season and are well on their way to becoming the first team in more than 20 years to lose 100 games in consecutive seasons, are running short on time to finish the season on a positive.

In what was another listless showing during its homestand, Tampa Bay lost 9-3 to the Rangers before 10,298 on Friday at Tropicana Field.

"Obviously, the end of the month, we want to finish good and go into the offseason knowing we had a good run," designated hitter Aubrey Huff said. "Last year, we finished the year off really well. That's kind of what we want to do this year.

"I know we have some tough teams coming up. And we're going to have to grind those out and see if we can win half of those, play .500 ball the rest of the way."

After sweeping a road series from the Rangers last weekend, Tampa Bay has been outscored 33-8 and outhit 47-29 in four consecutive home losses.

Texas scored seven runs in the first three innings off starter Travis Harper to take a 7-1 lead and finished with 15 hits, including a Todd Hollandsworth homer in the ninth that extended the Rangers' streak of consecutive games with a homer to 24.

"We know we can come in here and we can play with them," Huff said. "(Friday) was just a night that wasn't our night. Obviously, we didn't do really anything good. Hopefully (today), we come out and be a little more crisp."

The past four games have been a stark contrast to the good vibrations generated last weekend in Texas, when the Rays scored 24 runs on 37 hits and saw their relievers allow two runs in 132/3 innings in going 2-0 with three saves.

The Rays did do a couple of things right Friday thanks to Huff and reliever Lance Carter, who pitched four scoreless innings and has allowed one earned run in two appearances since being called up Aug. 31.

Huff's offensive hot streak continued with a first-inning double that extended his career-high hitting streak to 13 games and a home run in the fourth that traveled 434 feet onto a party deck in right-centerfield.

"It felt like a swing I've had except this ball just happened to get a little more airborne," Huff said. "I just got under it a little more."

The 25-year-old designated hitter, who ranks second to Bernie Williams in hitting since July19, is batting .407 during the hitting streak.

"I can't really explain it," Huff said. "I'm just going out there trying to see the ball and hit it. That's the kind of thing I've always done."

Besides that, the Rays accomplished little against Texas starter Dennys Reyes, who allowed three runs on six hits in seven innings. They squandered bases loaded opportunities in the first and eighth.

"We didn't cash in on a couple of opportunities we had," manager Hal McRae said. "I don't know if we would've scored enough because they scored nine."

Reyes retired 11 of the next 12 batters after Huff's homer. He walked leftfielder Damian Rolls in the fifth but didn't allow another hit until 13 batters later, when rightfielder Ben Grieve singled up the middle to lead off the eighth.

Harper, who was starting in place of Paul Wilson, allowed seven runs on eight hits in three innings.

"Pretty much everything I threw up there was flat," he said. "And they hit everything hard. That's what a good hitting club is going to do. I didn't have the angle. I didn't have the sink.

"Everything was flat, and that's pretty much what is going to happen."

Last season, with an inundation of young players, the Rays won 14 of their final 27 games.

Twelve were against Boston or New York. Tampa Bay faces a similar situation this season with 14 of their remaining 22 games against those playoff contending teams.

"I just think we need to be a little more consistent," Rays centerfielder Randy Winn said. "I think for those three games in Texas, we kind of put all aspects of our game together. We pitched well. We played defense, and we hit.

"It seems like we haven't been able to consistently put all those three things together. You can't really focus too much down the road. You have to worry about the game at hand at this point."