Welcome back, Carter

© St. Petersburg Times
published March 6, 2003

BRADENTON -- The Devil Rays see Lance Carter having an important role in their inexperienced bullpen, so they were glad to see him on the mound Wednesday after missing a week with tightness in his left side.

Carter pitched a scoreless eighth inning in the 11-8 loss to Pittsburgh, working his way into and out of a one-out jam and showing nice bite on his breaking ball in his first appearance.

"It's very big to get him back and get him out there," pitching coach Chris Bosio said. "It couldn't come any better, throwing him right in the fire, getting him in that situation with guys on base. If things fall into place for him he should make the team, and those are the positions he's going to be in. I like what I saw of Lance today."

Carter, 28, capped a comeback from a second Tommy John surgery in September when he was called up after a stellar Triple-A season. His two saves in eight games are as many as any of the other 38 pitchers in camp had.

Carter said he felt fine and was happy to get back on the field.

"I just wanted to make sure everything was all right," he said. "I'm pleased with what happened. If I go out and throw strikes and get guys out, everyone else can make a decision on whether I'll be on the club."

GAME NOTES: Lee Stevens' three-run homer off Jeff Suppan in the first gave the Rays the lead, but their relief pitchers gave it all back, allowing five home runs.

Luis De Los Santos did poorly, giving up five hits in two innings, while veterans Matt Perisho and Bob Wells did worse. Perisho gave up a three-run homer to Brian Giles, while Wells allowed homers to three of the first six batters he faced, including a mammoth blast to left by J.J. Davis that Rays radio broadcaster Charlie Slowes estimated at 475 feet.

The Rays scored five runs on six hits, including back-to-back doubles by Ben Grieve and Toby Hall and run-scoring singles by Ryan Thompson and Chris Truby, to draw within 9-8 in the seventh, but the Pirates scored twice more off Eric Sabel.

LOU-LOU: Manager Lou Piniella's first exchange with an umpire was relatively tame -- it's still early in spring training. He was unhappy with home-plate ump Brian Welke for issuing a warning after Wells threw too close to Jack Wilson after allowing the third homer and for not taking action the next inning when Pittsburgh's Mike Gonzalez hit Carl Crawford.

"It was a curve ball that just backed up and the umpire gave a warning for no reason, then he didn't follow up on his warning when Crawford got hit in the back," Piniella said. "I told him, "What's the sense of a warning if you're not going to enforce it?' "

CUTS (STILL) COMING: Piniella continues to talk about the problems caused by having more than 70 players in camp, but he won't do anything about it until the weekend.

IN RESERVE: The search for bench players is underway. Antonio Perez, the minor-leaguer acquired from Seattle in the Piniella compensation deal, had a so-so performance at shortstop; Justin Baughman, Jay Canizaro and Rule V draft pick Hector Luna are scheduled for action too.

FAMILIAR FACE: The Rays will see former teammate Tanyon Sturtze on the mound for Toronto in Saturday's exhibition in Dunedin. Doug Creek, another ex-teammate, also is scheduled to pitch.

LET'S PLAY TWO: The Rays will send one squad on the road today to play the Astros, with rotation candidates Steve Parris and Jason Standridge scheduled to pitch, along with Dan Reichert, Travis Phelps, Mike James and Bob Wells. Another group, including Greg Vaughn and Rey Ordonez, will stay back for a 10 a.m. B-game against Cleveland at Progress Energy Park, which will not be open to the public. Jim Parque and Doug Waechter are among the scheduled pitchers.

MISCELLANY: Former major-leaguer Jim Leyritz was at the game hoping to arrange a tryout with the Rays. ... Joe Kennedy threw 90 percent fastballs in his spring debut Tuesday for a reason: "The way I was throwing the fastball and locating it I didn't need anything else." He used his new pitch -- a slurve -- only once. ... GM Chuck LaMar, Piniella, bench coach John McLaren, Dewon Brazelton and Josh Hamilton are scheduled to attend the Clearwater For Youth Charity dinner Saturday.