Piniella ensures Rays get message

RED SOX 6, RAYS 4: Another blown lead inspires manager to berate team to media right in its midst.

By MARC TOPKIN, Times Staff Writer

© St. Petersburg Times
published April 17, 2003

BOSTON -- Sometimes it's all about location.

And after some misdirected pitches led to the Rays handing away another game Wednesday, losing 6-4 to Boston, manager Lou Piniella chose to hold his postgame media session in the middle of the cramped clubhouse so his players and coaches could hear exactly what was on his mind.

"You can't walk people when you got leads," Piniella said, voice clear and loud. "(Tuesday) night we walked the leadoff hitter, they win a ballgame in the ninth inning. Tonight we walk the leadoff hitter in the eighth, they score four runs.

"You've got to make them hit the ball. Trust your stuff. Get the (expletive) thing over the plate if you want to win up here."

Piniella has made the point numerous times this spring and early season, but clearly he felt the message had not sunk in.

"If we lead the majors in walks and we've got a 6.00 or 7.00 ERA, that should say enough, shouldn't it? I don't think I have to deliver the message every day. Just look at the statistics. That delivers enough of a message," he said, then turned toward his office. "That's all I got to say."

The Rays were six outs from what would have been an impressive 4-2 victory over the Red Sox on a bizarre Boston day, the temperature falling from a record-high 83 degrees in mid afternoon to a bone-chilling 47 at the 6:05 p.m. start and further down from there.

Rey Ordonez had hit a 350-foot home run over the Green Monster, rookie Rocco Baldelli had extended his hitting streak to 13 games and Steve Parris had provided a rare quality start.

Things started to unravel when Travis Harper walked Todd Walker to start the eighth, a full-count fastball that pitching coach Chris Bosio and several players insisted was over the plate called just inside by umpire Chuck Meriwether.

Before the Rays could get off the raw field, the Sox had scored four times, rapping four hits off previously infallible Lance Carter and taking advantage of a poor decision by leftfielder Carl Crawford.

Harper, knowing danger lurked with Nomar Garciaparra and Manny Ramirez up next, said he was trying to be aggressive against Walker. "I tried to come right after him," he said.

He started with ball one, got ahead 1-and-2, threw ball two, threw a pitch Walker fouled off, barely missed with a fastball for ball three, then came back with another fastball that apparently was just inside.

"It was perfect," catcher Toby Hall said. "I didn't even move."

Harper, to his credit, said he shouldn't have put himself in that position of needing a call on a close pitch.

"If you're trying to win a game late like that, trying to hold a lead, that's a guy you've got to get," he said. "You just can't hand him first base."

Piniella, his disgust obvious in the dugout, called for Carter, who was 3-0 and had allowed only five hits (a .143 average) and one run in 10 innings (a 0.90 ERA).

That didn't work out too well, either.

After Garciaparra flied out, Ramirez ripped a single down the leftfield line. Walker turned toward third and Crawford made the mistake of throwing the ball there, allowing Ramirez, who was the tying run, to move unchallenged into scoring position at second.

"I should have thrown to second," said Crawford, the 21-year-old leftfielder. "I got caught up in the moment, moving too fast. It's one of those mistakes you'll remember."

David Ortiz made sure of that, scoring both runners with a single to right-center.

"They got me," Carter said. "No excuses. My job is to get people out and I didn't do it."

The Rays had a chance to preserve the tie after Shea Hillenbrand, who knocked in the winning run Tuesday, walked and Hall threw out pinch-runner Damian Jackson trying to steal third, but Jeremy Giambi doubled to center to make it 5-4 and Trot Nixon singled in Giambi.

"It's bad to lose that game," said Parris, who (as the only player on the field in short sleeves) pitched six decent innings but said he was as much to blame as anyone for allowing homers to Ramirez and Garciaparra. "We should have had it won but there were some mistakes made that we don't need to make. ...

"We've got to learn how to win. Basically you've got to learn how to win these games."

Piniella won't accept anything less.