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© St. Petersburg Times, published April 17, 2003
BOSTON -- Nick Bierbrodt is going to throw the ball harder. Victor Zambrano is going to be more aggressive. The Devil Rays starting pitching is going to get better.
Or else.
After watching Bierbrodt's third straight rough outing Tuesday, manager Lou Piniella sat in his office for more than three hours trying to figure out what to do about a rotation that through 14 games has zero wins and a 7.22 ERA.
"I stayed here last night until around midnight exploring all of our options," he said. "And we don't have all that many."
Jorge Sosa will fill the hole created by Jim Parque's sore shoulder by starting Saturday. The longer term solution will be to promote Dewon Brazelton, who is 0-1 with a 1.92 ERA in two Triple A starts, but the Rays want to give him at least another start or two to build up strength.
Otherwise, it doesn't sound as if Piniella sees many other upgrades in the system, preferring to give prospects such as Doug Waechter and Jon Switzer time at Double A to develop.
"Brazelton is going to be probably the one kid that we could look to get up here at the right time," he said.
Bierbrodt, who has allowed 27 hits (and a .422 average) in 13 innings, started working with pitching coach Chris Bosio on Wednesday on mechanical adjustments, such as better extension at the end of his delivery and lowering his head.
"We've got to see more velocity," Piniella said. "I was told (by general manager Chuck LaMar) he threw the ball 92-93 (mph) and since the start of the season I haven't seen anything that even approaches that."
Bierbrodt was in the 90-91 range during spring training but dropped off in his final two starts and hasn't been the same since, though he said his arm feels fine.
"I don't know," Piniella said. "I do know if it doesn't get better he'll be pitching out of the bullpen. We did that with Joel Piniero in Seattle and put him back in the rotation later on and we saw a big difference."
PEDRO ALERT: It could be either a very good thing for the Rays or a very bad thing to face Pedro Martinez coming off the worst start of his career.
The Boston ace gave up a career-high 10 runs in 41/3 innings against Baltimore on Saturday. The last time he allowed more than four earned runs was the 2002 season opener (seven in three innings), and he responded by allowing 11 over his next nine starts.
At 0-1, Martinez is under .500 for the first time since the 1996 season. He has been 0-2 once (1994) and has lost consecutive starts once since the start of the 1999 season.
The Rays tend to have problems with him anyway, hitting a composite .184. In 13 starts Martinez is 7-2 with a 2.11 ERA, and he is 5-0, 2.03 in his past nine, including a no-decision in the March 31 opener. Ben Grieve is 6-for-32 with 15 strikeouts.
"I don't think it's ever a good time to face Pedro, to be honest with you," Piniella said.
ROCCO'S WORLD: Rookie Rocco Baldelli extended his hitting streak to 13 games, a Rays record for a rookie and the second longest by a player at the start of his career going back to 1990.
Baldelli ranks among the AL leaders in a dozen categories, including hits (24) and average (.407). He was also among the leaders in on-base percentage, which is particularly impressive since he hasn't walked in 63 plate appearances.
CHICAGO FALLOUT: Like many, Piniella was concerned to hear about the second incident of a fan running out of the stands during a White Sox game. "Unbelievable, isn't it?" he said. "I don't understand what it is about Chicago down the rightfield line. I'll tell ya, it's crazy to see something like that."
MISCELLANY: Rey Ordonez hit his second homer, marking just the second multi-homer season in his eight-year career. He hit three in 2001. ... Friday still is the targeted return date for first baseman Travis Lee, sidelined with a sore right oblique muscle. ... The Rays have played a major league-high seven one-run games, going 3-4. ... With seven more hits the Rays ran their AL-leading total to 153. ... Grieve is on a 9-for-22 streak.