Rays can't come home too soon

ANGELS 6, RAYS 1: Road trip that starts with promise ends badly in Anaheim thanks to slumbering bats.

ANAHEIM, Calif. - Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful trip.

The Rays must have felt like they were marooned on Gilligan's Island. A 12-game, four-city, two-week trip started off like a pleasure cruise.

It ended with the Rays beached in a slump.

And apparently they were stranded without their bats.

The Rays' longest trip of the season finally came to an end Sunday with a 6-1 loss to the Angels before 34,777 at Edison Field.

A trip that started with so much zest ended with a lot of zeros. The Rays kicked off the road swing by winning two of three in Toronto, then two of three in Baltimore.

But after being swept by the Rangers, the Rays limped home after losing two of three against the defending champion Angels. Add it all up and that's a 5-7 trip that had the promise of being 7-5 or even 8-4 just a week ago.

"Well, we should have done a little better after the way we started," Rays manager Lou Piniella said. "After we started out 4-2, we were hoping for better than this."

The fall to Earth on Sunday seemed so far because of the high climb last week.

"We knew that if we wanted to have a good road trip, we had to play well in Toronto and Baltimore, and the thing is, we did that," Al Martin, Tampa Bay's pinch-hitter Sunday, said. "I just wish we could've kept it going in Texas and Anaheim."

In Texas, the Rays' pitching was the sore spot. In Anaheim, it was the offense.

The Rays scored only six in the series and had just six hits Saturday and six Sunday. Had it not been for a brilliant, and unexpected, pitching performance from Jeremi Gonzalez on Friday, the Rays might have suffered back-to-back sweeps.

Sunday's chilly offense really wasn't a surprise considering Angels starter Kevin Appier pitches against the Rays like he's pitching against kids. Appier went into the game with a 6-0 record and a 1.87 ERA against the Rays.

He mowed down the Rays again. Appier pitched six innings, allowing four hits and one run, Ben Grieve's first homer of the season.

"He knows how to pitch," Piniella said. "You just can't chase bad pitches off him. And we did a little bit of that, which doesn't help."

On the other side, Rays starter Dewon Brazelton pitched well but simply couldn't match the dominating Appier. Brazelton fell to 0-4 on the season but didn't get much help from his offense or defense.

Shortstop Julio Lugo booted a potential double-play ball that turned into two unearned runs. Then the Rays couldn't handle an Angels double steal that included a rare steal of home. Brazelton gave up three earned runs (five overall) and five hits in five innings. He struck out seven in one of his best efforts of the season.

"It was just one of those days," Brazelton said. "You go out and you give it your best, and it doesn't come out the way you want it to. ... I'll just try to take the positive out of it."

That's what the Rays are trying to do - take the positive - with the road trip. But after Sunday's game, there seemed to be only one positive.

"It's over," Martin said. "Four cities. That's a long road trip. We're just looking forward to going home now."