Rays keep losing game of inches

REDS 2, RAYS 1: Seventh straight loss is fourth by one run, leaving Tampa Bay despondent.

[Times photo: Michael Rondou] First baseman Aubrey Huff, who flied out to right with the bases loaded in the eighth inning, sits alone in the dugout after the Rays' loss.

ST. PETERSBURG - Devil Rays leftfielder Carl Crawford, head in hands, sat in front of his locker in full uniform some 15 minutes after the game.

Teammate Aubrey Huff sank into a couch and stared at a television that wasn't even turned on.

One room over, in the office of the manager, Lou Piniella paced behind his desk, short on answers and long on problems.

The sound? There was no sound. Total silence.

At this very moment, it felt as if the Rays might never win another game, not after losing 2-1 to the Cincinnati Reds before 10,379 at Tropicana Field.

The loss gave the Reds a three-game sweep. It extended the Rays' longest losing streak of the season to seven. And it left the Rays clubhouse in this sorry state.

"This is kind of unbelievable," rightfielder Jason Tyner said. "If we score seven, we needed eight. If we score two, we needed three."

Right now the Rays are just good enough to lose. They lost their fourth one-run game of the streak, and their past five losses have been by a total of six runs.

Stack those number on this pile: The Rays have lost 10 of 11 and are 4-17 since May 20.

Taking it the hardest is Piniella, who hasn't seen this kind of losing in three years. You have to go back to August 2000 to find a Piniella-managed team that lost seven straight. He has had only three longer losing streaks during his managing career that has spanned 22,518 games.

Thursday's loss wasn't just another loss. It was an exercise in cruelty.

Rays starter Jeremi Gonzalez had another fine outing, allowing two runs on five hits over seven innings. He made one mistake, a homer to Austin Kearns that turned out to be the difference.

That's because, as Tyner alluded to, the baseball gods seem to working overtime against the Rays.

The other Reds run didn't even come on a hit. They stole home on a double steal. Meantime, the Rays were, oh, maybe six inches from tying the score. Trailing 2-1 in the eighth, Marlon Anderson drew a one-out walk. On a hit-and-run, Tyner hit a liner down the leftfield line that easily would have scored Anderson.

But the ball barely bounced into the stands in foul territory for a ground-rule double, and Anderson had to stop at third.

"If that ball stays in, we score a run and tie it," Piniella said.

The tying run remained 90 feet away. Crawford lined out, Rocco Baldelli was intentionally walked, and Huff flied out to right. It was the second time the Rays put runners on second and third and couldn't score. Of course, all that would've been forgotten if Tyner's double had just stayed in play.

"That's baseball," Tyner said. "You don't get breaks like that (when you're winning). That's just the way baseball is. If we're going good, that ball probably stays in."

It didn't matter that Gonzalez pitched well. Or that Baldelli made a great catch in center. Or that Anderson cut down a run at the plate on a nice play.

All that mattered was that Tyner's ball bounced in the stands and the Rays' victory disappeared with it. The Rays were just a bounce away.

"It's been that way for a while now," Piniella said.

Seven games to be exact.