Lou blows, then abuses, his top

RAYS 6, ORIOLES 5 (10): Win helps manager laugh about classic tirade in which his cap took most of the lumps.

	[AP photo]
	Lou Piniella gives his cap one of five kicks that eventually sent it into the dugout: "It was begging for it."
	[Times photo: Michael Rondou]
	Jeremi Gonzalez gets pumped after striking out Jay Gibbons to end the fifth inning.

ST. PETERSBURG - For five months this season, he kept his famed temper toward umpires under control. Okay, so he kicked a little dirt one night in Houston, but that was nothing compared to some of his rants of the past.

You remember: pulling bases out of the ground and seeing how far he could hurl them, tearing off his hat and flinging it like a Frisbee, going nose-to-nose with a man in blue while his face turned 18 shades of red.

So far this season, though, we've seen a tamer, more obedient Devil Rays manager Lou Piniella. We've all waited for the explosion, and it never came.

But if you had Aug. 13 in the pool, you won. At 4:43 p.m. Wednesday during the ninth inning of the Rays' 6-5, 10-inning victory against Baltimore, Piniella officially blew his first gasket of the season.

And it was classic Piniella.

While arguing with second-base umpire Jerry Layne, Piniella threw his hat twice and then kicked it. Not once. Not twice. FIVE times. His final boot brought back memories of Garo Yepremian as Piniella switched feet and gave a left-footed soccer-style kick that sent his dirty, mangled cap flying into the Rays dugout.

All the while most of the 9,022 in attendance chanted "Lou, Lou" and stomped their feet while Layne stood at second base with his arms folded.

"When he gets ejected, he gets his money's worth, doesn't he?" Rays leftfielder Carl Crawford said.

"I thought Lou was going to blow up," first baseman Travis Lee said.

"I liked it," pitcher Jeremi Gonzalez said.

Even Piniella had to smile after as he said, "I went out to argue and I, uh, went a little over."

The fireworks came in the ninth with the Rays clinging to a 5-4 lead and Baltimore's Luis Matos batting with a runner on first and no outs. Matos hit a rope to left-centerfield and the runner at first advanced to third while Matos headed for second. But Crawford cut the ball off in the gap and threw toward second as Matos scurried back to first.

Second baseman Marlon Anderson fired to first, and replays showed that Lee put the tag on Matos well before Matos reached the bag. But Layne called Matos safe.

Piniella charged out of the dugout.

"The guy was out by a pretty good ways and I told Jerry he was out of position and he didn't appreciate it," Piniella said.

So that's what got him ejected?

"That and a couple of expletives," Piniella said.

That's when Piniella went berserk. He slammed his hat down. Picked it up and tossed it. And then kicked it.

"The hat was just laying there," Piniella said. "It was begging for it."

He argued for a few seconds, walked away, then kicked his hat again. Then again. And again. This all lasted several minutes. In between he shouted at Layne.

"That was a really good one because he spread it out over time," Lee said. "Just when you thought he was done, he started up again. When you thought he was going to pick (his hat) up, he kicked it again. It was pretty impressive."

Lee said he thought his manager in Philadelphia, Larry Bowa, was good at arguing, but Wednesday he watched a master.

"Larry Bowa would go and be on the guy the whole time," Lee said. "Lou takes little breaks here and there and gets rejuvenated again."

Piniella looked a little sheepish after the game and said that he likes and respects Layne and that he felt bad that Layne was the object of his tirade.

"My players are into the ballgame and so is the manager and so are the coaches," Piniella said. "If that's what it takes, I'm going to go out and battle for them."

Meantime, the Rays did a little battling on their own. The Rays wrapped up a 7-3 homestand by winning their fourth game of the stand in their last at-bat. The Rays used homers from Aubrey Huff, Lee and Toby Hall to build a 5-1 lead before Baltimore tied it with three in the sixth and one in the ninth.

Lee delivered the winning hit when he doubled home Rocco Baldelli with one out in the 10th.

"A good day," Piniella said.

And certainly an entertaining one.