RED SOX 4-7, RAYS 0-3: After second straight shutout in opener, Tampa Bay starts nightcap well before giving it all back in demoralizing sweep.
By MARC TOPKIN
Published April 30, 2004
BOSTON - The Devil Rays can only hope the numbers lie.
As they filed out of the cramped Fenway Park clubhouse at the end of an extraordinarily long Thursday, having scored three runs in losing both ends of a doubleheader, they were trying, desperately, to believe they were not as bad offensively as they've showed.
"You would think there's only way one to go, and that's up," Aubrey Huff said. "It can't get any worse. ... We've got guys who've done it before. We've got speed, power, average. We're just not doing anything right."
The Rays lost the first game to Boston 4-0, extending to 19 innings their latest scoreless streak, their confidence dropping as low as their batting averages and their frustration mounting.
When they scored two in the first inning of the nightcap, it looked to be exactly what they needed to snap the teamwide slump - at least until Damian Moss walked to the mound.
By the time Moss was done, seven of the eight batters he faced getting on and scoring in what likely was the final appearance of his brief Devil Rays career, the lead was gone and so was any hope of putting a positive ending on a brutal 2-7 road trip.
The Rays lost the night game 7-3, and the sounds of silence in the clubhouse were appropriate since the lack of offense is the biggest problem. The Rays are the lowest-scoring team in the league, averaging 3.5 runs, and haven't been consistent at that level, scoring three or fewer an amazing 12 times in their 20 games.
"I thought we'd be better than this," manager Lou Piniella said.
There are plenty of reasons for their struggles, from an erratic schedule to tough pitching to the medically related absence of hitting coach Lee Elia.
But for whatever reason, a lot of them aren't hitting. Jose Cruz extended his career-worst hitless streak to 0-for-33, second longest in team history to Greg Vaughn. Huff went 0-for-8 in the two games, left seven men on base and dropped his average to .189. Rocco Baldelli also was 0-for-the-day, dropping his average to .230.
"It just seems like we're in panic mode," Robert Fick said. "You can't blame one guy; we're a team and everyone's guilty of it. We're just not doing the little things, not getting the leadoff man on base, not getting them in when they get in scoring position. ...
"The talent's there, I just think mentally we're not right, not where we need to be. Lou gets p----- and you know that he wants to win, but we better start stepping it up or it's going to be a miserable season."
The night game was frustrating because the Rays scored first (even if they were unearned runs) against Derek Lowe, who had no-hit them two years and two days earlier. But after Moss gave it back in a woeful performance (walk, single, single, single, three-run homer, single, strikeout, double) that could lead to his quick departure, they couldn't do much else.
How bad was it? They had the leadoff man on in the third and fourth, then men on second and third with no outs in the fifth and first and second with no outs in the seventh, and they got one run.
About the only positive was an outstanding relief performance by John Halama, his second of the day. After throwing 16 pitches to five batters in the opener, Halama came back with 51/3 scoreless innings in the night game, throwing another 62 pitches. Pretty good for a guy who said he'd never pitched on back-to-back days, much less twice in one day.
The first game was even worse because Victor Zambrano pitched well, striking out a career-high 10, including slugger Manny Ramirez three times, in six innings while holding the Sox to three runs on five hits.
"He pitched well enough to win, that's for sure," catcher Brook Fordyce said. "It's frustrating to waste an outing like that."
What made it more frustrating was that of the 113 pitches Zambrano threw, only one really hurt: a 3-and-0 fastball that David Ortiz knocked into the centerfield seats with one on and two outs in the fifth, putting Boston up 2-0.
"To me, that's amazing," Fordyce said. "That 3-0 pitch? Victor never throws the ball straight. He never throws it straight. That one happened to be."
The way the Rays were hitting - or actually, the way they were not hitting - the 2-0 lead was plenty. As if facing Byung-Hyun Kim, who throws submarine style (releasing the ball below waist level), wasn't tough enough for the first five innings, the Sox brought in knuckleballer Tim Wakefield for two and hard-throwing Mike Timlin and Alan Embree to finish.
"Horrible," Cruz said. "It was definitely trying."
The road trip was bad enough, the Rays losing twice on the final pitch and a third time when they led in the seventh. They'd like to at least think going home, albeit for three days, might help.
"We thought going on the road would help," Huff said. "You can only say it's early so many times, that you need a change of scenery so many times, before you've got to start doing it."
