INDIANS 10, RAYS 0: When it seems it can't get worse, it does. Piniella is too disgusted to talk.
By MARC TOPKIN
Published May 17, 2004
CLEVELAND - The Devil Rays came to Cleveland for the weekend thinking they could turn their season around.
Instead, it turned for the worse.
A humiliating 10-0 loss Sunday capped an embarrassing three-game sweep, leaving the 10-26 Rays on a pace for 117 losses and wondering how much worse it could get.
"There seems to be no low point," Aubrey Huff said. "We've been saying that for two weeks straight. It's just been a nightmare."
Answers are nowhere to be found. The locker room is filled with vacant stares, rolling eyes, exasperated looks - and some pointed fingers. Manager Lou Piniella, who had been trying to smile through the recent follies, was too disgusted to talk about Sunday's effort. General manager Chuck LaMar may have no choice but to make significant changes to the roster, though he doesn't have many options. And one can only wonder if new part-owner Stuart Sternberg is regretting his purchase.
"I'm running out of adjectives to describe what the hell's going on around here; it's just straight ugly," infielder Geoff Blum said.
"How many times have we said this is the lowest point and we keep going lower? Hopefully in two weeks we can look back and say this was the lowest point and we turned things around. But I don't know how many floors are left on the elevator."
"Speechless," catcher Toby Hall said.
Hitting and pitching have been problems throughout the season; Sunday, their defense was a disaster.
Rookie Doug Waechter was locked in an impressive 0-0 duel with Indians ace C.C. Sabathia until everything changed in the fifth, an almost-comical series of mistakes giving the Indians at least seven outs and leading to six unearned runs.
"Debacle," Blum said. "I don't know to spell it, but that's how I describe it."
The problem started when Jose Cruz, a 2003 Gold Glove outfielder, had trouble reading and running down Alex Escobar's high fly to right, the ball dropping in for a leadoff triple. "I don't know if it was the wind or what, but something funny happened to that ball," Cruz said.
Waechter got one out and a ground ball to first that should have been the second, but Tino Martinez, who hadn't made an error all season, tried to catch Escobar going back to third and threw the ball away.
"I just forced the play trying to get the guy at third, and it cost us big time, and it snowballed from there. There's no excuse for that," Martinez said. "It's my fault, period."
Next, Rocco Baldelli came in hard for Ronnie Belliard's blooper behind second, called off Rey Sanchez, slid on his knees to make the catch ... and dropped the ball. "The wind carried it in, but it's a play that has to be made," Baldelli said.
Waechter walked the next two to load the bases. Travis Hafner got a second chance when his foul ball landed between leftfielder Damian Rolls and shortstop Julio Lugo, and he lashed a two-run double. Making it worse, Blum took Baldelli's throw with his back to third and didn't realize Victor Martinez was diving back to the base and could have been an easy out.
Piniella had seen enough, sending interim pitching coach Joe Coleman out to make a change. Jorge Sosa didn't provide any relief, reloading the bases with a walk. Rolls tried but failed to snare Ben Broussard's liner at the wall, and by then it was 6-0, and it was over.
"What did it feel like?" Rolls said. "It felt like something of a higher power took over the game to be honest with you."
Or, the way things are going, maybe it's a lower power.
