RED SOX 11, RAYS 4: Two teams headed in opposite directions end a series in fitting fashion.
By MARC TOPKIN
Published September 17, 2004
BOSTON - With Curt Schilling's 20th win to celebrate, the Red Sox left after Thursday's game for a train ride to New York and the first of back-to-back weekend showdown series with the Yankees that will determine who finishes first in the AL East.
The Devil Rays aren't going anywhere nearly as exciting.
With the 11-4 defeat to dwell on, the Rays jetted to Toronto and the first of back-to-back weekend showdown series with the Blue Jays that will determine who finishes last in the AL East.
"It's not exactly like the Yankees and Red Sox playing each other, but if we can, we'd like to stay out of the cellar," Rays manager Lou Piniella said.
The Rays (62-82) are three games ahead of the last-place Jays (60-86), but will need better efforts than they showed Thursday to stay there.
Mark Hendrickson pitched his way out of the rotation, losing for the seventh straight and 15th overall.
An unsuccessful parade of young relievers led Piniella to label the bullpen "almost like a tryout camp."
And veteran Jose Cruz earned a talking-to from the manager after meekly giving himself up on a fifth-inning play at the plate when the score was 3-0.
After posting a 6-3 record and 2.80 ERA over June and July, Hendrickson has struggled mightily, going 0-7, 8.93 in his last eight starts. Thursday, he gave up three runs in the first and put the first two men on in the sixth, though he did retire 9-of-10 in between.
"He's been in a rut," Piniella said. "He hasn't won in how long - I can't remember. I think we're just going to put him in the bullpen the rest of the year and give someone else an opportunity."
Hendrickson, though, said he has been pitching better recently than the results indicate and deserved to stay in the rotation. "I don't think that's a question," Hendrickson said. "If that's the case, I respect his decision. I'm not going to like it. But he's the manager and whatever he decides he's going to do."
The score was 4-1 when Hendrickson left with two on in the sixth, and by the time Chad Gaudin, Bobby Seay and John Webb worked through the eighth, the Sox had scored seven more, five on two homers allowed by Webb. On Wednesday, Franklin Nunez, Seay and Gaudin failed in key situations.
"We've got a plethora of kids here," Piniella said. "It's almost like a tryout camp in September. Sometimes you're going to get good performances, sometimes you're going to get bad ones. The ones that pitch a little better will get the ball again and the other guys can sit out there and get some meal money the rest of the month."
The play that was representative of the night occurred with Cruz at third in the fifth. He broke for home when Jorge Cantu grounded to third, but simply stopped when the Sox threw home and let catcher Jason Varitek tag him.
"I was out by 10 yards," Cruz said. "He's straddling the plate full of gear. What am I going to do?"
"I talked to him about that," Piniella said. "Run into the catcher. Get into a rundown. Try to get an interference call. Make them flub the play. Anything but just stop and ... you know? We didn't come here to play tiddlywinks."
