Nomo almost Golden

RAYS 2, ATHLETICS 1: The starter's 199th win leaves him one shy of Japan's honored Golden Players Club.

By MARC TOPKIN
Published May 27, 2005

ST. PETERSBURG - The significance of Hideo Nomo's career combined 199th victory is far greater in Japan, where he is on the threshold of greatness with membership in the honorable Meikyukai awaiting after his next win.

But the Devil Rays found considerable meaning in what was his third victory for them as he proved he is still capable of a stellar outing, leading them to a 2-1 win over Oakland on Thursday that marked their first series sweep of the season.

"To me, this is the best game he's pitched this year," manager Lou Piniella said. "A solid 71/3 innings, he threw 105 pitches, he had good command, he hit his spots real well, he used his split-finger. Just a real good job of pitching."

Nomo wasn't the only one who did well before another intimate Tropicana Field gathering of 8,847.

Second baseman Nick Green and leftfielder Carl Crawford, who both made dazzling defensive plays, sparked the Rays offense with back-to-back two-out hits in the sixth, and Julio Lugo followed with another. Left-handed specialist Trever Miller got two huge outs when the A's rallied in the eighth, retiring Eric Chavez and Scott Hatteberg. And Danys Baez, while making it exciting with two outs in the ninth by hitting one batter, walking a second and going 2-and-0 on a third, eventually ended it for his sixth save.

"A good game all the way around," Piniella said. "The pitching coach is happy, the hitting coach is happy, the defensive coaches are happy and the manager is happy."

Because Nomo had been unsuccessful in his first six attempts at No. 199, there was speculation he might lose his spot in the rotation before he won again. But, with the usual 20-plus Japanese journalists chronicling every move, he was sharp throughout the game, striking out seven and walking only two and retiring 10 straight until Marco Scutaro led off the eighth with a homer.

"The key was locating his fastball," catcher Charles Johnson said. "They were off him; they couldn't quite time him very well. They were late on his fastball at times and out front on his split-finger. As a pitcher, that's a great combination."

"He was hitting his spots really well," Piniella said. "He got a lot of called strikes, which tells me he was throwing the ball where the hitters can't get at it too easy. He was really in command of that ballgame the whole way."

Perhaps the best evaluator was Oakland third baseman Chavez, who belittled Nomo after an April 9 loss, saying, "That was probably the worst stuff I've ever seen to be honest with you. The guy was throwing like 83-84. Come on. You'd think we could get 20 hits off a guy like that."

But Thursday, Chavez - who was 0-for-3 against Nomo and is 1-for-11 in his career - said Nomo was better: "He was pumping 89 to 81 with his heater, really mixing it up. This time I can understand why we didn't hit; the first time I didn't."

Nomo, as usual, didn't say much. He said the 199th win wasn't that big a deal, didn't talk about the significance of becoming the 16th pitcher in the Meikyukai (Golden Players Club), claimed he didn't do much different Thursday and said he really was just glad the Rays won.

He did, though, make one thing clear.

"It's not going to be over after I get my 200th win," Nomo said through an interpreter. "I want to keep pitching. I want to continue and keep going and hope that the team keeps winning."

Times staff writer Dawn Klemish contributed to this report.

[Last modified May 27, 2005, 00:40:18]