No words for loss

By DAMIAN CRISTODERO
Published May 30, 2005

ST. PETERSBURG - Trever Miller sat in front of his locker in the Devil Rays clubhouse, eyes forward, face unflinching.

The reliever leaned forward on his elbows when he spoke as frustration, anger and disappointment all came out at once.

"No excuses," Miller said. "It was horrible."

The Rays know losing. But the debacle that was Sunday's 10-9 loss to the Mariners at Tropicana Field touched a nerve.

Tampa Bay led 8-4 after five innings, 8-5 after seven. But the bullpen imploded, allowing four runs in the eighth, all charged to Travis Harper, and Seth McClung gave up Jeremy Reed's two-out double in the ninth that snapped a 9-9 tie.

The meltdown voided a rare errorless game for Tampa Bay and left as window dressing Jorge Cantu's two-run home run - his team-leading sixth - his three hits and three RBIs, and two hits each by Carl Crawford and Nick Green.

"It's frustrating," Harper said, "to say the least."

The Rays finished the six-game homestand against Oakland and Seattle at 4-2. Not bad, in sum. But considering they could have matched a franchise best for wins in a homestand with two or more teams and were looking for a boost heading into a 12-game road trip, the disappointment was crushing.

Manager Lou Piniella had no comment and kept the door to his office closed. Miller picked up the slack.

"They're all tough to take," he said. "Do you think we're playing here just to come out here and entertain fans and put people in the seats and don't think it means anything to us? I'm tired of losing, especially when I'm the cause of it."

Miller wasn't the only culprit.

Starter Doug Waechter allowed five runs on nine hits in 61/3 innings and allowed back-to-back home runs by Bret Boone and Reed that gave Seattle a 2-0 second-inning lead.

And Harper, who was handed a three-run lead in the eighth, could not get an out, allowed three consecutive singles and a walk that made the score 8-6 and left with the bases loaded. Miller entered and had Reed 0-and-2 before allowing a two-run single that made it 8-8.

Closer Danys Baez stopped the bleeding. He allowed Dave Hansen's sacrifice fly, which gave the Mariners a 9-8 lead. But he got Ichiro Suzuki to foul out deep to the sprinting Crawford in leftfield, and Randy Winn flied out to Crawford to end the inning.

The Rays got help in the eighth from Seattle's bullpen. Jeff Nelson walked Damon Hollins and Charles Johnson and Ron Villone wild-pitched them to second and third. Julio Lugo's pinch-hit sacrifice fly off Villone tied the score at 9.

But with runners on first and second and two outs in the ninth, Reed doubled off McClung for his third hit and career-high fourth RBI.

"Didn't throw the ball well. Wasn't sharp. Wasn't able to get it down," Harper said. "I wasn't able to get it done late in the game. Very frustrating. Just a win that was well within our grasp."

"The offense put us in a position to win," said McClung, who walked two in the ninth, one intentionally. "We just couldn't get the job done today."

Miller was asked for reasons.

"Poor execution," he said. "That's it. Two words, right there."

[Last modified May 30, 2005, 01:49:55]