Not much to it; it's just another loss

PIRATES 7, RAYS 2: Tampa Bay falls behind quickly and loses its sixth straight to fall to 1-9 on its grisly road trip.

By MARC TOPKIN
Published June 11, 2005

PITTSBURGH - There were not dramatic lead changes, history-making stumbles or record home run barrages.

Friday, the Devil Rays just lost.

The score was 7-2. The opponent was the Pirates. The setting was picturesque PNC Park on the banks of the Allegheny River.

But it's not like any of the details matter.

They've lost six straight, 11 of their past 12 and 41 of 61 overall. They're one Kansas City win away from having the worst record in the major leagues. And they're on pace for 109 losses, which would make them the worst team in franchise history, which is quite an achievement.

They'll try wearing their green batting practice tops in a game for the first time tonight, but outside of that type of tactic there doesn't seem to be anything anybody can do about it.

"All I can say is, "Wow,' " veteran catcher Toby Hall said. "Nobody enjoys this, but this is what is brought to us right now. Everybody is giving their best out there, and all you can control is the controllable by going out there and grinding and playing as hard as you can. I'll be honest with you; if I saw that we weren't, I would tell you guys it was not that way.

"We're playing hard, we're diving after balls, if we weren't doing that stuff and being lazy out there and weren't giving our best, then it would be even more miserable. Right now, to tell you the truth, we're doing as best as these 25 guys can do.

"I can't explain it, I really can't. It's not that I'm numb to it, you just can't explain it. If we weren't giving our best, then it would be easier to explain."

Manager Lou Piniella has tried mixing and matching, but nothing seems to work. It's bad enough when the Rays are overmatched against AL East heavyweights Baltimore, Boston and New York, but they're 5-11 in a 21-game stretch against sub-.500 teams and are 1-9 on a road trip to Oakland, Seattle, Cincinnati and Pittsburgh, facing four teams they should have been able to beat more.

"When you look at it from a wins and loss standpoint, it hasn't been good," Piniella said. "You all know that as well as I do. It hasn't been good. No. No, it hasn't been good. Hasn't been good. No."

Hideo Nomo made his third attempt for the 200th combined win of his career, and he was in trouble from the start. He walked the first batter and hit the second, and both scored. He gave up three more runs in the fifth, and though he allowed only four hits over six innings, it was too many.

The good news for Nomo, and the 50 or so Japanese journalists who have been following him, and the NHK network that has been showing his games live in Japan, was that Piniella said he will keep pitching despite a 3-6 record, 6.69 ERA and 78 hits and 40 walks in 70 innings.

"We're going to give him every chance to win his 200th game," Piniella said. "I'm going to leave him in the rotation. Let's hope he gets it soon. I'm going to give him every opportunity. And I think he'll get it here pretty quickly."

The best illustration Friday of how badly things are going for the Rays might be this:

When Jorge Cantu crushed a ball to center with one on in the fourth, Pirates centerfielder Tike Redman made a spectacular leaping catch against the wall to rob him of extra bases.

When Jason Bay hit a similar ball in the fifth with two on, Rays centerfielder Damon Hollins lost it in the twilight clouds and it fell for a two-run triple.

"That was the twilight zone," Hollins said. "That's just our luck right now."

[Last modified June 11, 2005, 00:26:12]