Rays/MLB

Reeling Rays call Rocco to rescue

ANGELS 12, RAYS 2: After another poor game, Tampa Bay summons Baldelli from a rehab assignment.

By MARC TOPKIN
Published June 7, 2006

[Times photo: Bill Serne]

Orlando Cabrera slides home on Vladimir Guerrero's single during the Angels' two-run sixth inning, which gave them a 4-1 lead.

ST. PETERSBURG - After a bedeviling performance in an unspirited 12-2 loss to the Angels on Tuesday, the Devil Rays needed some help.

They may not have been able to get it from above - not on the demonic date of 6-6-6, anyway - so they had to look elsewhere for their own angel, deciding to bring Rocco Baldelli back from his rehab assignment and planning to put him in the lineup today.

"I'm pumped up and ready to go," Baldelli said Tuesday night from Rochester, N.Y., where the Triple-A Durham team had been playing. "I'm very happy to be back. ... I'm sure it will be a good time."

Baldelli has not played in a regular-season game since Oct. 3, 2004. He missed all of last season after knee and elbow surgeries and has been sidelined since late March with a left hamstring strain.

Baldelli was expected to stay with Durham until the weekend, but the combination of his solid performance - a .404 average (19-for-47) with five doubles and four RBIs in 12 games - and the Rays' offensive struggles made the time right for a change. Joey Gathright was optioned to Triple A.

"We talked about maybe 15-20 days, and it turned out to be 15 because he had been doing so well," manager Joe Maddon said.

Baldelli said he couldn't predict what it would feel like to play in a big-league game for the first time in more than 20 months: "I'll have to let you know when it happens."

Maddon said he would talk today with Baldelli before deciding exactly how to use him and whether to play him in his original centerfield position, or in rightfield, where he has been playing to reduce strain on his hamstring.

But the Rays (24-35) should be better offensively just by having him back, allowing Maddon to finally put the projected starting lineup on the field together.

"I think he's a high-end player, and I think he'll make a big difference in this group," Maddon said. "Presence matters also, and when you have your normal people there that definitely serves as a boost normally. ... Even if you're not playing up to your standards, sometimes being in the lineup does matter. So I definitely believe he's a presence and I think our guys will be boosted by it."

Maddon said he will handle Baldelli cautiously.

"There's got to be some mental barriers that he's probably going to have to chip away at, being away so long and having had some serious injuries," Maddon said. "So I'm sure he's going to have to deal with that in some way, but I'm sure he's going to be fine also."

Baldelli - who offers a combination of speed, power and ability - should be an immediate boost to an offense that has struggled.

Tuesday, the Rays, last in the majors in hitting, were held to two hits over the first seven innings by Angels starter Ervin Santana and five for the night. It was the 12th time in their last 17 games they scored less than five.

The Angels, meanwhile, racked up a season-high 17 hits.

Nine (and a season-high seven runs) came in 61/3 innings off Rays ace Scott Kazmir, who has not been nearly as effective in his last three outings - allowing 16 runs (14 earned) and 19 hits over 13 2/3 innings, including a two-inning stint Thursday due to a lengthy rain delay - as was in running his record to 7-2.

The other eight came off Travis Harper and Chad Harville, two veterans whose continued struggles could put their jobs in jeopardy as the Rays consider shuffling the pitching staff with Casey Fossum coming off the disabled list and rookie James Shields pitching well.

Kazmir and Maddon both said they were not concerned and there was nothing major wrong.

The common theme in Kazmir's last three outings has been his inability to find a rhythm and stay in it for the entire game, with the tell-tale sign usually being the extra time he takes between pitches.

"Whenever everything is going good, it's get the ball, get the sign and go everytime. It's not even waste any time out there," Kazmir said. "Whenever you just feel like you're out of it a little bit you want to think about it after the pitch and whatever went wrong and stuff like that.

"I need to get out of that. Just go out there and just go out thereand just keep trying to pound the zone and not get caught up in that."

[Last modified June 7, 2006, 07:59:02]