Veterans blindsided by Rays' collapse
Jays 5, Rays 3: "I didn't see this coming," Carl Crawford says of the dismal season.
By MARC TOPKIN
Published September 18, 2006
TORONTO - They've lost so many games in so many ways that at times it seems unbelievable.
The Devil Rays' latest folly came Sunday, a 5-3 loss to Toronto in which they blew three leads, to maintain their status as the team with the majors' worst record at 57-92 and continue their seemingly inevitable march to 100 losses.
Afterward, several said they couldn't believe a season that started under the promise of new ownership and management turned out to be so horrendously bad.
"I didn't see this coming," leftfielder Carl Crawford said. "This is a total shock. I know we went back young again, and that's going to be the excuse, but I just didn't see this coming. ...
"I didn't think that we'd have a year that was similar to last year. I thought those kind of years were behind us. And now it looks like we'll have a worse year than last year (67-95). I don't know how that happened."
The Rays have plenty of known deficiencies, but the two prime reasons for their record seem clear:
- They are horrid on the road, going a mind-boggling 2-28 (with three winless trips) since July 1 and a major-league road worst 19-56 overall, even odder compared with their 38-36 record at home.
- They fail repeatedly in late-game situations, having lost 54 times after they've been winning (12 more than any other team) and blown a major-league-high 88 leads.
"No team wants to be the worst team in the majors in any year," centerfielder Rocco Baldelli said. "It's a little hard to believe because I think we have a good team here. We haven't figured out how to win together, which is probably the most important thing.
"We will. We're an extremely young team right now and we really don't have one part of the team that can carry us. We have to play well on both sides of the ball. One day we swing it, one day we pitch it. We don't do them both in the same day."
Manager Joe Maddon remains focused on future improvement and insists the record will not define the season no matter how bad it is. But reliever Shawn Camp, part of two 100-loss teams in Kansas City, said there will be a stigma if they fail to win six of their final 13 games.
"People don't talk about teams with 99 losses, they talk about teams with 100 losses. It's that three-digit thing," he said. "It's very disappointing. You don't want to be known as a 100-loss team. It's not something we're trying to do. It's just like in certain situations in a game we just seem to play ourselves out of it."
Sunday, they blew leads of 1-0, 2-1 and 3-2, allowing the Jays to score in the same inning or the next each time.
And when the score was 3-3 in the eighth, they really blew it. After a Baldelli-to-Ben Zobrist-to-B.J. Upton relay nailed Adam Lind at third to provide a huge second out, Bengie Molina chipped a 1-and-2 Camp pitch into right for a single and Aaron Hill, who hit a walkoff homer Friday, knocked a 1-and-0 pitch over the leftfield fence.
As much as Maddon is trying to maintain a positive atmosphere, he too admitted to finding it hard to believe how things keep turning out incredibly bad.
"That part of it is really potentially surreal," he said. "I mean, to lose games like that. You get that relay throw to keep the game intact, and then it's a two-out jam shot base hit followed by Mr. Hill, who should be considered for the Toronto Hall of Fame by next year; they should not wait until he retires. And then it just blew up."
Even rookie sensation Delmon Young, who homered and singled to extend his hitting streak to 11 games, is finding the indoctrination difficult.
"I really don't like losing, period," Young said, "but it's a lot tougher to take it up here."
The new Rays regime is building for the future, trading several frontline veterans and using this season to evaluate young players, planning for gradual improvement and limited spending, with the possibility the payroll may be reduced next season and the team kept mostly intact.
Crawford said this season was among the toughest, and he can only hope executive vice president Andrew Friedman finds a way to make the team better next year.
"I don't know what they should actually do, but they should make it so we don't have to go through this kind of second half (a major-league worst 18-42) again," he said. "This was the year that I guess was the 'feel out' year. And now that that's out of way, you know, hopefully ... hopefully ... I don't think he likes sitting around watching this. I hope things are going to change. We'll see."
THEY SAID IT
carl crawford: I didn't see this coming. This is a total shock. I know we went back young again, and that's going to be the excuse, but I just didn't see this coming.
rocco baldelli: It's a little hard to believe because I think we have a good team here. We haven't figured out how to win together, which is probably the most important thing.