Struggles go from bad to worse for Rays in Texas

Add poor defense to the list of woes.

By MARC TOPKIN
Published April 11, 2007

ARLINGTON, Texas - The fireworks that celebrate a Rangers home run went off errantly or, technically, at least prematurely in the first inning. The howling wind blew so strong a couple of innings later that it knocked the cap off pitcher Jae Seo's head.

And then things got really ugly for the Devil Rays.

In their worst game of a season quickly going bad, the Rays made mistakes all over the field Tuesday in a 12-9 loss to the Rangers.

Manager Joe Maddon insisted there was "a lot of good stuff" in their fourth straight loss, but others saw it for what it was, and what it could become.

"It don't look good, I can tell you that," outfielder Carl Crawford said. "Hopefully, something will change in the near future."

Among the transgressions: three errors, three wild pitches and three homers allowed.

"There were a bunch of ugly things happening tonight," Crawford said.

They were bad on the mound, where Seo was obviously uncomfortable and out of sync, giving up 10 runs (five earned) in three innings, including three homers.

In the field, where second baseman B.J. Upton made two errors and rightfielder Delmon Young showed his rookieness, failing to hang on to a fly ball that he said "hit the palm of my glove and popped out" during Texas' seven-run third inning.

At the plate, where they were shut out in six innings by the staff of Jamey Wright, Scott Feldman, Ron Mahay and Bruce Chen. (They tacked on three too-late runs in the ninth, though Akinori Iwamura was able to extend his hitting streak to seven, as Young did.)

And even on the bases, where Crawford was caught stealing twice for the first time in 680 career big-league games.

Since the moment when Upton singled in Iwamura with the decisive run in Friday's home walkoff win, the Rays have lost four straight, giving up 34 runs, and dropped to the bottom of the AL East (2-5). That they've led in six of the seven games is of little consolation.

"It's just a rerun, you know what I'm saying?" Crawford said.

The Rays were down 3-0 after Seo (who has won once in 18 starts as a Ray) gave up a leadoff homer to Kenny Lofton and a two-run shot to Ian Kinsler, pitching in a wind so strong (18 mph, but gusting higher) that Maddon said it changed the complexion of the game.

They came back with a season-high five runs in their third, with Ty Wigginton's three-run homer the big shot.

But instead of holding the 5-3 lead, Seo gave it away, and Young helped, in a brutal inning - 10 batters, seven runs, four hits, two walks, an error and a wild pitch. Five of the runs scored after Young's error, which would have been the second out.

Though Maddon pointed to things such as Wigginton's good pregame batting practice and how hard Ben Zobrist is hitting the ball, he acknowledged one obvious problem on a staff that has a 7.35 ERA and has allowed a major-league-most 54 runs.

"You have to pitch to win," he said. "We have to get more consistent there."

Marc Topkin can be reached at topkin@sptimes.com or (727) 893-8801.

Rangers 12

Rays 9

[Last modified April 11, 2007, 06:36:09]