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Despite an impressive record, Meacham is sent to Durham

By JOHN ROMANO and MARC TOPKIN

© St. Petersburg Times, published April 1, 2001

LAKELAND -- Rusty Meacham was hoping to pitch effectively, look impressive and win a job this spring. He managed two of the three.

Meacham, 33, had the best spring of any Rays reliever, but still was reassigned to Triple-A Durham on Saturday.

"Some things in baseball are just not fair. That's the way the game is," Meacham said. "But I know one thing, I came in here and played hard. I can look myself in the mirror and say I gave it my best. I'm not tooting my own horn because I'm not that type of person, but I threw as good as you can throw. You can't throw any better."

Meacham had a 0.68 ERA in 131/3 innings and held opposing hitters to a .143 average.

"He came as close as you can to making the team," manager Larry Rothschild said.

Meacham's fate was sealed, however, when the Rays acquired Ariel Prieto and Mike Judd on Thursday. Neither pitcher could be sent to the minors without going through waivers. Meacham signed a minor-league contract in the off-season so he could be assigned to Durham without being subjected to waivers.

"I'm a non-roster invitee, so that made it tougher for me," Meacham said. "There's no doubt about it, the roster killed me."

KNUCKLE UNDER: Ben Grieve was not too impressed with his performance Saturday, despite hitting two home runs, a triple and a single in a 14-4 victory against the Tigers.

The game was called in the top of the ninth during a thunderstorm that eventually turned into a hailstorm.

The 12 total bases are the most by a Rays player in either a spring or regular-season game, but Grieve said the number is skewed because most of the damage was done against Detroit knuckleball pitcher Steve Sparks.

"Hitting a knuckleball pitcher whose ball isn't knuckling is almost like taking batting practice," Grieve said.

With Grieve leading the way, the Rays pounded out 25 hits against the Tigers. That is a club record for spring and better than any regular-season total.

DOWN AND OUT: He lives in nearby Lake Wales, so Pat Borders drove himself to Saturday's game. When the game was over and the buses were gone, Borders was alone in the clubhouse.

Entering his 20th season of pro ball, the Rays catcher was reassigned to Durham after the game. The news was not unexpected, but still unwelcome.

"It's never easy," Borders said. "I knew what was going on. I knew the situation. But it doesn't make it any less unpleasant."

The best hope for Borders, 37, was that the Rays trade either John Flaherty or Mike DiFelice. Despite a rash of injuries to starting catchers around the majors, the Rays held on to their two catchers.

Borders, a veteran of 12 big-league seasons, spent all of 2000 at Durham and said he will fulfill his contract there this year.

BULLISH ON DURHAM: Rays officials feel they made their team better with Saturday's roster moves. Based on the quality of the players they sent down, they made the Durham team better, too.

"There's a lot of teams in trouble in the International League today," outfielder Jason Tyner said.

Tyner, Aubrey Huff, Dan Wheeler and Travis Phelps were the latest talented prospects sent down.

Most of the players knew the cuts were coming, especially Huff, the talented third baseman whose only true chance to make the team was if Vinny Castilla was traded.

"I knew it was coming unless something drastic happened, so I was pretty much prepared for it," Huff said. "It happened a little bit later than I thought it would, but I woke up this morning and I said, "Well, today's probably the day.' "

Wheeler was switched from starter to reliever at the end of last season. While that cost him the chance to compete for the open spot in the rotation this spring, he thinks it improves his overall position in the organization.

"I'm going to go back to Durham as a starter and that's good because that means they believe I can do that, but that also keeps it in the back of their mind that I can start or relieve," Wheeler said. "I think that's very beneficial to me."

MINOR MOVES: Former major-league pitchers Bill Pulsipher and Paul Spoljaric, who were reassigned to minor-league camp earlier in the spring, have been released. Pulsipher signed a Triple-A deal with Boston. Former Ray Mike Duvall, who was released a week ago, signed a Triple-A contract with Minnesota.

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