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By MARC TOPKIN
© St. Petersburg Times, published April 30, 2001
DETROIT -- Fred McGriff reclaimed the major-league record of homering in the most stadiums when he made Comerica Park No. 38 on his list Sunday.
The fourth-inning blast put McGriff one ahead of injured St. Louis slugger Mark McGwire, but McGriff doesn't expect to hold on to the odd distinction too long.
"They have more new parks in the National League (Milwaukee and Pittsburgh), so he's got me," McGriff said. "He'll be back sooner or later."
McGriff and McGwire have gone back and forth as the leader over the years, and McGriff is never quite sure what to make of the record.
"It's just something when you're through playing you look back on," he said.
Just hitting a home run in spacious Comerica Park is an accomplishment, McGriff said. "That's the last thing that comes to my mind in this ballpark. The place is unbelievable. It's very big."
POWER OUTAGE: According to Greg Vaughn, a major portion of the Rays' offensive struggles are because of Greg Vaughn.
"I'm a big part of this and I haven't been doing what I get paid to do," Vaughn said. "Pitchers are doing what they're supposed to be doing, guys are getting in (scoring) position like they're supposed to be doing, but I'm not doing what I'm supposed to be doing. ... I'm killing us. I've got to get something going."
Vaughn is hitting .228 overall, and though he leads the team with five homers and 12 RBI, he also has struck out an American League-high 34 times.
PITCHING OUT: Manager Hal McRae made it official that the Rays will take advantage of several off days to skip the No. 5 spot in the rotation the next two times. Mike Judd will go into the bullpen, and the Rays won't need a fifth starter until May 13 in Cleveland.
NUMBERS GAME: With singles in his first two at-bats, Gerald Williams reached base in seven straight plate appearances. He also stole his eighth base in eight chances. ... Russ Johnson's hitting streak ended at 11 games and Vinny Castilla's was stopped at six. ... Albie Lopez had gone 36 innings without allowed a homer until Dean Palmer went deep in the first. ... This was the Rays' only visit to Detroit this season.
Fred McGriff on Sunday made Comerica Park the 38th major-league stadium in which he has homered. Here are his top 10 targets:
No. Stadium
58 Atlanta-Fulton County
51 Qualcomm (S.D.)
42 Tropicana Field
32 SkyDome
29 Exhibition (Toronto)
19 Riverfront (Cin.)
14 Kingdome
13 Yankee
11 Astrodome
10 Shea (N.Y.)