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Ace Albie Lopez, frustrated by the strike zone, has his worst performance of the season in a 6-1 loss.
By MARC TOPKIN
© St. Petersburg Times, published April 30, 2001
DETROIT -- As they packed to leave Comerica Park on Sunday, Albie Lopez still was looking for the strike zone, Hal McRae still was searching for a lineup that worked and the Rays still were seeking that elusive hot streak that would turn this season around.
Instead, they headed to Baltimore with only the frustration of their latest setback, a 6-1 loss to the Tigers that dropped them to 8-17, matching Oakland for the worst in the majors.
Lopez is their ace, the kind of dominating pitcher who lifts their spirits and their level of play just by walking to the mound.
But Sunday, Lopez was, well, just normal, and the Rays didn't help him, scoring two or fewer runs for the 12th time in 25 games and making their seemingly daily dose of small mistakes.
Obviously the 2-and-2, two-out fastball Lopez left over the plate and Dean Palmer hit over the centerfield fence was an error, as was the 0-and-2 pitch that rookie Brandon Inge rapped for a two-run double in the fourth. "I felt like I made two bad pitches all day, and they cost me," Lopez said.
But his bigger battle was with home plate umpire Charlie Reliford. Having been reviewed by the new Major League Baseball computer system during a recent series in Boston, the umpiring crew apparently was making it a point to interpret the strike zone as it was redefined in spring training: High pitches are strikes and wide ones are not. Reliford seemed to take the order literally, denying Lopez the kind of pitches just on and just off the corner with which he makes his living.
"I was just wondering where the strike zone was at," Lopez said. "It could have been different. A lot of the pitches the Tigers were laying off, he wasn't calling strikes, so they weren't even bothering to take a look at them. Basically, they were looking for their pitch all day."
Lopez was left with two unappealing choices: keep trying the outside corner -- "That's all I needed," Lopez said, "I wasn't asking for anything else" -- or start coming inside, knowing the Tigers were waiting for him to do so.
"I stayed with my game plan even though he wasn't calling strikes where I needed him to. I had to keep going there," Lopez said. "I wasn't going to give in; it could have been a lot worse than it was."
Lopez allowed a season-high 10 hits and four walks and, for the first time in 30 Tampa Bay starts, he didn't record a strikeout, and as much as the Rays are struggling for runs, it was bad enough.
"Today," McRae said, "was more of an offensive failure than a pitching failure."
McRae changed the lineup again, moving Ben Grieve to the third spot to make better use of his team-high 16 walks and dropping Fred McGriff to fifth, with right-hander Greg Vaughn in the middle of the two left-handers.
"I'm trying to find something," he said.
Even though they produced just one run, on McGriff's leadoff homer in the fourth, McRae was somewhat encouraged because the Rays had men on base in eight of the nine innings. They also had a chance to get back in the game when, down 3-0, they loaded the bases in the third but saw Vaughn, hitting .207 with men in scoring position, ground into a force play.
"I'm going to stay with this," McRae said. "I like the look of this. Not to say it's going to work, but I like the look of it."
McGriff, who McRae said had his best swings of the season, said he wasn't sure what would work. "If I knew, I'd be a genius or something," he said. "We've got to get everything going. We've got to get pitching and hitting all at the same time. I don't have any answers."
They also have to stop making mistakes. McGriff's error extended their major-league leading total to 31, and Grieve's baserunning blunder quashed a potential first-inning rally.
With Gerald Williams on second and one out, Grieve hit a grounder up the middle. Williams broke for third and ended up in a rundown. Grieve hesitated as he turned first and was caught between the bases when Williams was tagged out, then was thrown out diving back to first by pitcher Jeff Weaver, who was tough on the Rays all day.
"Either you go or you stay," Grieve said. "I was dumb and stood in the middle."