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Rays are in it, then blow it, again

Albie Lopez pitches valiantly through pain, but the Tigers capitalize on poor relief work, blown chances to win 10-5.

By MARC TOPKIN

© St. Petersburg Times, published May 20, 2001

ST. PETERSBURG -- The way things are going, it shouldn't be too long before they can put a championship baseball team on the field at Tropicana Field.

Just as soon as the state champion Tampa Catholic and Seminole High teams can be scheduled for ceremonial appearances.

Meanwhile, the dome's home team stumbled to yet another loss Saturday, beaten 10-5 by Detroit before an announced 13,304.

As tough as it was for anybody who watched the Rays lose their fifth straight and the 31st of 42 games, they couldn't feel the pain of ace Albie Lopez, who battled gamely into the seventh inning but ended up with a frustrating loss.

Pitching through constant "stingers" from the groin strain that caused him to miss his last start, Lopez was forced to leave after trying to grab Bobby Higginson's hard bouncer with his bare hand.

Lopez's right thumb was swollen and bruised (but not broken), his groin was sore and his manager described him as beat up with ice all over his body.

But what hurt the most was in his heart.

"My pride, that hurts the worst," Lopez said. "All this wouldn't be so bad if I won the game or if the team won the game. That's what hurts the worst right now."

Having been beaten up by the Tigers on Friday and berated by McRae after the 18-2 debacle, the Rays were better Saturday. Good enough that McRae said he was "proud of the way they played, very proud," and good enough that they led after three innings and were tied after six, but not good enough to hold on to win.

"We've got to stay aggressive," Greg Vaughn said. "In all aspects of the game, we have to attack. All aspects. Whether it's at the plate, whether it's on the mound, whether it's on the bases, we have to attack. If you sit back, you see what's happened the last two days.

"As hitters, we can't give their pitchers too much credit. As pitchers, we can't give their hitters too much credit. We just have to go get them."

Vaughn's first-inning homer off the C-ring catwalk put Tampa Bay up 2-0, and the Rays added another in the third when Fred McGriff rapped the first of his three doubles (and the team's club record-tying seven overall) and Steve Cox doubled him home.

But the Tigers got one in the third, with help from second baseman Damian Rolls' throwing error, and four in the fourth, with the first of Damion Easley's two 379-foot home runs the big blow.

To their credit, the Rays battled back to tie the score at 5 in the fifth when Gerald Williams, McGriff and Vaughn belted consecutive doubles.

To their discredit, the Rays couldn't get any more.

They stranded Vaughn in the fifth, Cox grounding to the right side and Randy Winn striking out. They stranded Aubrey Huff after a leadoff double in the sixth, John Flaherty grounding to first, Andy Sheets and Rolls striking out. They stranded McGriff after a one-out double in the seventh, Vaughn flying to right and Cox grounding out.

"We had some opportunities and we didn't take advantage of them," Flaherty said. "We were 5-5 and had a chance to go ahead and it seems like when you're in a bad rut, momentum is a big thing. It seems like when we don't get the job done, the momentum goes to the other club and we're not able to stop that feeling, or that roll, and the next thing you know we're down by a few and we start pressing a little bit and the game changes."

That's exactly what happened. Lopez left after Higginson reached in the seventh, and Rusty Meacham gave up that run and two others by allowing a walk, a double by Deivi Cruz, and a two-run single to Juan Encarnacion. Ninth-inning homers by Dean Palmer and Easley off Doug Creek made it 10-5.

The Rays are on pace for a record-tying 120 losses, but McRae insisted there were reasons for optimism.

"I thought we played the game correctly today, I thought we were entertaining today and I thought before the game got away from us in the seventh that everyone at the game felt like we put on a good show," McRae said. "Basically, that's what we're here to do, entertain, and I thought we were very entertaining today.

"If we can entertain, I could be fairly happy with the performance because if we play like we played today every day, the wins and losses won't matter so much because we'll win our share of games."

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