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The general manager says trades may not be possible, but "expect there to be some shuffling.''
By MARC TOPKIN
© St. Petersburg Times, published June 1, 2001
OAKLAND, Calif. -- Having been beaten badly again, having -- somehow -- reached another new low in their season of despair, the Rays glumly filed out of the visiting clubhouse after Thursday's 10-1 defeat saying they didn't know what, if anything, could be done.
Back in St. Petersburg, general manager Chuck LaMar said he was trying hard to come up with something, anything, that would help a team that completed its worst month in history at 7-20 and is on pace for 116 losses.
"We have never sat still and accepted the way we're playing, and we're sure as hell not going to start now," LaMar said.
"Expect there to be some shuffling. There may be some moves internally. It's too early to expect to be able to make trades from other clubs, but we're going to do everything we can."
Already exploring deals to unload some of the team's higher-paid position players, LaMar sounds most concerned with bolstering the battered starting pitching staff.
Neither LaMar nor manager Hal McRae would say what the possibilities were, but they may be strongly considering promoting left-hander Joe Kennedy from Triple A.
After a 61/3-inning no-decision on Wednesday, Kennedy is 2-0 with a 2.42 ERA in four starts for Durham. Coupled with his stellar seven starts with Double-A Orlando, he is 6-0 with a 0.99 ERA on the season and has 80 strikeouts in 73 innings overall.
Kennedy, of course, couldn't solve all the Rays' woes. Heck, Gibson, Koufax and Seaver might not be enough. But at this point any help -- or even any ray of hope -- would be welcomed.
On Wednesday, Albie Lopez gave up five runs in the first two innings, sending the Rays to a 15-2 defeat that was their worst road loss in team history.
Thursday, Paul Wilson did him even better. Or, more accurately, even worse. Wilson gave up eight runs in the first two innings -- five on home runs by Terrence Long and Jason Giambi, who drove in eight runs in the series, same as the Rays.
It was the major-league high 12th time (in 53 games) the Rays have given up 10 or more runs, and the 21st time they have scored two or fewer.
Wilson lasted two innings -- and needed 62 pitches to do so -- in what was the latest brutal start in his miserable season. His 8.43 ERA is the highest among qualifying AL pitchers, and his seven losses are the most in the league.
"I'm lost," Wilson said. "I'm struggling. I'm just trying to find something that works. I'm just not finding anything."
McRae, Wilson and pitching coach Bill Fischer had lengthy meetings after the game, but all McRae would say is that he plans to keep Wilson in the rotation. "There's no place to go," McRae said.
The Rays can't send Wilson to the minors because they would have to expose him to waivers and wouldn't want to lose him. "We're going to have to get him better," McRae said.
With the game essentially over so quickly, the last remaining item of interest for the Rays was Ben Grieve's streak of reaching base. But that ended at 37, halfway to Joe DiMaggio's record of 74, when McRae took Grieve out after his sixth-inning at-bat.
"It was a blowout situation," Grieve said. "I didn't really care. It was something that was nice, but ... if it was a hitting streak, I might have felt a little differently."
The 7-20 month was the worst in Rays history -- which is saying something -- exceeding their 8-19 record in May 2000 and 8-18 showing this April, but few in the clubhouse seemed to notice. "So far," Fred McGriff said, "it's been our worst year in Devil Rays history. It hasn't been very pretty."
McRae expected things to be better -- much better than the 11-28 showing since he took over, 15-38 overall.
"My thinking is that there's no reason to not play .500 baseball," McRae said. "To me, a team doesn't have to be the best team in the world to play .500 baseball. To play .500 baseball, you're admitting you've got some holes, that you're short here or short there. What we're admitting, when you look at our won-loss record, I can't describe."