Off day or return of old Rays?

Poor pitching and lack of offense result in a 5-0 loss to the Rangers.

By MARC TOPKIN

© St. Petersburg Times, published June 18, 2000

ST. PETERSBURG -- Sometimes, you have to be thankful for little things. Like the FOX network's decision to beam Saturday's game to just 14 percent of the country.

For all the good the Devil Rays accomplished during their recent resurgence, very little was on display in the 5-0 loss to Texas. And anyone in Louisiana, Arkansas or points beyond who tuned in ended up watching what looked like a bad re-run from the first two months of the season.

The streak of strong starting pitching that carried them to a 10-5 record came to an end, with Cory Lidle failing to survive the fourth inning. The offense went flat, managing just three hits off unheralded Matt Perisho and two relievers. Heads-up play gave way to a bone-headed mistake, Felix Martinez forgetting the number of outs and running the Rays out of an inning. And to add to the pure entertainment value for the folks at home, there was even a ball bouncing off a catwalk.

"It wasn't a crisp game," catcher John Flaherty said. "We didn't make some of the plays we've been making lately. Maybe it looked a little worse than it actually was because we've been playing so well."

The storyline was actually rather simple and -- based on the lack of reaction from an announced Tropicana Field crowd of 22,813 -- apparently unexciting.

Lidle had some trouble keeping the ball down, and when he did the Rangers kept putting it into play, grabbing a 4-0 lead in the second. And the Rays could not catch up against Perisho, who kept them off-balance with an assortment of pitches, specifically a well-disguised changeup.

"We just didn't hit -- that was the main story," Bubba Trammell said. "It was just one of those days."

Perisho, 25, went six strong innings in his first start of the season and won for the first time as a starter in his 11th career attempt. It was an especially impressive performance for a guy who could not sleep all night in anticipation of the start, finally drifting off at 8:30 a.m. with a wakeup call coming an hour later.

"It was one of those days where everything he did was right, and when we did hit it we hit it right at somebody," Trammell said.

Even though they managed just two hits off Perisho -- singles by Bobby Smith and Flaherty -- the Rays had seven men on base in the first six innings yet could not get anyone home. Randy Winn flied out with two on and two out in the fifth, and Smith struck out in the same situation to end the sixth.

The only runner who got to third was Martinez, and that did not count. The young shortstop was on first with one out in the third when Jose Guillen hit a high pop-up to the right side. Martinez took off at full speed and rounded second and third before coach Billy Hatcher reminded him there had been only one out. The Rangers tossed the ball to first for an easy double play.

"I thought there were two outs," Martinez said. "I made a mistake. It happens sometimes."

The Rangers, who snapped a nine-game losing streak, did not need many mistakes from Lidle. They racked up four runs in the second on five singles, ball after ball bouncing safely through the infield. Ivan Rodriguez, who has 49 hits in his past 25 games against the Rays, had what amounted to the big blow, a two-run single.

"It's frustrating because I made good pitches, but the ball still found holes," Lidle said. "I've gotten those same ground balls in the past, but this time they wouldn't hit them at people."

Lidle left after 31/3, ending the Rays' AL-high streak at 19 games of having a starter go at least five innings.

Also gone was their three-game winning streak. But the recent run of success has them confident that one bad showing will not be the start of something bad.

"That's just the way it is sometimes," Steve Cox said. "It's just one of those things that happens, and happens often, and happens to the best teams."

"I think we should just say, "Hey, we won three games in a row, we won three series in a row. and you're going to lose some games,' " Trammell said. "That's part of baseball. We just need to come back out (today), jump on them early and win another series."

© St. Petersburg Times. All rights reserved.

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