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Expos show how it could be worse

By MARC TOPKIN

© St. Petersburg Times,
published July 15, 2001

MONTREAL -- The Rays have not drawn as many fans as they'd like to home games, averaging an American League-low 15,307. But their problems aren't nearly as bad as those in Montreal.

The three-game Rays-Expos series drew a combined 14,625, and that isn't even within 1,500 of the worst in team history. There is considerable speculation the team will be moved out of Montreal, or, in the unlikely event of contraction, folded after this season.

Rays manager Hal McRae knows what it is like, having spent 11/4 seasons in Montreal as a coach with the Expos. And he says Tampa Bay's woes are not nearly as severe.

"As far as the city was concerned, it was a nice city and I enjoyed my time there, but it was kind of discouraging to go to the ballpark," McRae said. "It was not the fact that there were not many fans, but that nobody seemed to care. That's what was discouraging."

To McRae, a native Floridian and longtime Bradenton resident, that's the significant difference between the situations.

"It's a different environment (in Tampa Bay) because people don't come out, but they do care," McRae said. "We're just not putting a good enough product on the field. We're not winning enough games to get the fans excited. I don't think we can fault the fans or blame the fans for not showing up at the games.

"In (the Tampa Bay) community, people care. They like baseball. They like sports. They don't like a club that's losing twice as many as they're winning, but they like sports. I remember when they didn't show up for the Bucs, and they turned that thing around because they put a good product on the field and they won and everybody became interested and enthusiastic about the football team. The fans care; we just need to put a better product on the field."

CATCHING ON: John Flaherty has been playing better, so much so that he has worked back into the lineup on at least a 50-50 basis.

McRae decided in late May to make Mike DiFelice the regular catcher and use Flaherty, the starter for the previous three seasons, one or two times a week.

But with DiFelice hitting .200 and not playing particularly well behind the plate, McRae said Saturday he would use the two on a more equal basis. (And he appeared to mean it literally in the game, substituting DiFelice for Flaherty in the sixth inning as part of a double-switch.)

"Off the top of my head my thinking is for them to share it sort of equally, and maybe that will be better than a five-two kind of thing," McRae said. "But it's a tough one. They go back-and-forth."

FIELD OF DREAMS: Damian Rolls did well enough in his first outfield start to earn another, possibly today. "I liked it," said Rolls, an infielder his entire pro career. "I liked it a lot. After I got that first fly ball out of the way, it was fun."

RAYS BITS: Esteban Yan had a 1-2-3 inning in his first outing off the disabled list. ... Fred McGriff made Javier Vazquez the 306th pitcher he has homered against, matching Reggie Jackson for fifth most. ... Travis Phelps went into Saturday with the lowest opponents batting average (.171) of an AL rookie reliever. ... After a four-game skid, Jason Standridge (5-8, 4.67) has won two straight for Triple-A Durham.

Today: Rays at Braves, 1:05 p.m.

WHERE: Turner Field, Atlanta.

TV/RADIO: Ch. 10; 970 WFLA-AM, 760 WLCC-AM (Spanish).

RAYS VS. BRAVES

6/30/98 -- 2-7L at Trop

7/1/98 -- 5-6L at Trop

7/2/98 -- 0-6L at Trop

6/7/99 -- 5-9L at Atlanta

6/8/99 -- 2-11 Lat Atlanta

6/9/99 -- 3-4 L at Atlanta

7/16/00 -- 4-6Lat Trop

7/17/00 -- 8-6Wat Trop

7/18/00 -- 2-8Lat Trop

Today -at Atlanta

Monday -at Atlanta

Tuesday -- at Atlanta

The pitchers

ALBIE LOPEZ: Lopez (4-11, 5.61) snapped a 10-game losing streak in his last start, going seven innings to beat Florida, and should be strong with seven days between starts. Lopez has received the second-lowest run support in the league, 3.37 per nine innings.

ODALIS PEREZ: Perez (6-6, 4.48 ERA) missed the 2000 season after Tommy John surgery on his left elbow but has come back relatively strong. Unusual for a lefty, he has done better against right-handed batters (.282 average to .306). Perez beat the Rays in a 1999 start.

Outta leftfield

Second baseman Brent Abernathy will get a hero's welcome in Atlanta today. Abernathy was born and raised in Atlanta, and he'll have a personal cheering section of more than 50 for the game at Turner Field.

"There'll be lots of relatives, some friends, my girlfriend's family, lots of people from my high school," Abernathy said. "Since it's a day game, we're going to all have a little cookout at my grandparents' house. It's going to be kind of like a family reunion."

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