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Alvarez comes up way shortBy Roger Mills © St. Petersburg Times, published April 1, 1998 The Tampa Bay Devil Rays ace had just been rocked. Slammed. Hammered for six runs. His team was down, he had surrendered nine hits, and it was only the third inning. Not what you expect from your average $35-million starter. Wade felt for him. "I just wanted to let him know that all pitchers go through those kind of days," Wade said. "You feel like you can't get anybody out and then you start trying to press. Baseball is a team sport. You never want to point the finger at any one person." But Alvarez, and the 45,369 in attendance, likely won't take that advice. "I dreamed about this for 12 years, and I feel like I failed, I let the team down and the fans," he said. "I made some good pitches and made some mistakes, and they hit me. It was the Tigers' day tonight." It was indeed. The Tigers, who had two days of batting practice in Tropicana Field, seemed more at home at the plate. They had 18 hits in an 11-6 win and did most of their damage against the Rays' best. The nightmare in Alvarez's first Opening Day start began in the second inning when he gave up consecutive hits to Tony Clark, Damon Easley and Luis Gonzalez, and the deluge began. "It was that second inning when he got off on a bad note," pitching coach Rick Williams said. "He made a great 0-2 pitch to Clark, and he flared it to right. Then he throws a changeup about 4 or 5 inches off the plate to Easley, who breaks his bat and hits a little squibble to rightfield. Those were critical." Joe Randa and Joe Oliver followed with two-run hits, and the Rays were down 4-0. "Then things seemed to snowball from there," Williams said. "That comes with the frustration of wanting something so badly, which he did." Alvarez struggled again in the third. He lost control of his changeup and had problems keeping the ball down. With two on, Randa and Oliver drove in two more runs, prompting manager Larry Rothschild to turn to the bullpen. "He threw some balls up, and there were some changeups that were left up that were hit decently," Williams said. "His breaking ball probably was not as good as it had been; perhaps the adrenalin had something to do with that. I'm sure it was a factor." Added Rothschild: "He had a good fastball. His location in the strike zone wasn't as good as I have seen. He made some good pitches, gave up some hits that were beyond his control." Reliever Dan Carlson, who replaced Alvarez, did not mow them down, either. In 22/3 innings he gave up five runs on five hits, including Gonzalez's two-run homer. "They are major-league hitters, and they were able to get the hits," Carlson said. "That's why we needed to stop the bleeding. A few bloop hits and then there's a three-run homer. Once the ball leaves your hand, there is nothing you can do about it." Catcher John Flaherty said Alvarez's problems were bad luck and bad execution. "I think it was a combination of both," Flaherty said. "I think he was a little bit more excited than he was in the past. But that's part of Opening Day. He got some balls up in the strike zone they didn't hit all that hard, but they did what they had to do to get runners on base and got some timely hits." Added Alvarez: "I'm glad it's over. I have to forget about it and get ready for the next time. I know a lot of people in the stands expect better games than this."
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T. PETERSBURG -- Reliever Terrell Wade was the first to meet Wilson Alvarez at the edge of the dugout. The meeting came far sooner than expected.
