 06/20/2002 9:37 pm ET
Sturtze: It's 'one of those years'
Right-hander upset with results
By Chris Shuttlesworth / MLB.com
|
|
SAN FRANCISCO -- After the Devil Rays' 10-2 pounding Thursday by the Giants, pitcher Tanyon Sturtze found himself saddled with some ugly notes to his 2002 biography.
An 0-8 record. An eight-game losing streak, tied for the longest in the Majors. Fifteen starts without a victory, tying the club record set by Dennis Springer in 1998. And unofficially, he's probably the unluckiest pitcher in the league.
Though Sturtze certainly wasn't gunning for a Cy Young Award on Thursday -- issuing 13 hits for the second time this season to tie the Tampa Bay record for a starter -- he was also the victim of abysmal defense.
The Devil Rays committed three official errors as well a couple of other shoddy defensive plays, and the Giants also stole three bases, matching their season.
"I think you give big-league teams extra outs, they make you pay," said Sturtze. "I don't think I battled at all today; I think I had good stuff today. I got ground balls when I needed ground balls. Things just didn't work out. Unfortunately, I'm the one that has to wear it."
Sturtze entered the game after his two best outings of the season, a pair of nine-inning performances that netted him absolutely nothing in the win column. In both games, his club rallied for extra-inning victories. He also came into Thursday's game with the second-worst run support in the AL, and other than Ben Grieve's first-inning two-run jack, he got little help offensively.
"It's just been one of those years where it seems like anything bad that's happened, it's happened on my days," he said. "And even when I throw some good games, no results come out of it. It's just one of those seasons, I guess. Hopefully, it ends pretty soon. Right now, it's been a little bit embarrassing for myself because I don't think I'm an 0-8 pitcher."
Manager Hal McRae agreed but also said Sturtze shared some of the blame for what he called "maybe the worst game we've played all year."
"He was up, but we didn't help him defensively," McRae said. "We didn't pick each other up today. We made errors, didn't make plays, and he pitched up. But if we make plays, we're off the field. But we have to pick each other up. Sometimes he has to make the pitch, and sometimes we have to make the play. Neither side complied today.
"No excuses. Either we haven't played well enough when he's pitched or he hasn't pitched well enough when we've played."
In the first inning, after Marvin Benard led off with a single and stole second, Reggie Sanders hit a ground ball that third baseman Aubrey Huff couldn't handle. It was ruled a hit, and Benard scored on the play.
In the next inning, with a runner on first and one out, pitcher Russ Ortiz (6-4) knocked a tailor-made double-play ball to first, but shortstop Chris Gomez dropped the throw. Benard doubled home a run and Rich Aurilia then drove in two with a single. During the inning, second baseman Brent Abernathy also dropped a popup, though it didn't cost any runs.
"That's the way the whole beginning of this year's been going for me," Sturtze said. "When you get off to this bad of a start at 0-8, you really can't look at [the] record. You're kind of beyond that now. I just try to go out there and keep the team in the game as long as I can. We gave away a lot of outs today, and after that, I didn't pick the guys up on making the pitch."
McRae agreed.
"He hasn't gotten any breaks, but then again, I would not call it bad luck. You sort of make your luck. ... Errors are going to be made, bad pitches are going to be made, and defenders have to make a play maybe on a bad pitch [where] the ball is struck well, and sometimes the pitcher has to make a good pitch down and get a routine ground ball or a popup. That's the way you win games."
Right now, Sturtze just wants the seemingly endless string of L's next to his name to end, and the pained expression on his face spoke volumes.
"There's no way that my win-loss record is going to be any good this year anyway," he said. "It's not like I'm going to end up 15-8 now; it's just not going to happen.
"I know it can't go all season, not winning a game. I don't know; maybe it can. Who knows? It's not like we go out and win a lot of ballgames anyway, so I guess I'm just one of the guys right now that doesn't have one."
McRae certainly feels for the 31-year-old righty, but he also has to look ahead to the weekend series in Colorado, where he may have a few more pitching egos to soothe. Indeed, Sturtze may have absorbed more damage than necessary Thursday as McRae tried to save his bullpen for the team's three-day adventure at Coors Field.
Jason Jimenez, pitching in front of scores of friends and family from his hometown of Modesto, which is near Sacramento in Northern California, allowed two homers in the three-run eighth. And Doug Creek, who hadn't pitched since Saturday, got 1 2/3 innings of work in preparation for pitching this weekend against some of the tough left-handed Colorado batters.
"We had been playing pretty well, but we didn't play well today," said McRae. "We played like we had been at sea for six months. And we need to regroup and play a good ballgame tomorrow."
BYE-BYE, BARRY:
The Devil Rays escaped town without giving up a homer to Barry Bonds, but the Giants helped that cause when Bonds took Thursday's day game off after a night game. The Giants do not have a day off before the All-Star Break.
"Yeah, afraid of our guys," joked McRae before the game, while also expressing concern that Bonds could come off the bench in a key situation and hurt them.
Though Bonds didn't leave any lasting impression on Tampa Bay, his son, Nikolai, did visit the Devil Rays clubhouse before the game to visit with Greg Vaughn's son, Cory.
Chris Shuttlesworth is an editorial producer for MLB.com and can be reached at sitecontent@giants.mlb.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
|
|
|
|
More Coverage
|
|
|
Related Links |
• Devil Rays/Giants highlights  56k | 300k |
|
|
|
| MLB Headlines | |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
News
