Quick Ending, But Not Painless

By MIKE HENRY

The Rays' elimination from the American League post-season chase has been swift, but it hasn't been easy to stomach -- for management, fans or (we hope) the players.

Of course, when your bullpen loses 10 games in a 30-game stretch, no amount of hand-wringing will make a difference. The standings say the Rays' magic number for elimination is 16 games, but their season effectively ended last week when they lost five of six against the Red Sox and Tigers.

That first loss Friday against the Tigers was a pip. Detroit reliever Fernando Rodney, showing why he probably can't be trusted to close in a playoff series against the Yankees or Angels, nearly blew a 4-1 lead before getting the final out.

Rodney then heaved the game ball high above home plate and into the press box, where it rattled the cages of a couple of reporters already diligently making up their game stories. The hilarious (but almost injurious) spectacle drew a fine and suspension.

On Sunday, Brandon Inge took aim at the fans in left field with his ninth-inning, game-winning grand slam off Russ Springer, one of several Rays relievers being used fruitlessly by manager Joe Maddon.

The state of the Rays' bullpen was a joke before Nick Swisher ended the Yankees' 3-2 victory Tuesday with a homer off Dan Wheeler. Still, everyone has known for weeks Tampa Bay lacked a bona fide closer, best efforts from J.P. Howell to the contrary.

But the tattered bullpen isn't all that has gone wrong for the Rays, even before first baseman Carlos Pena had his season ended when a C.C. Sabathia pitch broke two fingers.

Last season, the Rays advanced to the postseason on the strength of a 29-18 record in one-run games. They're 17-22 this year. Center fielder B.J. Upton is on the verge of becoming more disappointment than tantalizing youngster, with a .237 average and almost three times as many strikeouts as walks.

Pat Burrell brought his World Series ring in the offseason, but he's been no help. He looks old, slow and vulnerable at the plate. And strangely, Matt Garza and James Shields -- two pitchers almost every team in the majors would love to have -- have usually pitched just well enough to lose. Somehow, they are a combined 16-19 despite a composite earned run average under 4.00.

And, while it might be hearsay to nitpick third baseman Evan Longoria, remember when he seemed a shoo-in to drive in 140 runs?

The most uncomfortable thing about the Rays collapse is the notion they cannot compete financially against teams such as the Yankees and Angels (I don't care what anyone says, the Red Sox look old to me). Baseball officials think we don't notice, just like crooked politicians.

Apologists for the modern version of the grand old game want us to forget the Yankees and Red Sox have won six of the past 13 World Series (a total that could be eight, if not for upsets by the Diamondbacks and Marlins).

That's why in these parts, Rays fans have already moved on to football with little of the angst of established baseball havens.

It's why the NFL and college football have already pushed baseball off the front page of the sports section, and why a Yankees victory is accepted in many quarters outside the Big Apple with a shrug of the shoulders.

I mean, even if the Dodgers beat the Yankees, their best player is a cheater. Some game.

USF Football Needs to Get People Talking

By MIKE HENRY




You haven't heard Florida receive much criticism for its patsy non-conference football schedule. The Southeastern Conference is the best in the nation, so the Gators get a pass from the national media for playing Charleston Southern, Troy and Florida International.




A 62-3 victory in Gainesville against Charleston Southern served as nothing more than a glorified exhibition, but it got people talking because of the Gators' No. 1 ranking.




On the other hand, South Florida benefits not a whit from defeating Wofford 40-7 Saturday night in front of 40,000 at Raymond James Stadium (there is speculation that by December, that might be a good turnout for the Bucs).



Despite rising as high as No. 2 in the nation two years ago, the Bulls are barely a blip on the national radar screen. And as a member of the Big East -- which this season, more than any, seems to be counting the days until basketball season -- USF can't afford to play too many Woffords if the goal is raising its profile outside the Tampa Bay area.



USF's next two games won't help. The Bulls play at Western Kentucky on Saturday and face Charleston Southern (which will be sick of the state of Florida by then) on Sept. 19.



But after that, coach Jim Leavitt's charges get down to business. In addition to their Big East schedule, the Bulls travel to Florida State on Sept. 26 and play host to Miami (the Hurricanes, not the RedHawks) on Nov. 28.


The Miami game is the start of a home-and-home series that has the Bulls playing host to the Hurricanes again in 2011 and '13. USF plays at Florida next season, travels to Notre Dame in 2011 and entertains Florida State in 2012.

For a program that started in 1997, the Bulls have made huge strides. A dozen years ago, it was almost hearsay to suggest anyone else could recruit successfully in a state dominated by the "Big Three."

But when the Bulls were knocked from their No. 2 perch two seasons ago by Rutgers, much of the nation viewed USF's meteoric rise as a fluke.

USF is still looking for its first Big East title, but two seniors much of the nation have never heard of make it a distinct possibility.

Quarterback Matt Grothe, a mere 6-footer, has exceeded expectations the past three seasons and is on the verge of eclipsing former West Virginia star Pat White as the conference's total-yardage leader (Grothe has 10,428 yards, 101 behind White).

Defensive end George Selvie, hampered by injuries last season, is one of the nation's top sack specialists and could be a first-round draft pick next spring.

Grothe and Selvie have emerged as the faces of a program that has no qualms about seeing where it stands among the nation's elite.
Keep an eye on the Bulls' game Oct. 24 at Pittsburgh. In the parity-plagued Big East, that could be the first step toward an elusive conference championship for USF and the notice that comes from playing in a Bowl Championship Series game.

Bucs Keep a Lid on Thinking

By MIKE HENRY






Anyone expecting a direct answer from Buccaneers head coach Raheem Morris on the firing of offensive coordinator Jeff Jagodzinski hasn't spent much time around the NFL.






Tampa Bay's passing offense has been next to abysmal during the preseason, with quarterbacks Byron Leftwich and Luke McCown performing their best Alphonse and Gaston act during the first three games wrestling for the starting job.





It's been bad enough to kindle memories of the Vinny Testaverde era. Entering Friday's game against Houston, the Bucs were averaging 154.7 passing yards a game, with a league-worst 4.7 per passing attempt.





Did that ineptitude lead to the dismissal of former Boston College coach Jagodzinski, who reportedly had moved into a new Tampa home with his wife and will be paid for the duration of his two-year contract? Or was the situation related more to a clash of personalities?





Morris, who collaborated with general manager Mark Dominik on the decision, did a lot of talking during an awkward press conference Thursday without revealing much of substance. Morris did let on the offense needs to be more "precised" and "detailed" and "have more direction" than it did under Jagodzinski's supervision.





Quarterbacks coach Greg Olson, who was hired last season by former Bucs coach Jon Gruden, was named to replace Jagodzinski. Olson, who tutored Drew Brees at Purdue, enjoyed success last season with current Oakland quarterback Jeff Garcia, who he'd coached in 2001 when Garcia threw 32 touchdown passes for San Francisco.




While reports have surfaced that Jagodzinski was slow communicating plays from the press box to the sidelines, it's noteworthy he turned down a chance to stay on as quarterbacks coach, according to a prepared statement from Jagodzinski released by the Bucs. In this economy, even pro sports franchises want contract holders to earn their pay.




Somehow, a failure to communicate keeps cropping up as the likely reason Jagodzinski was asked to give up the play-calling duties. He certainly appeared to have trouble getting along with his bosses at Boston College when he entered into negotations with the Jets for their head job without permission.



If you can't communicate with your players in the NFL, passion and commitment have a tough time winning out.
Regardless, 10 days from the opener against Dallas, the Bucs felt they had no choice but to relieve Jagodzinski of his responsibilities. Morris and Dominik did so knowing they would open themselves to second-guessing and ridicule, but grasping the need to keep the confidence of the guys in uniform.



In the close-knit universe that is an NFL team, Morris had no need to badmouth Jagodzinski beyond giving the local media enough pablum to send them back to their word processors, guessing what really happened.


The whole thing came across as sloppy, even amateurish, but the fact remains the Bucs' chances to approach a .500 record in 2009 still rest on a fast, swarming defense and the stifling heat and humidity that enhances their home-field advantage.

No matter how well Morris and Olson communicate within the locker room, they can't change the fact Gruden isn't around any more to spot mismatches quickly and keep the Bucs a step ahead of the competition. That comes from experience.

Rays Dying on the Vine

By MIKE HENRY

Maybe the idea germinated Saturday night, when I watched The Kingston Trio on an episode of The Jack Benny Program on public television.

Wherever it sprang from, I haven't been able to banish the song "Where Have All The Flowers Gone?" from my head since.

It seemed to apply in a couple of ways during Tuesday night's 8-4 Red Sox victory against the Rays that pushed the defending American League champions a step closer to October spectator status.

First was in the stands, where 19,000 of Tampa Bay's notorious front-running fans showed up as vacant seats (making me wonder what happened to the area's hordes of Red Sox fans who normally outnumber their Rays' counterparts).

With the economy being what it is, I'm not going to blame folks for staying home and watching the game on TV (especially with an option to switch to The Big Lebowski on Versus between innings). But 17,692 was a surprise.

Then, as the Red Sox kept piling on runs, the song got to me again. Where, indeed, have destiny's darlings gone, less than a year after their meteoric rise to a pennant and spirited World Series try against the Phillies?

Probably the same place the New York Mets went in 1970. Major league baseball is a game of ongoing adjustments, and no team stays on top for long unless their boss is named Steinbrenner, with the financial clout to alter the sport's precious balance.

The need to adjust from pitch to pitch makes the game compelling and elevates the sharpest minds, like Derek Jeter and Greg Maddux, above the competition. Rivals made off-season adjustments for the Rays, who have not been entirely successful countering.

To read members of the peeved Tampa Bay area media Wednesday, though, it's as if the Rays let THEM down. Effort, or a supposed lack thereof, was Tuesday's culprit, according to more than one source.

Which confused me, because I saw a team poised to rally from a 7-2 deficit in the eighth until a desperate Terry Francona turned to closer Jonathan Papelbon with the bases loaded and no outs.

What no one in the media mentioned, to my knowledge -- this would require a specific criticism of a specific player -- was Pat Burrell's failure to tag up and score from third on Jason Bartlett's sinking liner in the eighth, the one Jacoby Ellsbury (originally a 2002 Rays draft pick) somehow snared before it went past him for a game-changer. (Actually, I double-checked and the Tampa Tribune did get it right, calling the Burrell mistake "oafish.")

This is not a blast at the veteran Burrell, but his job on that play is to tag up as soon as the ball is hit to the outfield, because he's going to score whether or not it is caught.

Instead, Burrell got caught too far off the base and the Rays remained three runs behind. So why does no one call him on it, find out what went wrong? Beats me.

Memo to scribes: Fans already know how they feel about their team and their guys. They don't need you proving you feel their pain.
Go for some serious analysis, maybe start by giving Papelbon the credit he deserves.
Because after all, tomorrow is another day.


Even as I wonder where the flowers went, florid writing seems the norm around a team that is withering fast.