Major League Baseball

Rays view struggling offense as temporary problem

Published Jun. 26, 2010 7:07 p.m. ET

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The Tampa Bay Rays insist there's no reason to panic.

Despite being no-hit twice this season - and three times in less than a year - they feel it's only a matter of time before they pull out of the offensive funk that had cost them nine games in the standings entering play Saturday.

A buzz created by a dazzling start that enabled them to maintain the best record in baseball for much of the past two months has given way to a malaise. The Rays have lost 18 of 29 games since May 23, when they were 32-12 and held a six-game lead over the New York Yankees in the AL East.

A day after being no-hit by Arizona's Edwin Jackson to fall three games behind the World Series champions, manager Joe Maddon searched for positives to reinforce his contention that things are not nearly as bad as they might seem.

``We lost 1-0,'' Maddon said, adding that he slept well after Jackson tossed the fourth no-hitter of this season and had spent more time thinking about what Tampa Bay needed to do to win its next game rather than what went wrong Friday night.

Jackson walked eight, hit a batter and also saw another man reach base on an error while throwing 149 pitches to finish the second no-hitter in Arizona history.

``It was a no-hitter, but it didn't really feel like one when you have 10 baserunners,'' Maddon said. ``But it doesn't really matter. It matters that we lost 1-0. Now we just try to win the series.''

Oakland's Dallas Braden pitched a perfect game against the Rays on May 9, Colorado's Ubaldo Jimenez no-hit Atlanta on April 17 and Philadelphia's Roy Halladay tossed a perfect game against Florida on May 29.

The four no-hitters this season are the most in any year since 1991, when there were seven.

The Rays, also victims of Mark Buehrle's perfect game in Chicago last July 23, became the first team in major league history to be no-hit three times within a span of 12 months in games of at least nine innings.

The 1906 Brooklyn Superbas were no-hit three times in the same season, but two of those game were seven innings.

After Jackson shut down his former team, Maddon had an unusual request.

``Please find somebody that's been no-hit twice and gone to the World Series and won it. I'd really appreciate it,'' Maddon said. ``And if it hasn't happened, please make it up.''

Upon learning the White Sox pulled off the feat in 1917, Maddon did a little research of his own and discovered there were a lot of things he liked about that team.

``I looked them up. What a team. 100 wins, 54 losses,'' Maddon said. ``

``But the interesting part was the walk to strikeout ratio. ... Most of them had more walks than strikeouts. I'm looking for that positive vibe, and there it was. ... A couple of years ago when we went to the World Series we had two seven-game losing streaks. I was looking for a parallel there and it was the '83 Orioles. It's always interesting, historically, how things reoccur over and over again.''

The Rays are one of two teams to be no-hit twice in one season. Entering Saturday's game against the Diamondbacks, Tampa Bay had dropped seven of its previous nine games while scoring 12 runs and batting .154 in the losses.

They were 2 for 25 with runners in scoring position in the first three games of their current homestand and 0-for-7 against Jackson, who walked seven in the first three innings and worked through a base-loaded, no-out jam in the third.

Cleanup hitter Carlos Pena had 61 home runs, but was batting .199 and leading the AL in strikeouts. B.J. Upton (.229) and Jason Bartlett (.225) have also struggled while strong starting pitching, an improved bullpen and sturdy defense have kept the Rays going.

``We have several guys right now who feel they have to carry more of a burden,'' Madden said. ``All I want them to do is carry their share. That's all.''

Jackson, who played for the Rays from 2006 to 2008 and helped Tampa Bay make its improbable run to the World Series, said he didn't do a lot much in the way of celebrating, though when he arrived at Tropicana Field Saturday he received a bottle of champagne, courtesy of Rays pitcher James Shields.

``Chilled with the family. Got to sleep more than I thought I would and woke up earlier than I thought I would,'' Jackson said, estimating he got to bed about 3:30 a.m. and was up by 7.

The right-hander said he felt fine, despite throwing the most pitches in a game since Washington's Livan Hernandez threw 150 against Florida in June 2005.

``Right now my body feels normal. ... I haven't thrown yet, but just walking around feels normal. I'm sure nothing will come up,'' Jackson said. ``My arm, if it's going to hurt, it will be today or tomorrow. By the time my next start comes it be back to normal.''

In general, the Rays are at a loss to explain their sputtering offense, let alone being no-hit twice in less than six weeks.

In addition, the Yankees' CC Sabathia took a no-hit bid into the eighth inning against Tampa Bay in the opening week of the season.

``I don't know why that keeps happening. Hopefully we can fix it,'' three-time All-Star Carl Crawford said.

Added centerfielder B.J. Upton: ``If you would have told me at the start of the season, we'd have a perfect game and a no-hitter in one season, I would have probably told you you were crazy.''

Jackson arrived at the ballpark about 2 hours, 45 minutes before Saturday's game and was razzed by teammates who joked that they didn't expect him that early.

He said he had watched highlights of the no-hitter on television a couple of times, but the accomplishment had yet to fully sink in.

``It's still surreal pretty much,'' Jackson said. ``Still looking at it like: `Wow, like really?'''

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