Ray, Rhoden Not Pleased With Pirates’ Effort

As young players, Johnny Ray and Rick Rhoden figured everybody lucky enough to wear a big-league uniform gave their proverbial “110%” every time they took the field. Hundreds of frustrating losses later, the two Pittsburgh Pirates veterans know better.

“There are guys who are content to go out there, put in their nine innings and lose,” Ray says. “It’s really frustrating.”

Ray is not pointing fingers. He doesn’t have to.

Over the past two seasons, former general manager Joe Brown and current GM Syd Thrift have cut or traded a large number of veterans--some vocal malcontents, others simply quietly unproductive--who have been instantly rejuvenated the moment they donned uniforms of different colors.

Neither Rhoden nor Ray have been impressed.

“Obviously, it’s easier to play with a team that’s winning and in a pennant race because every game means something and because you expect to win every time you go on the field,” Rhoden says.

“It shows what kind of individual you are when you try to win games knowing you aren’t going anywhere at the end of the season except home,” Ray says.

By that measure, Ray and Rhoden are Hall-of-Famers.

They have played hard and well this season as the Pirates head for their third straight last-place finish in the National League East.

By Aug. 19, Rhoden, an NL All-Star, was 13-7 with an earned run average of 2.35 -- second best in the league. He also ranked in the top 10 in wins and losses, innings pitched and complete games and was rated one of the league’s best hitting pitchers with a .297 average and 5 RBI.

Ray was the NL’s seventh-leading hitter with a .305 average and 10th on the RBI list with 61. He also ranked in the top 10 in doubles and hits and committed just four errors.

Rhoden, 33, would like to find out what he might do on a winning team. He has been hoping to be traded since the offseason, but he has not allowed that desire to interfere with his performance.

“If I lose, I want it to be because I just didn’t pitch well that night, not because I wasn’t ready to pitch,” he says.

Rhoden says it’s easier for a pitcher on a losing team to have a good individual year than it is for a position player.

“I think if you can pitch good, you can win with any team,” he says. “You may not win as many games if you’re with a losing team, but you can still win. Tom Seaver won 20 games several years in a row when the Mets were terrible. Steve Carlton won 27 with a Philadelphia team that won 59 overall.

“I’m not putting myself in their company,” Rhoden adds. “I’m just saying a good pitcher can win with anybody if he tries. Unless I drive in a couple, I don’t have a whole lot of say on what the team scores, but I can control what the other team scores, and as long as I do my job, I can’t feel bad. I may not like it, but I can’t feel bad.”

Rhoden says he’ll have no problem staying motivated as the NL East plays out the last few weeks of a season long conceded to the Mets.

“I have a good year going now and a chance to have a really good season when it’s over,” he says. “That’s more my incentive than anything. I want to keep my ERA low. I’ve got maybe 10 starts left, and if I win half of them, I’ll have 18 wins, and that’s a good season no matter where you play.”

Ray, too, plays hard for pride. But he also does so hoping he is setting an example that will lead to the Pirates’ long-awaited turnaround.

“I don’t want anybody to say Johnny Ray didn’t give 110 percent every time he took the field,” he says. “There have been times this year I could have sat out, maybe times I should have sat out, but I played. The only way you’re going to make a situation like this any better is for all 24 guys to go out and give their best.

“I get upset when I hear young guys griping they want to get out. You get a lot of negative vibes from guys saying they want out, you’re not going to win.”

Ray understands why Rhoden, four years his elder, wants to be traded. He can see himself reaching that point some day too.

“I’ve got to be realistic,” Ray says. “I want to win, and I don’t want to believe that I’ll be here five or six years down the road still waiting to play for a winner.”

But he feels confident he never will be frustrated enough to resort to going through the motions.

“If you don’t have enough pride--in this business, especially--to do your best while you’re out there, you shouldn’t be out there at all,” Ray says.