Sorry Devil Rays Testing Piniella

Tampa Bay manager Lou Piniella measured his words, trying to find a diplomatic way to say his last-place Devil Rays are not very good.

The team with baseball’s lowest payroll stumbled into the All-Star break on pace to lose a franchise-record 111 games -- a prospect that hardly entered Piniella’s mind when he walked away from a pennant contender in Seattle to take over his hometown team less than three years ago.

The Devil Rays’ 28-61 record was second worst at the break in the club’s eight seasons and included one of the worst road marks (8-35) since the majors adopted a 162-game schedule 44 years ago.

A pained look gave way to a smile when Piniella was asked if he’d like to forget everything that went wrong in the first half.

“Me, I’ll probably learn from it. I don’t want to forget it. There are too many memorable things not to forget,” the manager said.

“I mean that in a joking kind of way. But we’ve had a lot of things that have happened here that if you weren’t here, they would be hard to believe. You’ve got to find a little humor out of this because if not, you’d cry a hell of a lot.”

The zaniness began with three offseason additions -- Roberto Alomar, Danny Bautista and Marty Cordova -- deciding to retire rather than play for the Devil Rays.

A fourth veteran brought in to bolster a young roster, Alex Sanchez, became the first player suspended for violating baseball’s new policy on performance-enhancing drugs. A fifth, Charles Johnson, walked into Piniella’s office two days after signing and requested a leave of absence to handle a personal matter.

Sanchez was hitting .346 when he and Johnson were released to make room for younger players last month.

Even more curious was opening-day starting pitcher Dewon Brazelton going into hiding for three weeks after being demoted to the minors, and managing general partner Vince Naimoli making news by ordering a visiting scout to leave Tropicana Field for using the restroom in Naimoli’s private suite.

Piniella even got into the act, criticizing the team’s new owners for being more concerned with the future than trying to make the team competitive now.

“Lou, like all of us, gets frustrated,” general manager Chuck LaMar said.

Piniella is especially disappointed because he felt the team took a significant step by winning a franchise-best 70 games and finishing out of last place in the AL East for the first time last year.

Tampa Bay lost 14 of 16 heading into the All-Star break and matched Colorado for the longest losing streak in the majors by dropping 10 straight from June 28-July 8.

Opponents outscored the Devil Rays 92-28 in the eighth inning before the break, and the bullpen blew a major league-high 16 saves -- six more than all of last season.

The team took leads into the eighth 10 times and lost, prompting Piniella at one point to joke he was going to start buying steak dinners for scoreless eighths.

“You can’t be last in pitching and last in defense. We don’t have the type of offense to overcome that,” the manager said.

The pitching staff allowed a major league-worst 553 runs before the break, including 13 in an inning twice at Yankee Stadium.

If that sounds goofy, consider this: Seven of Tampa Bay’s 28 victories before the break came against the Yankees, and the Devil Rays were a surprising 4-2 at New York, compared to 4-33 elsewhere on the road.

“It’s definitely been tough. You definitely have to have thick skin,” left fielder Carl Crawford said. “You’ve got to play mind games with yourself and realize it’s just for a short period of time, hopefully.”

Injuries have been a factor.

Center fielder Rocco Baldelli tore a ligament in his left knee while playing with his younger brother in the backyard of his home in Rhode Island. He seemed on track to return by the end of July until he hurt his throwing arm and had season-ending Tommy John surgery.

“Probably the most disappointing thing, outside of the record, is not getting Baldelli back,” Piniella said. “We’re just going to do the best we can with what we have.”

The Devil Rays began the season with a payroll of just under $30 million -- lowest in the majors -- and there’s no guarantee it will be much higher next season.

Piniella’s frustration has fueled speculation that he wants out, although the manager said last month he intends to honor the remainder of a $13 million, four-year contract that runs through next season.

LaMar has said there have been no discussions about a possible buyout.

Meanwhile, Piniella vows not to give up.

“You can accept this and keep getting your butts kicked or you can get in the middle of the ring and throw some punches yourself and win a few more baseball games. We’ll see what happens,” Piniella said.

“I myself would rather stand in the middle of the ring toe to toe, as opposed to get rope-a-doped on the ropes,” he said. “There’s a long way to go. A lot of things can happen. That’s the only approach.”