Baltimore Comes Up Empty at Tampa Bay

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla., May 23 -- Aubrey Huff leaned back in his clubhouse chair after the game, his feet propped up on a nearby table, blood still visible from the scrape on his right shin, the most visible souvenir from his unsuccessful slide at home in the third inning. It was the closest the Baltimore Orioles got on Friday night to touching home plate.

But the hot topic after the Orioles' 2-0 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays was not how Baltimore managed to stay off the scoreboard after Huff led off the second inning with a triple, before being thrown out at home, or how Jeremy Guthrie once again was robbed of a victory despite pitching like an ace.

Instead, the frustrated Orioles fumed over Huff's eighth-inning grounder down the right field line, a ball that video replays showed bounced over the first base bag even though first base umpire Ed Hickox ruled it foul. With one out, the Orioles trailing only 1-0, and the speedy Nick Markakis on third, Huff's shot could have been the game-tying hit.

But Baltimore came away from the situation with nothing, and for the second time in three nights, the Orioles were shut out.

"You guys want to talk about replay? That's a classic case right there," said Huff, chiming in on the recent debate surrounding the use of instant replay in baseball. "I mean, it wasn't even close."

Orioles Manager Dave Trembley was clearly of the same opinion, which is why he earned his first ejection of the season. Trembley contested the call immediately but returned to the dugout after arguing to no avail, and Huff then grounded into a double play to end the Orioles' threat. But in the bottom of the eighth, Trembley exchanged words with home plate umpire Ed Rapuano after returning to the dugout from a pitching change.

Something had set the manger off, though after the game Trembley declined to say exactly what. He revealed only what was clear from his sudden outburst.

"Obviously I thought it was a fair ball," said Trembley, who at one point went nose-to-nose with Rapuano. "That's baseball. There's a difference of opinion. That's what happened. I thought it was a fair ball right from the get-go, that's all."

Perhaps the best vantage point might have been that of Guthrie. Already in the clubhouse after another stellar start wasted -- he allowed just one run on four hits in 6 2/3 innings -- Guthrie said television replays he saw showed a fair ball.

"I thought it was fair," he said. "Obviously it was very close."

The Orioles appeared to have solved some of their offensive issues, winning seven of eight games behind an offense that began to get timely hits to fall in again. However, the pipeline has dried up again the last few games, the beneficiary this time being Rays starter Matt Garza, who pitched 7 1/3 scoreless innings.

Of course, it was easy to see why the Orioles' emotions boiled over: Aside from a 12-run outburst, the Orioles have scored one run or no runs in four of their last five games, and are in the midst of a streak of 28 innings with just one run scored.

"We're not really getting anything going and everybody is just trying way too hard," Huff said. "You've just got to tip your hats to our pitchers. They've been battling. They're frustrated. We're frustrated."

Another example came in the second, when Huff hurt his former team with a leadoff triple into the alley in right-center. The next batter, Kevin Millar, reached on a walk and the Orioles had runners on first and third with nobody out.

A hit, a deep fly ball, even a double-play ball would have been enough to give Baltimore an early lead. Predictably, the Orioles blew their chance when Ramón Hernández, looking overanxious, swung at a pitch on his hands. The ball skittered down the first base line, where Tampa Bay's Carlos Peña calmly picked it up and fired to the plate, nailing Huff trying to slide home. Huff's temper flared, and he threw his hands in the air in frustration, setting the theme for the night.

"The good news is our pitching has been phenomenal all year long," Huff said. "If we'd been swinging the bats at all within the last couple of weeks, we'd probably have about five more wins."