Rays hoping to ride out bullpen troubles

There is nothing more hazardous to the long-term mental health of a baseball team than a bad bullpen. I'm not saying the Tampa Bay Rays have a bad bullpen, mind you, but they surely have a bullpen that has been pitching badly, and that is at least a little of a concern, even this early in the season.

The two losses against the New York Yankees this week can be directly put on a unit that was magnificent last season. Now, that's just two games - 1/81st of a season, if you will - which is why Rays manager Joe Maddon was telling everyone to basically chill after Thursday's 4-3 loss.

"I'm not concerned about our guys," Maddon told reporters.

Maybe so. But with a collective ERA of 5.63, so far, the bullpen is causing eyebrows to raise. That's more than two runs per game higher than last year.

It's not Grant Balfour's 21.60 ERA that's the biggest concern (he only has 1.2 innings), but he clearly didn't have command of his pitches in his last two outings. He was all over the place Sunday while getting some work at the end of a laugher at Baltimore - three runs, three walks, two hits, no hitters retired. He wasn't much better Wednesday against the Yankees.

Lefty J.P. Howell, who was lights out last year, has been up in the strike zone, and he can't make a living doing that. Howell depends on location, and it's just not there right now. He has already been called upon five times, and out of 79 pitches, he has thrown just 49 strikes and allowed seven hits in 4.1 innings.

That's not his game, and it doesn't stop there.

Everyone struggles

Dan Wheeler turned a tight game Tuesday into a 7-2 New York blowout with a bad inning of work that resulted in four Yankees runs. Howell, by the way, allowed the winning run in that game after the Rays had fought back against A.J. Burnett to tie the game at 2.

And closer Troy Percival started the rockslide Wednesday, when he entered the ninth with a 3-3 tie and gave up a double to New York's Cody Ransom, who was 2-for-24 this season. Derek Jeter drove him home, and that was that.

They might have lost those last two games against the Yankees anyway. The Rays' bats certainly went silent, scoring only five runs combined after putting up 15 in the home opener.

And if we know anything about Maddon, we know that he won't show any signs of panic.

That doesn't mean there aren't real reasons to be concerned.

This is just me, but something seems different about Balfour and Howell. Maybe it's a confidence issue - they both appear to be pressing. I'm not going to crawl inside their heads and suggest reasons why, but the results have been apparent. Balfour was flat out unhittable at times last year, and Howell was as close to money as you could have.

The Rays need them to be that way again.

Wheeler is a seasoned pro, and that was just one bad game the other night, but it's worth keeping an eye on him, too. He certainly didn't have anything close to his normal stuff Tuesday - velocity was down, location was off. And Percival was always going to be a question mark as he comes off major back surgery. He says he is healthy, and he had his fastball up to 94 mph Wednesday, but he also gave up that double to a guy who was 2-for-24.

Limited options

There's not a lot anyone can do right now - or should do - other than ride this out.

Jason Isringhausen (elbow surgery) has been building up arm strength and is just about ready to pitch in games, but my guess is he'll start at Triple-A Durham first as the Rays see how it goes.

And, of course, there'll be a shuffle when David Price is ready to join the big club. We saw what he did in relief last year during the playoffs, but to me, that's not a full-time option. He has to be in the rotation, which means either Jeff Niemann or Andy Sonnanstine won't be.

I've always felt Sonnanstine would be excellent out of the bullpen because he throws strikes, but Niemann may wind up in that role.

These things will sort themselves out.

But as we contemplate and fret over this and this, there's one other number worth keeping in mind. One year ago today, Wheeler was the losing pitcher in a 6-5 setback at Minnesota. The loss dropped the Rays 6-9 overall, last place in the American League East.

Things didn't turn out so badly, did they?