Rematch turns into mismatch

The last time the Rays lost to the Phillies in a game that counted, they could at least take solace in everything they had achieved to get to that point, mining some sense of accomplishment even in defeat.

Tuesday night, though, there wasn't even a hint of a silver lining for the home team in anything that transpired at Tropicana Field.

The embarrassment started at the turnstiles, which spun to about half the capacity of last fall's World Series games here, and quickly carried over to the field. Evan Longoria's error on the first play of the game kick-started a rough night in the field for the Rays and helped lead to a six-run first against David Price.

The Rays had no immediate offensive response, leaving the game to deteriorate into an embarrassing 10-1 defeat against a Phillies team that had lost six in a row entering the evening.

"We just got off to a bad start and it went from bad to worse," Manager Joe Maddon said. "The game got away pretty quickly."

A two-run double by Chase Utley and a three-run homer by John Mayberry saw to that, as Price found himself down six runs before recording his second out on the way to a 40-pitch first inning. Thirty of those pitches were strikes, pointing to further improvement in the rookie's quest to cut down on walks, but this wasn't what he had in mind.

"That's a tough way to go out, putting up six in the first," Price said. "That's just ridiculous."

The Rays' opening-frame struggles fit in with a flashback to the bad old days that stretched beyond the field. The Phillies were vocally supported all night by a large contingent of the "crowd" of 19,608 at the Trop, right down to the standing ovation they received from a few hundred red-clad fans around the visitors' dugout after the final out.

"The mood lighting was not very good tonight," Maddon said. "It was kind of awkward, because you'd like to think you get beyond that point where the crowd tips to the other side, but it definitely did tonight."

Fan apathy is no excuse for poor performance, but the atmosphere certainly didn't give the impression it was a big game, and the Rays' effort followed suit.

Their most glaring setbacks came on defense, with uncharacteristically sloppy play in general lowlighted by B.J. Upton mishandling a single and allowing a pair of runners to move up a base in the fourth. Both would eventually score in a four-run inning that produced all but one of the five unearned runs Price surrendered.

On the other side, the venerable Jamie Moyer led a shutdown effort by the Phillies' pitching staff in a game the Rays were ready to leave behind almost as soon as it began.

"Overall, I don't think we played a very good baseball game tonight," Longoria said. "I don't know that we deserved to lose 10-1, but we definitely deserved to lose the game."