Maddon continues to back bullpen

Joe Maddon says the recent failings of his bullpen could be more due to emotional exhaustion than physical fatigue, and he won't change the way he's using his relief pitchers over the final three weeks of the season.

The Rays were trying to end an eight-game losing streak Saturday night at Boston in a game that didn't start until after 9 p.m. because of rain.

During a stretch that saw Tampa Bay fall from realistic contention in the American League wild-card race, the bullpen went 0-6, allowing 20 runs in 171/3 innings for an ERA of 10.39.

"As long as guys are healthy, they're going to still pitch," Maddon said. "We would not have been in the position we're in, in regards to being good, without all those guys. I believe you need to support people when things are difficult; not run away from them."

The collapse of the bullpen is unexpected, because the group had been stout through the season's first four months. Injuries haven't been a major factor, and Maddon believes his mix-and-match approach has prevented overuse for the most part.

But since an Aug 7 loss taken by J.P. Howell at Seattle, the Rays' bullpen has gone 3-11 and blown nine saves in 14 opportunities. And in that span, Tampa Bay has dropped from 21/2 games behind Boston to 91/2 games back entering Saturday.

The difficulty runs from one end of the bullpen to the other.

Howell, the previously reliable quasi-closer, was 1-3 with a 7.84 ERA in his previous 13 appearances entering Saturday. Before Aug. 7, the lefty had allowed 11 earned runs in his first 52 appearances.

Grant Balfour had blown three saves in the previous 12 games. In his previous six appearances, the hard-throwing righty has allowed six runs in three innings, letting 10 of the 18 batters he has faced reach base.

Lance Cormier, dependable in long relief much of the year, gave up a grand slam to Brian Roberts in an Aug. 20 loss to Baltimore and took two losses in New York's four-game sweep of Tampa Bay last week. Chad Bradford permitted all four of his inherited runners at New York to score and was allowing opponents a .457 batting average.

Russ Springer gave up a ninth-inning winning grand slam to Detroit's Brandon Inge last Sunday at Tropicana Field, and Dan Wheeler surrendered a walk-off home run to Nick Swisher on Tuesday at New York. Randy Choate has a 6.58 ERA since July 9.

Maddon allows that cumulative fatigue from pitching into the World Series last year could be a factor. He points out that a "clunky" offense has provided inequitable production, including just 21 runs (2.6 per game) during the losing streak.

The Rays haven't had a conventional closer since Troy Percival left the club in May, and Maddon concedes that had there been one, "these other guys could have been spread out in a different manner." But he adds, "it was working pretty well until a couple of weeks ago."

Maddon repeatedly comes back to emotional fatigue, which he attributes to the high adrenaline of being in a pennant race last year and having to fight back into contention this year after a slow start.

"For me, it's not about making excuses, it's about plodding forward," he said. "That's what we're going to keep doing. I don't see anybody as being really hurt. I think maybe more tired, maybe emotionally a bit, based on last year and having (worked) pretty hard to get back into this race.

"We were very close a (few) days ago. So for me, it's about support right now, more than it is about finger-pointing."