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Posted By	Discussion Topic: Larry Rothschild Fired By Devil Rays
Froy King Shit *board owner*	posted on 04-18-2001 @ 1:16 PM
O&A Board Veteran Registered: Feb. 01	ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) -- Larry Rothschild was fired Wednesday as manager of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays after three consecutive last-place finishes and a 4-10 start this season. The firing, the first of the 2 1/2 -week-old season, came a day after the Devils Rays lost 10-0 to Boston in their 499th game. Rothschild had been the manager for every one, compiling a 205-294 record. ``Hopefully we hit rock bottom and from here it will change,'' the 47-year-old manager said after the game, in which Tampa Bay made two more errors and allowed six unearned runs to boost its total to 24 in 14 games. All but two of the unearned runs have come in the team's 10 losses. ``If you're going to lose, you'd prefer to do it the right way and play good clean games and know you'll come out of it and be OK,'' Rothschild said. ``But there's no consolation when you lose.'' The team called a news conference to discuss the change and announce a successor. Rothschild was hired as the Devil Rays' first manager after serving as pitching coach for the then-World Series champion Florida Marlins. The Devil Rays were nearly flawless in opening the season with an 8-1 victory over Toronto, but it was pretty much all downhill after that. After playing sloppily and losing the second game of the series 11-8, the Blue Jays took the finale 11-0. The skid reached seven games when the Devil Rays dropped the first five games on a 10-game, 11-day road trip that may have sealed Rothschild's fate. The team not only looked bad losing, but one starter (second baseman Bobby Smith) was designated for assignment; another (third baseman Vinny Castilla) was benched and asked to be traded or released; and a third (centerfielder Gerald Williams) was sat down for two games after a dugout confrontation with the manager. Asked before Tuesday night's game if it was nice to be back home after such a rough trip, Rothschild laughed. ``Yeah, a lot happened on this trip. Maybe it's a maturation process. Things have been very quiet here for three years and it's time to make transition,'' he said. ``That's part of what happens.'' General manager Chuck LaMar retained Rothschild after last season in a surprise move, citing injuries as a factor in winning 69 games for the second straight year and saying his longtime friend deserved to have an opportunity to help turn the team around. The club's two most accomplished pitcher, Wilson Alvarez and Juan Guzman, are still on the disabled list after all of last season (Guzman made one start, lasting 1 2/3 innings). And veterans like Castilla and Greg Vaughn also were slowed by injuries in 2000, but reported to spring training confident that they would rebound with productive years. But while Vaughn is off to a decent start, Castilla and offseason acquisition Ben Grieve have struggled at the plate. The Devil Rays have been shut out three times and were outscored 21-0 in their last two home games under Rothschild. The defense and pitching have been even worse. The club had committed a major league-leading 18 errors through Tuesday night and is on pace to break the AL record for unearned runs allowed in a 162-game season (123) set by the 1975 Detroit Tigers. Vaughn's second-inning error paved the way for the Red Sox to score five unearned runs. Afterward, he said there was no excuse for his mistake, but shrugged off a question about whether the team had bottomed out. ``I think the only way for us to go was up anyway. I don't think we hit rock bottom. We just had a bad day. A real bad day,'' Vaughn said. ``Now if 14 or 15 games into the season somebody is going on top (of Tropicana Field) to jump the dome, we'd have problems. We've just got to find a way to regroup.'' ~Matt/Froy from Jersey Official Protector of Gay Marco & SwampJunk...if he ever decides to post.
Kelly Leak	posted on 04-18-2001 @ 1:36 PM
Hanger-On Registered: Mar. 01	Great one- guess all that time in the offseason was spent well? "Jews, Spics, Chicks, Niggers and a Wop who throws airballs."

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