This wasn't like Lloyd McClendon's first season as Pirates manager in 2001 when he was so upset after a doubleheader loss to Atlanta that he ordered an almost-unheard-of off-day workout the next day.

This was a different type of anger, a much more positive emotion, actually.

The 2001 Pirates were awful and lost 100 games. The team that lost yesterday to the woeful Tampa Bay Devil Rays, 7-5 in 13 innings, is much better, at least competitive on most days. It proved it during the past fortnight's homestand, going 9-4 and winning every series against championship contenders Florida, Atlanta and Baltimore and Tampa Bay.

In the past, McClendon would have pointed to that success as progress. Not on this day.

"It isn't OK to try your best. That isn't enough," McClendon fairly growled, still seething long after his players had dressed and left PNC Park, presumably thankful they aren't required to come in for a little practice this afternoon before the team's charter flight to New York.

"I could get a truck driver to try hard. I want results. I'm not interested in what happened yesterday or the day before. That's over. I want to win today. I want to win them all."

That approach and those expectations -- every bit as significant a sign of progress as the 9-4 homestand -- were the best part of the long, hot day at the ballpark.

Not that there was much else to choose from.

"Quite a few things led to this loss," McClendon said. "I don't have time to go into them all now. That would take into tomorrow's off day."

It really was that bad.

The Devil Rays are a joke. Their manager, Lou Piniella, all but said so before the game, blaming team ownership for, among other things, the club's 4-28 road record, which included an 18-2 loss to the Pirates Saturday night. "I'm not going to take responsibility for this," he said, sounding like a man who wants fired so he can move on to manage a real team.

But Pirates starter Josh Fogg couldn't keep the lifeless Devil Rays down after the Saturday night massacre. He was, quoting him, "awful" in the first inning. The Pirates quickly trailed, 3-0, and could have been down more if Jorge Cantu hadn't made the first out at the plate trying to score the fourth run.

Shortstop Jack Wilson stumbled as he fielded one ball that went for a hit in that first inning, then mistimed his jump moments later on a soft liner by Cantu. Wilson's day got much worse when he had to leave the game soon after being struck with a pitch in the left forearm in the seventh inning. It's not inconceivable he could have to miss the games this week at Yankee Stadium and Boston's Fenway Park.

Later, first baseman Daryle Ward couldn't handle a line drive by Reggie Taylor that went for a double. The Pirates can't beat any team -- even the Devil Rays -- if they don't catch the ball.

The bullpen was no better than the defense. Salomon Torres came on in the seventh inning and promptly gave up a two-run single to Toby Hall, a .143 hitter with runners in scoring position and two outs. Then, in the 13th, Brian Meadows walked leadoff pinch-hitter Nick Green and grooved a 2-0 pitch that Alex Gonzalez put in the left-field seats.

After scoring the 18 runs on 20 hits the night before, the Pirates couldn't get a big hit when they needed one. Third baseman Freddy Sanchez hit into a bases-loaded, no-outs double play in the seventh inning. Second baseman Jose Castillo bounced into a bases-loaded double play to end the 10th when a mere fly ball would have won the game.

But the most grievous errors were made on the bases by right fielder Matt Lawton. Unfortunately, that's becoming a regular occurrence with him. Twice, Lawton ran the Pirates out of innings, getting caught off second base in the third on Jason Bay's one-hop smash to shortstop and overrunning second base after Bay's single in the seventh. McClendon must have felt like pinch-running for him after he opened the 10th with a single.

"We really threw this one away," McClendon said.

"As far as we've come as a team, this shows just how far we have to go."

The loss was especially painful because it dropped the Pirates below .500 again after a 22-14 surge had left them at 30-30. Now, it's on to New York for three games with the Yankees, who are 30-32, coming off a 3-9 trip and desperate.

"I'm not afraid to take my team to Yankee Stadium," McClendon said, almost defiantly.

It remains to be seen if his players feel the same way. McClendon might be wise to remind them of what World Series hero Curt Schilling once said of the aura and mystique surrounding the Yankees: "Aura and Mystique are dancers at a nightclub."

"I don't need to say anything to them," McClendon said. "I'll take my chances with our starting pitching."

Kip Wells, Mark Redman and Oliver Perez will face Mike Mussina, Kevin Brown and Randy Johnson. The Pirates might have the better starter each night. That would have been unthinkable a year or two ago, but not now.

Of course, McClendon added the obvious caveat.

"We sure as hell better play better than we did in this game."