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Sunday, March 09, 2003

By Robert Dvorchak, Post-Gazette Sports Writer

TAMPA, Fla. -- The training camp roster is about to get smaller and Manager Lloyd McClendon's reins are about to get tighter.

	Brian Meadows gave up three runs on five hits in 2 2/3 innings in the loss to the Yankees yesterday. (Peter Diana, Post-Gazette photos)

"It's time for us to cut down, and it's time for me to send a message to my players that it's time to start getting ready," McClendon said after a 7-4 loss to the New York Yankees yesterday, the team's fourth loss in three days. "Until we do that, camp is going to be loose. That's something that drives me a little nuts.

"I'm probably at the point now as a manager where you start to get a little antsy. You want the [roster] numbers down. You want to start working on things you need to work on. I guess I'm just about there where I need to start making some decisions."

McClendon and General Manager Dave Littlefield will meet tonight and likely will announce reassignments or cuts from the current roster of 60 players.

The pitchers vying for the fifth spot in the rotation or a spot in the bullpen are aware that their outings have more significance at this point, and no one has separated himself from the pack.

"Every guy that's on the bubble knows days like this are going to hurt you," said Brian Meadows, who allowed three runs and five hits, including a run-scoring singled by Hidecki Matsui and a two-run home run by Robin Ventura. "They hit what I threw up there in my third inning and found the holes, plain and simple."

McClendon described Meadows' outing as "very erratic the second time through the lineup. He got some balls up, worked behind in the count. Like I said before, you can't do that if you're going to be successful. He's going to have to tighten it up the next time up."

Starter Kip Wells allowed three runs in three innings, including a two-run home run by former Pirate Enrique Wilson. Al Reyes, who followed Meadows, gave up a solo home run to Chris Latham.

Kevin Young had a two-run single in the top of the third, and Craig Wilson hit a solo home run that gave the Pirates a 4-3 lead in the top of the sixth.

Raul Mondesi, a Yankees outfielder who the Pirates were once interested in acquiring, is 1 for 14 this spring.

Yankees hoopla

The Pirates got their first look at Yankees sensation Hideki Matsui yesterday in Tampa, Fla. He was 1 for 3 with an RBI in the Yankees' 7-4 win.

Spring training games are laid-back affairs in most places. But not at Legends Field, where the crowd of 10,219 was easily the largest the Pirates have played in front of and the atmosphere has a big-league feel. A Japanese media horde documents every move made by Matsui, who had one hit and three at-bats. Even the time of game -- 3 hours and 1 minute -- had a major-league pace.

"There's more people, more distractions, more stuff going on," Wells said. "I think everybody strives for this kind of situation, maybe not the hoopla, but definitely the prestige that goes along with it."

Meadows said that it's the kind of atmosphere the Yankees have all the time.

"You have to be on your game to beat them," Meadows said. "It definitely pumps you to pitch against team like this."

Just a precaution

The lower back stiffness that prompted Jeff D'Amico's removal from the game Friday night against the Reds is not believed to be significant, and he is not expected to miss his next turn Tuesday.

D'Amico was taken out of the game in the third inning as a precaution.

"If it was a regular game, I would've stayed in," D'Amico said yesterday. "I felt it first warming up in the bullpen. It got a little bit worse out of the stretch."

Fogg to start

Josh Fogg starts today against the Cleveland Indians. In a "B" game at Pirate City, Jeff Suppan will start against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, with Scott Sauerbeck and Ryan Vogelsong also scheduled to throw.