INSIDE THE AL: PINIELLA DIDN'T SEE IT COMING.

Byline: Gabe Lacques Staff Writer

Lou Piniella knew what he was getting into when he took over the Tampa Bay Devil Rays managerial job.

Or did he?

Even the biggest pessimist couldn't have fathomed a season in which a team fails to win consecutive games through its first 39 games. The Devil Rays pulled it off, becoming just the third team in the past 72 years to go that far in a season before winning two in a row. On Friday, they squeezed out a win over Cleveland for their first, um, winning streak of the year.

Their 12-28 record entering Saturday is the worst in baseball, and Piniella is starting to feel the grind of it all during his sophomore season in St. Petersburg.

``Sooner or later you come to the realization that this thing is not working,'' Piniella said this week. ``How often do you want to get punched in the mouth? It's been a tough haul. Sooner or later you come to the realization that something ain't working and you'd better start looking for some alternatives.''

This being Tampa, there are no alternatives, other than to hope a revamped roster shows some signs of life while sending local hero Fred McGriff to Triple-A Durham in hopes he can rejuvenate the club down the road while searching for home run No. 500. Third baseman Aubrey Huff, coming off a career year, is hitting just .221, leading the way for an offense that's last in the American League in most significant categories.

``This is no fun for anyone, believe me,'' Piniella said.

--In frustration mode: As at-bats pile up and Derek Jeter's average languishes below .200, the Yankees are to some degree resigned that the shortstop will finish far below his career mark of .317.

``It's tough to see him like this, though I think he knows that sooner or later it will happen,'' said first-base coach Luis Sojo. ``I have no doubts about him. Even if he does end up hitting .240 or .250, he'll have some big hits for us.''

It's hard to fathom such a low average for Jeter, but the season is now past the first quarter. After he snapped out of an 0-for-33 funk earlier this year, the worst was thought to be behind him. But he endured an 0-for-17 skid this week before coming out of it with two hits Thursday.

--What a compliment: Alex Rodriguez has done the whole ``superstar returns to old park'' routine once with Seattle. Returning to Texas as a Yankee wasn't exactly daunting for him.

``If booing hurt, I'd already be in the grave,'' he said. ``I've always felt booing is the ultimate compliment.''

Besides, the Rangers can take comfort in the fact that they might have a better infield than the alignment in New York featuring Rodriguez, Jeter, Miguel Cairo and Jason Giambi. Hank Blalock, Michael Young, Alfonso Soriano and Mark Teixeira have been more productive to date.

``We laid our hats on being the best young infield in the game,'' Rodriguez said. ``You take me a way and you put Soriano there, and they still are.''

And while this doesn't figure to stand up, Texas' victory over the Yankees on Friday tied the clubs atop the AL wild-card standings.

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- Matt McHale