Vaughn, who entered Sunday's game in a 3-for-27 slump, hit a pair of homers. Fred McGriff and John Flahery also went deep for the Rays, who have won two of the first three games in the four-game series that concludes Monday at Camden Yards.

Flaherty's blast broke a seventh-inning tie. It was the eighth home run Tampa Bay has hit in the first three games of the series. The Rays scored all but one of their 14 runs via the long ball.

"Our hitters are coming out early, taking hitting practice with Boggsie (hitting coach Wade Boggs)," Flaherty said. "Today was a good sign. We had a bunch of proven hitters."

Vaughn was 4-for-5 to raise his average 68 points to .279. It was his 28th career multi-homer game.

"I had a good day, just a good day," Vaughn said. "Just hit the ball hard. That's my objective. If I do that, I'll take my chances."

A win today will enable the Devil Rays to move into a tie with Baltimore for last in the AL East. The Rays return home Tuesday to begin a three-game series against Boston, before entertaining the Orioles in a three-game set that starts Friday.

Tampa Bay is 3-6 on its current 10-game road trip. Monday night's game features Tampa RH Bryan Rekar (0-1, 2.77 vs. Baltimore RH Jason Johnson (0-0, 2.92).

Tough times

It took less than a week for Larry Rothschild's Rays to turn the sunny optimism of spring into something like the bleak Russian winter. After beating Toronto at home to open the season, the Devil Rays spiraled to seven straight defeats.

The Rays 1-7 record was the worst start in the franchise's dubious history. It also ranked as the worst record in the majors.

Turns out the Devil Rays were the perfect guest for the Blue Jays' home opener, dubbed "Guaranteed Win Night" by the new Toronto ownership. If the Rays hadn't lost, all Jays fans would've received a ticket to another game.

But it's not so much the losses that reek of catastrophe but the spectacular ineptitude the Rays have shown in defeat. In their first six losses, the Rays were outscored 50-15. They made a league-worst 11 errors, leading to 14 unearned runs. Not that there weren't plenty of the earned variety. Tampa Bay's beleaguered hurlers have compiled a staff ERA of 6.17 since Opening Day.

They gave up 68 hits -- 11 of them home runs -- in the six-game funk.

"You've got to be concerned," Rothschild told the St. Petersburg Times. "It's basically in every facet of the game. It can turn as quick as it starts, but you still have to be concerned about it. ... It's not one thing. You can't put your finger on one thing. If you could, you'd take care of it right now, but we can't."

DON'T BLAME IT ALL ON PEDRO: Well, Tampa's misery is not all attributable to Pedro Martinez.

Sure, Pedro toyed with the Rays on Sunday, striking out 16 and allowing just three singles in a typically masterful eight innings. When Boston closer Derek Lowe fanned Ben Grieve in the ninth, the Rays equaled their team record of 17 strikeouts, the 17 that Martinez blew away in May of 2000.

But heck, the Rays went down on strikes nine times Saturday at the hands of Red Sox rookie Paxton Crawford as Boston took a 6-2 win at Fenway Park.

The weather was cold -- game-time temperature was 42 degrees, the chilliest in Rays' history -- on both Saturday and Sunday. The Rays were even colder. They went a club-record 11 2/3 innings without a hit against Crawford, Rod Beck and Martinez.

Not that Rothschild's looking for excuses.

"They played in the same conditions we did, so that's not an excuse," Rothschild told the Tampa Tribune. "I mean, it wasn't ideal, but I'm not going to use that.

"It's a long season. You'd better be able to play through some adversity."

SMITH'S EXIT: A week after happily landing the job as Tampa Bay's starting second baseman, Bobby Smith has fallen out of the Rays' picture. Smith was designated for assignment, when right-handed reliever Rusty Meacham was summoned from Triple-A Durham.

Smith, 26, earned the job after a competitive spring duel with rookie Brent Abernathy, then hit .105 with 10 strikeouts in 19 at-bats over six games. Tampa Bay has 10 days to either release, trade or ask waivers on him.

"We wanted to see a definite change once the bell rang, and to us in the first week of the season we saw the same Bobby Smith we saw over parts of the last three years," Tampa GM Chuck LeMar told the St. Petersburg Times.

JOHNSON AT SECOND: For the time being, Russ Johnson will be the starter at second. Abernathy got off to a wretched start at Triple-A Durham (1-for-17). He nonetheless remains the second baseman of the future.

"Obviously that's going to be left open and at some point you're going to have to look at that," Rothschild told the Times.

In the infield now, the Rays have one backup, Damian Rolls, who can play second and third, and no reserve at shortstop.

AT LAST, REWARD: Meacham, 33, was sent to Durham after being the most effective Tampa Bay pitcher during spring training, allowing just one run in 13 1/3 innings. He continued the good work at Triple A, striking out four in two scoreless innings over the season's first week.

QUOTEWORTHY: "Yes sir, the DeeRays have charged into this season like the Light Brigade, only without as good a defense. They have declared fifth place to be their turf, and heaven forbid anyone try to take it from them. A half-dozen games in, and they have shown themselves to be a team that can't catch, can't pitch, barely hits and barely runs." - Gary Shelton, St. Petersburg Times

PRAISIN' PEDRO: The Rays, not surprisingly, remain impressed by Martinez. In seven starts against Tampa Bay, Martinez is 4-2 with a 1.67 ERA, striking out 81 in 53 innings.

"He just throws good pitches that you can't hit," Steve Cox told the Tampa Tribune. "And it's hard to lay off his pitches, too. It's tough to stay patient, because when you get down 0-2, he can strike you out with any pitch. If he makes a mistake, you have to hit it. If you don't hit a mistake, you're probably not going to get another pitch to hit."

Manager Rothschild said Martinez's mental game is as good as it gets.

"Pedro's ability to dissect a hitter is as good as anybody's I've ever seen," Rothschild told the Times. "It's almost uncanny. You can talk about the three pitches and everything, but he's got a great ability when a hitter steps in there of going in with a game plan and then adjusting before anything happens. He has a great knack for it.

"You put that together with the three pitches and that's what you get. I've been around a lot of good pitchers, but his ability to know when to throw a high fastball, when to throw a curveball, when to throw back-to-back changeups, whatever it is, it's something to watch."

And Sunday's game passed with no lingering rancor from the Aug. 29 incident when Gerald Williams charged the mound after being hit by Martinez, leading to two brawls and eight ejections.

"It's all buried," Martinez told the Times. "I'm pretty sure they realize that."

Between The Lines

WILLIAMS BACK: Disgruntled CF Gerald Williams returned to the lineup after a meeting with Rothschild.

"I met with him, and it's time for him to play," Rothschild told the Tribune.

Rothschild benched the Rays' 2000 MVP for two games after Williams had argued with the manager upon being lifted for a pinch-hitter in the ninth inning of an 11-0 loss to Toronto.

WILD, WILD WHITE: Matt White, who battled control problems all spring, saw his miseries continue at Triple-A Durham. White hit two batters, walked one and uncorked two wild pitches in addition to allowing up six hits and four runs -- all in four innings.

JOSH STRUGGLING: Top prospect Josh Hamilton was 1-for-21 with 10 strikeouts through April 9 for Double-A Orlando.