The Tampa Tribune from Tampa, Florida • 25

Thursday, February 26, 1998 Send comments and tips through e-mail to: sportstampatrib.com PAUL C. SMITH, Senior Editor for Sports, (813) 259-7753 Sports fax, (813) 259-8148 Gators fall Tennessee hangs on to hand Florida a 79-75 defeat Story, Page 3 Magic prevail Washington Wizards are no 33 days to go Until opening day for Devil Rays match for Orlando, 100-79. Story, Page 5 The Tampa Tribune When the Devil Rays threw a ton of money at teenage pitching sensation Matt White in 1996, they expected he could throw the ball. But in an awful minor league start, White lost his control and his confidence. Since then, however, he's gone from oPORTS Bolts nnnrnnn Martin Fennelly 1st pitch all Johnson's looking for ST.

PETERSBURG -First pitch. Jason Johnson can still see his first major-league pitch. Maybe you can, too, because it still might be traveling. The journey began last Aug. 27, the very day Johnson was called to Pittsburgh andthe Pirates.

"I got off a plane and out to Three Rivers Stadium 45 minutes before the game," Johnson said. "I didn't even stretch. I'm in the bullpen, first inning, when they tell me I'm up. Huh? The starter was in trouble. First day, i first hour of my career.

And I'm in." In Jason Michael Johnson trudged. The Devil Rays' roster lists his height at 6-foot-6. Johnson says he's 6-7. That night, he felt tiny. The Dodgers awaited.

A si 1: Johnson Now batting: Mike Piazza. shock Caps By ROY CUMMINGS of The Tampa Tribune WASHINGTON, D.C. The way the Washington Capitals see it, the 1 Lightning may have already achieved their goal of becoming one of the league's 10 toughest opponents. At the very least the Lightning have become one of the 10 biggest pains in the Capitals' 1 collective necks. The Lightning defeated the Capitals for the second time in as many tries Wednesday, snuffing out a blazing Caps rally in the dy-' ing moments of regulation to re- cord a 4-3 victory in the teams' first game back from their 17-day; Olympic break.

Alexander Selivanov scored the deciding goal, jumping on a Syl- vain Cote turnover to break a tie at 3 with 7.4 seconds left in a game the Capitals had clearly tak-; en control of. Though down by a pair of goals at the start of the third, the Capi- tals rallied behind a weak Richard Zednik goal and a tip-in goal by Craig Berube to tie the game. Coach Jacques Doners' pre- I game decision to move Selivanov I to left wing paid off for the Light-1 ning, however, when Selivanov scored his second goal of the game, snapping a wrist shot over Olaf KolzSg's right shoulder. "I had never played there be- fore. Coach just ask me before game and I say Selivanov said of the switch.

"Team need help there and I think for first time there I do not bad." The victory marked the first time all season that Tampa Bay has recorded back-to-back victories on the road. "We've taken four points now from a very good team in this league," said Lightning coach Jacques Demers, who coached his 900th game Wednesday. "Especially on the road this is a tough club to win against." The Caps showed how tough when they rallied behind Zednik's goal, which Demers and Lightning goalie Mark Fitzpatrick labeled as soft. Zednik shot through defense-man David Wilkie's legs but Fitzpatrick said he got a clear view of the puck. He just wasn't ready for it.

"That was a goal I should have had," Fitzpatrick said. "I was just caught flat footed and back in my crease. After that I felt like I had to redeem myself. I just said to myself, I'm not going to let these guys down again." He didn't. Although he gave up the tip-in game-tying goal to Berube, a goal he could not be faulted for, Fitzpatrick played solidly down the stretch, setting the stage for Selivanov's heroics.

"Mark showed me a lot of character there coming back from that the way he did," Demers said. "He made some big saves for us down the stretch. I think three weeks or a month ago, we probably would have lost that game. But tonight we found a way to win." "They really poured it on in the third but we didn't panic," Daymond Langkow said. "And we got a break at the end.

It's been a long time since we got a break like that." Marchment suspended for 8 games. Page 4 By KEVIN WELLS of The Tampa Tribune ST. PETERSBURG Always, it's been about what the child could do. Matt White could graduate high school in Waynesboro, with a 3.67 grade-point average while juggling baseball, basketball, golf, soccer, National Honor Society obligations, DARE (an- ti-drug organization) speeches and family meals around the table. He could initiate his high school career by throwing 27 scoreless innings, while throwing 90-plus-mph fastballs as a 16-year-old.

He could hit titanic home runs after reaching for a bat, and gracefully dodge the affliction of a big head. He could do all the things they still talk about in the hilly, shot-and-beer Pennsylvania town of 10,000. Then one cold November day in 1996, he signed with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays for $10.2 million the highest bonus ever given to an amateur player and Matt White was ushered into the unfamiliar and multilayered, prickly world of could nots. HE COULDN'T PREVENT the backlash of condemnation from baseball types over his signing bonus. He could do nothing about the stress fracture in his back that jolted Devil Rays management in March.

And there was nothing he could do to avoid the grueling recovery stage, which for two months kept him off a mound. When he finally healed in June, and was assigned to the short-season. Class A Hudson Valley Renegades, he couldn't prevent his first two professional batters from reaching base, and the third from hitting a three-run home run. Thereafter, for six weeks, Matt White simply could not. He couldn't prevent repeatedly hitting batters with untamed fast-balls.

He couldn't ignore fans' mockery when he hit four batters in a game at Lowell He couldn't concentrate. Couldn't focus. He couldn't breathe. He couldn't be Matt White. "I was so out of focus I was listening to the chatter from the crowd out on the mound," White said Tuesday.

"Everything they said was magnified 100 times. I could hear the, 'Hey, who's that bum out I was completely out of it." DURING THE SPAN, in which he was 0-5 with a 7.31 ERA, White hit a league-high nine batters. While pitching, he couldn't find balance, couldn't swing his lead leg properly, keep his elbow at shoulder level and throw pitches instead of pushing them at batters. He couldn't avert a dead-arm period, couldn't get ahead in counts and couldn't send his prized S- i MARK GUSSTribune photo Matt White will make history when he throws the first pitch for the Devil Rays today. No scarcity of Rays' spring tickets Coming Friday The Tribune previews the '98 season with a special spring training section.

FSU at Devil Rays When: 1:05. Where: Al Lang Stadium, St. Petersburg. (See map, Page 9) Radio: WFLA-970 AM. Tickets: Plenty available for $10 (Loge Box), $8 (Grandstand) and $3 (General Admission) at the Al Lang Stadium or Tropicana Field box offices, or by calling (813)825-3250.

Rays starting lineup: CF Quinton McCracken, 3B Wade Boggs, LF Mike Kelly, IB Fred McGriff, RF Dave Martinez, DH Paul Sorrento, Mike Difelice, SS Aaron Ledesma, 2B Miguel Cairo, Matt White. Naturally. "It was a fastball," Johnson said. Pittsburgh catcher Jason Kendall walked to the mound as Piazza circled the bases. Kendall smiled.

"Hit that pretty hard, didn't he?" First pitch. JASON JOHNSON LAUGHED about it Wednesday at the Devil Rays' complex. But it's easy to laugh when you're 24 and your right arm can make a radar gun count to 95. Or make Pittsburgh try to hide you from the expansion draft. Or make Tampa Bay select you up high just the same.

After five years in the minors and a month in the majors, Jason Johnson has a shot at making the big club as a starter. He'll pitch today as the Rays play Florida State in an exhibition. He's turning heads. Sometimes, one of the heads is his. "It's been a long road," he said.

He's talking about his diabetes. It's been with him since he was 11. There were times when he let his guard down and diabetes surged ahead. Three years ago, Johnson passed out during a Pittsburgh training camp. He wasn't watching his blood sugar.

He was young and strong and foolish. He thought he was bigger than any disease. He wasn't. Now he takes care. Now his career has blossomed.

It's a far cry from 1992, when Johnson was not drafted out of high school in Kentucky. There's a story there, too. The night before his last game, the game all the scouts would attend, he decided to make night into morning. The party ended at 7 a.m. The game was two hours later.

He had nothing. The guns said 78. He was young and strong and foolish. "I thought I was done," Johnson said. He thought about college.

But three months later, a Pittsburgh scout happened by a summer-league game. Johnson was throwing. The scout turned his gun on. It said 90. the next time out after Mike Piazza, Johnson returned to the form that helped him light up Lynchburg and Carolina last season with nearly a strikeout an inning.

Against the Indians on Labor Day, he fanned Matt Williams and David Justice on curveballs. But Johnson only pitched once more for Pittsburgh. "I wondered if I was good enough," he said. He was. The Pirates figured the less Johnson pitched, the less he would tempt Tampa Bay or Arizona in the expansion draft.

"I'm still upset the Pirates never told me what they were doing until after I was picked. It messed with my head. But I'm really happy to be here. I know I'll get a good shot." And then some. The kid turns heads.

He would love to turn one head in particular: Mike Piazza's. Td go after him," Jason Johnson said with a big-league grin. "Fastball inside. I'd brush him right back." First pitch. By JOE HENDERSON of The Tampa Tribune ST.

PETERSBURG Holding spring training in the same city where they will play the regular season may be hurting the Devil Rays at the Grapefruit League box office. More than 3,000 tickets remain unsold for each of the Rays' 16 exhibition games at Al Lang Stadium, including today's opening game against Florida State, the team said Wednesday. Al Lang has about 6,000 seats. Rays owner Vince Naimoli said he wasn't disappointed by sales, which could be hiked by a good walk-up crowd. "What we're finding is that sales are at about the same level for every game," he said.

"We figured the Yankees and a few others would sell out right away, and some of the others might be a kind of normal work-day crowd. "The fact that sales have been about the same across the board does surprise me. It shows we're developing our own fan base." Besides their schedule at Al Lang, the Rays will play at several other Bay area sites during the spring. They have games scheduled in Clearwater against Philadelphia, Tampa against the Yankees, Sarasota against Cincinnati, Dunedin against Toronto, and conclude the spring with three games at Tropicana Field. "I understand that most of the games are in the daytime and people do have jobs," Naimoli said.

heater past older ana more experienced New York-Penn League batters. "You'd go out there, look into his eyes and see how bad it was," Renegades pitching coach Greg Harris said. "After his third or fourth start, it just got worse and worse." See RAYS, back page The Devil Rays are the first major-league team since 1919 to train in their home city, other than in war time. They have sold about 23,000 regular-season tickets. Spring season-tickets are at about 2,300, said David J.

Au-ker, general manager for sales and marketing. Incessant rain drowning area golf course revenues greens have a lot of dead patches. Not only did El Nino play through, he didn't repair ball marks. From Florida's posh country clubs to municipal golf courses, everybody is talking about the weather. And trying to do something about its rain of terror to no avail "We were trying to operate with nine holes," Silver Oaks manager Linda Stage Golf courses are trying mostly with little success to battle the rain of terror El Nino has wrought on the Bay area.

By MICK ELLIOTT of The Tampa Tribune Silver Oaks Golf Club near Zephyrhills has been replaced by a 40-acre lake, and most of the staff has been sent home. At Cheval Country Club, sandbags are being stockpiled in an effort to fight off ever-advancing water. At Babe Zaharias Golf Club, standing water has forced the ninth and 18th holes to be turned into par-3s. And statewide from the Panhandle to the Keys, aiu. mm lasi ween we were starting to think about having 18 again.

Then the next wave of water came in and we were under again, only worse than ever. ANDY JONESTribune photo Standing water is a common sight on Bay area golf course. At Silver Oaks in Zephyrhills, players have to detour around water at the ninth hole. See GOLF, Page 8.