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Devil Rays gaining respectability
Revamped team getting noticed around the league
By Paul C. Smith / MLB.com
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. --
Several hours before the home opener at Tropicana Field on Tuesday, manager
Lou Piniella looked out of the dugout at the fans already starting to fill
the dome and noticed a couple had settled in near the roof on the third base
side."That's the highest I've ever seen anybody sit in here," Piniella joked.
But the joke may be over.
The Devil Rays appear headed for respectability. In their seventh year of
existence, after a multitude of growing pains, the fans, sponsors and, most
importantly, the other teams have noticed a change in the Rays.
"(The Rays) are a tough and different team," Yankees manager Joe Torre said
after his team escaped with a 3-2 victory and salvaged a 2-2 opening series
split with the Rays on Wednesday.
The Rays have a Major League-high 14 new players on their roster, most of
whom have experienced success with other teams in recent years. With added
depth, experience and pitching help, the Rays had their most successful
Spring Training ever, finishing at 11-8.
With the leadership of Piniella and his veteran staff, the Rays have started
the 2004 season in impressive style -- beating Yankees ace Mike Mussina twice
and nearly staging a comeback against Mariano Rivera in the finale.
"I don't know what the Yankees' outlook was coming into this series, but they
definitely have to open their eyes and realize, wait a second, these guys are
taking quality hacks, playing pretty good defense and getting pretty good
pitching," catcher Brook Fordyce said. "I don't know if they thought it was
going to be a cakewalk but I think this team shows that we're there. Defense,
swinging the bat and pitching, we can play with anybody."
New Rays starter Paul Abbott pitched 5 1/3 no-hit innings against the Yankees
in the fourth game and said he sees a team that should have winning the
division as a goal.
"We just fought the 'Dream Team' pretty tough, .500," Abbott said. "I think
we know what we have here. We have a team to be reckoned with."
The players who have been Rays for a couple of years also see the difference
in attitude this season.
"You believe in all 25 players on the roster," third baseman Damian Rolls
said. "Nobody looks like they're upset when things don't go right. You don't
worry about it. You build confidence. If Huffy's not on, Rocco's not on,
nobody's hitting the panic button."
Indeed, the Rays now have veteran leaders such as Jose Cruz Jr. and Tino
Martinez who are proven run producers and very good defensive players. They
also have a bench, headed by Robert Fick, Eduardo Perez and Fordyce, that is
unlike any reserve unit the team has seen in the past.
Depth and flexibility are the tools that Piniella uses to control the events
at the end of a game.
"Lou is outstanding at using matchups to his advantage," general manager
Chuck LaMar said. "It's one of the things that makes him a great manager."
The fans have noticed the changes in the Rays, too. The team set an attendance
record, with an average of 4,880 fans per game, in Spring Training. And that
didn't count the rained-out Yankees game, which would have drawn more than
6,000 fans.
When the Rays were playing the Yankees in Japan in the second game of the
year, the team invited folks to come to Tropicana Field and watch the game on
the TVs in the Batter's Eye Restaurant at 5 a.m. Team officials expected about
400 people to show up that early. But when they peeked out the doors at 4:45
a.m., more than 2,000 fans were already lined up.
The Rays' home opener on Tuesday drew 41,755, only the second sellout in the
Rays' history. And 31,669 attended the game on Wednesday afternoon, setting a
record for the most fans at a second Rays game of the season.
The players took notice and said the fans provided quite a boost.
"They give you adrenaline," Rolls said. "You go in the other parks in Seattle
and Boston and their fans are loud throughout the game. They make the players
feel good and get them fired up. So, to have Rays fans the way they (have been
the two games at the Trop) really gets us going."
LaMar said he made a point of walking around the concourses on Tuesday night
and observed a wonderful sight.
"People having fun at the ballpark, that's the only way I can describe it,"
LaMar said. "There ought to be some rule passed that everybody wins their home
opener. (That) night we had a baseball crowd and a baseball atmosphere."
The Rays also added several new sponsors during the offseason and VP of
business operations Dave Auker said the team is presently talking with a few
more potential business partners.
And the Rays trip to Japan was so successful on and off the field that the
team may soon host a group of about 500 new Rays fans from Japan, according
to managing general partner Vince Naimoli.
The bottom line is that improvements on the roster and in attitude, thanks to
Piniella, is leading to a more competitive team. A team that has a chance to
win any game it plays.
And winning, after all, is the only thing that matters.
"From day one I've said, you put a winning product on the field and the Tampa
Bay area will show that it is a true Major League area," LaMar said. "Do that
and MLB will be happy and Mr. Naimoli's efforts will be rewarded. You have to
build a tradition. And the only way to do that is to win."
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