Baseball-Related Program Activities

Mark Buehrle's perfect game today is the first to occur since a few months before our road trip, which I note is coming up on its 5th anniversary. Of course I'm sorry it came against the Rays, but we like Buehrle here at baseballrelated.com.

Labels: devil rays, mark buehrle, white sox

Joe Maddon is apparently the only MLB manager on Twitter, as @RaysJoeMaddon. His tweets can be a bit obtuse and incoherent...kind of like the Rays' offensive strategies. Ha ha!

And here's a sentence I never, ever thought I'd use: I learned about this from Alyssa Milano.

Labels: alyssa milano, devil rays, joe maddon, twitter

Via Sports by Brooks: the St. Petersburg Times reports that the Rays are looking for a new person to portray Pansy the Wuss-Wuss Fish, or as they call him, Raymond. Here's the actual job posting.

That Times report mentions that the previous Pansy was fired last month; no word on any official cause.

Labels: devil rays, mascots, pansy

When Jim and I started this blog more than four years ago, we shared a couple of fundamental principles. To wit:

1 The Devil Rays suck and will forever suck.

2 Bud Selig is evil, or at least incompetent.

Good to know at least one of those truths still shines.

Congratulations, Rays, on your first pennant of many. Congratulations, Phillies, on your World Championship, and congratulations to longtime Baseball Related Program Activities favorites Matt Stairs, Geoff Jenkins, Jamie Moyer, and So Taguchi. I'm glad Ryan Howard buck-bucking onto the dogpile didn't kill Brad Lidge.

Labels: brad lidge, bud selig, devil rays, geoff jenkins, jamie moyer, matt stairs, phillies, ryan howard, so taguchi, world series

Double-Booked Tropicana Field Holds First Haunted House World Series

"[D]ates for the haunted house were reserved in late July, a time when the possibility of the stadium being used for the World Series did not seem realistic to anyone in the Rays' front office."

Labels: devil rays, phillies, the onion

Well...we knew back in April that something was happening, but not necessarily this!

Labels: devil rays

Locations scrolling across the globe on the "Daily Show with Jon Stewart" set this week: New York (as usual), Cooperstown, Williamsport, Tampa Bay.

Labels: daily show, devil rays

Appearing on "The Colbert Report" tonight, baseball statistician Nate Silver of FiveThirtyEight.com compared Obama to the Rays -- and McCain to the Seattle Pilots.

Labels: barack obama, devil rays, john mccain, pilots

I'm not sure if merely making the playoffs is worthy of doing the front page as a full-page photo, but that's what the St. Petersburg Times did today.

Labels: devil rays, st. petersburg times

During their football games yesterday, Fox ran "lower third" promos for the upcoming baseball playoffs, naming the teams expected to be participating. And it appears that even they have finally acknowledged the presence of the Rays, even if they did list them last.

Surprisingly, the Yankees weren't mentioned in the promo. I assume this is because Fox hasn't yet been successful at signing up Yankees players to host Fox camera crews in their homes to watch them watch the playoffs, thus giving Fox something else to cut to between (sometimes during) pitches.

Labels: devil rays, tv, yankees

With last night's win over the Indians -- their 67th win of the season -- the Rays have won more games than they did all last season, when they went 66-96.

There are 50 games to go. The Rays' magic number is 47.

Labels: devil rays, indians, statistics

Sports by Brooks reports that a pizza place in Denver is offering "free pizza for the world" if the Rays win the World Series.

Last year, this same restaurant offered free pizza if the Rockies swept the Yankees in a June interleague series -- which they did -- and if an NFL team went 16-0 during the regular season -- which happened. Someone there seems to be psychic and not a particularly good businessman.

Labels: devil rays, pizza

Yes, living on the West Coast makes it slightly easier to stay up until the conclusion of 15-inning baseball games.



Scott Kazmir: winning pitcher. Evan Longoria: hit crucial ground-rule double. Dioner Navarro: probably did some good stuff that I can't remember right now because I'm sleepy.

Labels: all-star game, devil rays, dioner navarro, evan longoria, scott kazmir, tv

Tampa International Airport, earlier today.

Obviously, the best part of the sign is "AND Evan Longoria," which I hope actually is for emphasis and not just a typo on the part of whoever had to add his name.

Labels: all-star game, devil rays, sign, tampa

After sweeping the Red Sox, the Rays are in first place in the AL East by 3-1/2 games and have the best record in baseball (52-32).

However, I'm assuming no Rays have been chosen as All-Star Game starters, but I guess we'll find out when they announce the lineups Sunday.

Labels: all-star game, devil rays

After a series sweep of the Orioles, the Rays are again alone in first place in the AL East. Their .600 winning percentage (30-20) is the best in the American League, and is tied with the Diamondbacks for best in baseball.

Labels: devil rays, diamondbacks, orioles

Here's the cover of the May 26 issue of Sports Illustrated...



At first, I thought I was looking at some major mistakes in the artwork, but then I realized, no, the action depicted is taking place in Bizarro World. (That was a little less clear on my subscription copy, which has the address label printed over the bizarro advertising in the lower right corner.)

Labels: art, devil rays, sports illustrated, yankees

After yesterday's 2-1 win over the Yankees, the Rays are now alone in first place in the AL East. They're 7 games over .500 for the first time ever; they've now won 11 home games in a row.

In other news, we have an actual baseball-related program activity (the original rationale for this blog, remember?) coming two weeks from today: Levi will be in L.A. on business, but is taking time out so we can see the Angels play the Tigers in Anaheim. He's been here a few times for his job, but this is the first time he's going to make it to a baseball game.

Can we look back at posts like this one and laugh yet?

Labels: brpa, devil rays

After sweeping series against the Blue Jays and Red Sox, the Rays have won 6 in a row, and -- this is quite a statistic -- are in first place in the AL East later in the season than ever before. (Tied for first, but still...)

Labels: devil rays

From The Onion.

Here's a real story about the identity change. The money quote is "'We even had research that showed when fans spoke glowingly about the organization, they used Rays,' [team president Matt] Silverman said. 'When they were being critical of the organization, they referred to us as the Devil Rays.'"

This blog plans to continue using "Devil Rays," especially when this blog is being tongue-in-cheek, which happens a lot.

Labels: devil rays

At Fenway Park this season, the Red Sox averaged 101.4% capacity. Actually, before you click on that link, try to guess which team drew the lowest percentage.

Labels: attendance, devil rays, red sox

Ladies and gentlemen, your 2008 Tampa Bay Rays. (Hopefully, that image will continue to work.)

Edited: Ugh, okay, apparently the link to the image won't work if it doesn't come from a specific originating site. That would be this forum thread, where you can also read about all the other MLB uniform changes for '08.

Labels: devil rays, uniforms

I've been a bit remiss lately about passing along good online baseball reading, so today I'll catch up a bit.

First, if you're not reading Cardboard Gods regularly, you really should add it to your google reader. You'll thank me. It's ostensibly a blog about the author's baseball collection, taken one card at a time--and I know: few things sound more boring than that. But the cards are really only a jumping-off point for author Josh Wilker's stories of . . . well, everything. This post is particularly good, drawing on an oral history of a little-known--because imaginary--punk band.

Another good one to add to your reader is Joe Posnanski's Soul of Baseball blog. Posnanski is a sportswriter for the Kansas City Star, and somehow he hasn't allowed covering the Royals to beat him down. He's taken to blogging far better than most professional writers. He brings to his blog all the enthusiasm and interest in the sport that the best amateur sites have--and that a lot of professional sportswriters seem to have lost along the way.

King Kaufman, who regular readers know is one of my favorite sportswriters, today has some notes he made while listening to Ernie Harwell sit in on a Tigers broadcast the other day. It's all worth reading, but my favorite factoid is this:

The first night game in Detroit didn't start until about 9:30 p.m. "They thought in those days they had to wait until it got dark," Harwell said. "So everybody was waiting around."

It sounds crazy, but you can imagine the thought process that would lead you to wait until dark if you'd never tried this crazy night baseball stuff before.

Finally, a story that I can't believe Jim didn't pick up: baseball teams visiting Tampa don't like to stay in the Vinoy Hotel . . . because it's haunted:

Frank Velasquez, the strength coordinator for the Pittsburgh Pirates, says he'll never forget his experience early one June morning in 2003 after the team checked in following an evening flight from Toronto.

"It was pretty realistic,'' he began when I asked about it last week. "It was one of those 4 a.m. arrivals. I was so tired I didn't even call for my bags. I went to sleep. And I remember just waking up for no particular reason, and I see a man standing at the end of my bed near the desk.

"I remember vividly. He had on khakis and a white long-sleeve shirt, but his attire wasn't Calvin Klein. It was from another era. And his look, the way his hair was combed, was an older look, but he was a young man. It was maybe 7 in the morning because there was light behind him. He was just standing there looking at me. I didn't feel threatened by him. I kind of looked at him and I closed my eyes. I look back and he's still there. I was so tired I just went back to bed.''

The next day, Velasquez shared his encounter with one of the players during lunch. The player told Velasquez his story sounded like an experience pitcher Scott Williamson had a few days earlier when the Cincinnati Reds stayed at the Vinoy.

It's probably good that something is scaring the Devil Rays' opponents.

Labels: Cardboard Gods, devil rays, ghosts, Joe Posnanski, King Kaufman

It seems Easter Sunday was Mascot Day at Tropicana Field for today's Blue Jays-Devil Rays contest. One of them ate someone.



And then spit out the shoes.



The name of this cannibal? Roger Clamens. Like that pun? They've got a million of 'em! Well, more like a couple dozen.

Labels: devil rays, mascots

I have been informed that Twins games that are broadcast on WFTC in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area also appear on FSN North in the rest of its service area, so that's why DirecTV was able to present the "My 29" coverage of Opening Day. So their Extra Innings package still only includes games that appear on channels that they have the rights to distribute nationally, which is why I couldn't watch the Devil Rays' home opener tonight on Extra Innings -- it's against the Blue Jays, and the only place in which it's airing in the United States is on Channel 66 in Tampa, the local Ion affiliate. Yes, the network that used to be Pax. It should not surprise anyone that the Devil Rays' local over-the-air TV outlet is not quite of the quality level of, say, WGN.

And I wish I'd known on Monday of the existence of this channel!



I should have known there was such a channel, because there's a similar channel available for NFL Sunday Ticket (it's part of an extra-cost option to which I don't subscribe, so I only see it during its "free preview" on the first week of the football season). If I had one of DirecTV's more newfangled receivers, I'd be able to use the cursor keys on the remote to pick a game and switch to the channel that's showing it full-screen. But since I'm sticking with TiVo, the only option is a complicated series of button presses to switch which game's audio is coming through.

And you may notice that things are high-tech enough that they're able to black out the Angels game for me without blacking out this entire channel --although if they were really high-tech, they'd show the channel number on which it's appearing, not just "0."

Labels: devil rays, directv, twins

6:02 -- Why, they've got a special graphic to use when Craig Biggio gets a hit.

6:11 -- Xavier Nady, who has a great name, hits a home run to tie the Pirates-Astros game at 2.
6:21 -- Hey, the Twins aren't on WCCO anymore, which is kind of like the Cardinals not being on KMOX anymore. Herb Carneal may well be rolling in his grave already.

6:25 -- The Pirates-Astros game isn't quite as speedy now that it's gone into extra innings.
6:32 -- Perhaps somebody with more time on their hands than Levi or me -- probably a member of SABR -- has calculated the percentage of World Series and/or pennant winners that won their first game of the season. I'm suddenly interested in what that statistic is.
6:33 -- Jason Bay hits a 2-run homer in the top of the 10th. He should be on the Devil Rays instead of the Pirates, given that both have "Bay" in their names.
6:38 -- The Astros strike out, in the bottom of the 10th, for the first time in the game.
6:42 -- The Pirates win a game! The Pirates win a game! And now there's only one game in progress.
6:43 -- In this post-literate age, "DQ Grill & Chill" seems to be the new name for "Dairy Queen Brazier." I wonder how Bob Greene feels about that. (The former columnist for the Chicago Tribune, not Oprah's personal trainer.)

You know, after I got fired two years ago, I should have tried to contact him to commiserate. We could have had a chat over Blizzards or something. I don't even remember exactly what our disagreement was about.
6:53 -- The Twins announcers are comparing former Devil Ray and current Oriole Danys Baez to Rick Sutcliffe, and talk about how he hooks his hand around behind him before he delivers the ball. At one point, they call him "a hooker."

Labels: astros, bob greene, Cardinals, craig biggio, dairy queen, danys baez, devil rays, herb carneal, jason bay, pirates, rick sutcliffe, twins, xavier nady

1:00 -- Boston Red Sox at Kansas City Royals (ESPN and NESN)
Arizona Diamondbacks at Colorado Rockies (FSN Rocky Mountain)
1:01 -- At last, a game is over: Marlins 9, Nationals 2.
1:05 -- Mariano Rivera comes on for the Yankees. The Devil Rays were keeping it close for a while, but the Yankees now lead by 4.
1:11 -- Hey, the Diamondbacks really did switch to red uniforms. If their fellow expansion team were to follow suit, though, they'd be accused of copying the Red Sox, their division mates.
1:14 -- But they lost 9-5 to the Yankees, so maybe they should think about switching to red.
1:17 -- Gary Sheffield is still swinging his bat wildly in an amusing manner as he waits for pitches.
1:18 -- Didn't help. He struck out.
1:22 -- The Dodgers-Brewers game must have been a quick affair, since the postgame show is already airing.
1:29 -- Ken Griffey Sr., in the FSN Ohio booth, claims he grounded his son a few times while they were playing together for the Mariners.
1:45 -- I check my e-mail. Nothing much seems to be happening in the world except for Opening Day.
1:52 -- It's hard to come back from 9 runs down in the bottom of the 9th, and I'll be surprised if the White Sox do it.
1:54 -- There's another Molina?!
1:58 -- Turns out I'm not surprised, although the Sox did manage to score 2.

Labels: devil rays, diamondbacks, gary sheffield, gustavo molina, ken griffey sr., mariano rivera, red sox, rockies, royals, white sox, yankees

11:00 -- Chicago Cubs at Cincinnati Reds (ESPN 2, WGN, and FSN Ohio)
L.A. Dodgers at Milwaukee Brewers (FSN Prime Ticket)
Cleveland Indians at Chicago White Sox (Comcast SportsNet Chicago)
11:01 -- Vin Scully! "And a pleasant good day to you wherever you may be." Now it really is baseball season.
11:13 -- Hey, a new family movie starring Ice Cube! Looks about as good as the Devil Rays.
11:15 -- There sure are a lot of car commercials on YES. But I thought no one in New York drove.
11:19 -- The Blue Jays caps have a "T" instead of a "J," I notice. Too bad, because I liked the "J." Maybe that's still the home cap.
11:21 -- Two female fans in the upper deck of Comerica Park are interviewed. One of them refers to it as "Tiger Stadium" and is quickly corrected by the interviewer.
11:24 -- Since the Reds are wearing their new mustachioed Mr. Redlegs patches, perhaps they should all have grown mustaches to match.
11:25 -- The Superstation WGN Scoreboard graphic has a problem, I say.

I contend that "Sponsored By:" should either be right-justified so it's against the sponsor graphic, or that graphic should say "Sponsored by Scotts" (which would work fine even with the graphic there on the right).
11:29 -- C.C. Sabathia looks a little large.
11:31 -- The White Sox announcers start talking about how one should not judge a book by its cover when it comes to C.C. Sabathia. I guess I've been properly chastised! However, Darin Erstad promptly hit a 2-run homer off him to pull the White Sox to within 3 runs in the bottom of the 1st.
11:37 -- Chicago mayor Richard M. Daley is in the stands at U.S. Cellular Field, but does not have to be interviewed by someone with a radio mike.
11:39 -- The Yankees infield has been a bit error-prone today, which has helped the Devil Rays tie.
11:40 -- First appearance of Joe Maddon, coming out for an explanation from the umpire about a player being called out on a bunt that hits him in fair territory.
11:42 -- Rocco Baldelli hits an RBI single, and the Devil Rays are leading.
11:44 -- Amtrak -- the Washington Nationals of transportation!

11:49 -- Hey, Dr. Cox from "Scrubs" is in that movie with Ice Cube. Well, John C. McGinley, I mean. I assume he's not playing the same character he plays on "Scrubs." Not to be confused with John C. Reilly, who is not to be confused with Andy Richter, who is not to be confused with John Candy.
11:54 -- Comcast SportsNet's "Scores on the Fours" should perhaps be renamed "Scores on Most But Not All of the Fours."

Labels: amtrak, brewers, c.c. sabathia, cubs, darin erstad, devil rays, dodgers, indians, joe maddon, nationals, reds, richard m. daley, rocco baldelli, vin scully, white sox, yankees

When Opening Day came around a year ago, I was unemployed with no immediate prospects. Within a month, I had been hired for a full-time temp job. And by the time the World Series rolled around, I was hired as an actual employee.

So it's clear that baseball is a force for good. Let's see what it can do for me this year.

10:00 -- Tampa Bay Devil Rays at New York Yankees (ESPN and YES)
Atlanta Braves at Philadelphia Phillies (TBS)
Toronto Blue Jays at Detroit Tigers (FSN Detroit)
Florida Marlins at Washington Nationals (MASN)
Time for everyone's pre-produced "Opening Day" intros.
10:05 -- The Tigers manage to get under way first.
10:06 -- The Blue Jays have the first at-bat of the season -- a walk.
10:08 -- And the Blue Jays steal against Ivan Rodriguez. This season is going great for the Tigers so far.
10:09 -- The Marlins steal third! Looks like this is going to be the Year of the Stolen Base, as the L.A. Times sort of predicted today.
10:11 -- Carl Crawford leads off for the Devil Rays with a hit against the Yankees.
10:12 -- Crawford steals second!
10:15 -- Rocco Baldelli, whose name is on the back of the Devil Rays T-shirt I'm wearing, hits to the warning track. The Yankees announcers say it could have been a home run if the humidity were lower today.
10:19 -- I have to go get my laundry out of the dryer. Meanwhile, things fall apart for the Devil Rays.
10:30 -- The Yankees score two runs, which the YES graphics briefly award to the Devil Rays.

10:40 -- Hey, it's Adrian Fenty, the mayor of Washington, D.C., in the stands at RFK Stadium, being interviewed with a radio mike that's not quite working properly.
10:49 -- The Devil Rays get their first run of 2007. First of many, I'm sure.
10:52 -- Not particularly baseball-related, but I get an automated phone call from the L.A. Times telling me that the "TV Times" section is being discontinued after next week, but I'll still be able to get TV listings online. They don't know I have a TiVo.

Labels: blue jays, braves, carl crawford, devil rays, ivan rodriguez, marlins, nationals, phillies, rocco baldelli, tigers, yankees

This year's Devil Rays uniform patch:

Labels: devil rays, uniforms

The MLB Extra Innings pay-per-view package will now be exclusively on DirecTV, because DirecTV offered a lot of money and also agreed to exclusively carry what appears to be MLB's version of NFL Network.

I do have DirecTV, but don't subscribe to Extra Innings (I certainly enjoy watching it on Opening Day via the free preview, but I wouldn't watch enough games during the season to make it worth the cost). I'm a little concerned about MLB limiting its exposure like this, particularly to the all-baseball network.

In the past, DirecTV's version of Extra Innings has only included games airing on regional sports networks carried by DirecTV -- so if, say, a Phillies-Dodgers game were being carried on Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia (not available on DirecTV) and on over-the-air Channel 13 in Los Angeles (not available on DirecTV except as a local channel in the L.A. area), it wouldn't be on Extra Innings on DirecTV. Or a Blue Jays-Devil Rays game that's on whatever weird Canadian network the Blue Jays are on, and only available via Morse code relay in the Tampa Bay area. So I'm wondering if the new exclusive Extra Innings package these types of games -- can't wait to see, or perhaps hear, the Morse code Devil Rays games.

Labels: blue jays, devil rays, directv, dodgers, phillies, tv

Jury duty is good for getting some reading in. For the past two days while I was in the main Los Angeles criminal courts building, I read Rob Neyer's Big Book of Baseball Blunders. These are blunders not by players, but by coaches, managers, general managers, and owners. It starts with the White Sox getting rid of first baseman Jack Fournier in 1917 in favor of future "Black Sox" ringleader Chick Gandil, and ends with Joe Torre not putting Mariano Riviera into Game 4 of the 2003 World Series.

Yes, the penultimate chapter is about a certain sequence of events that occurred just six days earlier, in Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS, and the Devil Rays get an entire chapter (the idea being that the franchise got off on the wrong foot when they immediately traded away Bobby Abreu after taking him with their first expansion draft pick).

Labels: baseball books, devil rays, red sox, white sox, yankees

Well, someone is an advertising genius. Coming soon: Blue Jays games will start at 6:49, Tigers games will start at 3:00, Devil Rays games will start at whatever time you can get there.

Labels: advertising, blue jays, devil rays, tigers, white sox

If the Florida Marlins become the Miami Marlins in exchange for a new stadium, the Devil Rays are apparently set to take up the mantle of representing the entire Sunshine State.

Labels: devil rays, marlins

I can't remember if it's Levi, Jason, or both who have occasionally mentioned to me their desire to see someone steal home. Carl Crawford of the Devil Rays did it on Wednesday night against the Red Sox. See it on YouTube before the Disney lawyers notice that someone has uploaded a clip from ESPN.

Labels: carl crawford, devil rays

Turns out that if you have high-definition TV, the picture clarity is such that you can see pain lines and pain stars. However, it looks like it's hard to keep the colors in balance on these old-timey woodgrain-cabinet HDTVs: the blue on the Dodgers uniform looks black, and Dodger Stadium and the denizens thereof look green. Actually, with those vertical posts visible in the stands, it looks more like Fenway Park.

In other news, please note that on May 11th, I correctly predicted that Scott Kazmir would be the Devil Rays' sole All-Star Game representative.

Labels: all-star game, devil rays, dodger stadium, dodgers, hdtv, scott kazmir

About a month ago, "Jeopardy!" brought us this nugget of information, and then on Monday, as the $600 clue in a category called We're No Angels, this came up...



Then, on the Thursday show, the $2,000 clue in Musical Instruments was the following. Not baseball-related, but I know Levi will enjoy it...



(Monday's clue was correctly answered -- or, you know, correctly questioned. The three contestants didn't even attempt the Thursday one.)

Labels: devil rays, feels so good, jeopardy, stuart sternberg

Now people are just piling on. This is today's installment of the nondescript comic strip "Adam@Home." (Actually, the copyright date looks like 2003, so this may be a repeat. That's one problem with getting a comic strip online instead of in a decent newspaper that usually remembers to put a notice above each strip that's a rerun.)



In other news, during yesterday's lockdown of the Rayburn House Office Building, preparing to do a search for a suspected gunman, the Capitol police sent out this e-mail: "During the search, the police officers will knock three times on each office door, announce 'United States Capitol Police,' knock three additional times and then voice the code word 'baseball.' Open your office doors for the police, and cooperate with all police instructions." Baseball fever is still strong in Washington!

Labels: devil rays

If it's the subject of a "Jeopardy!" Daily Double (a category called Swimmers, for $600), it must be a legitimate thing to name a baseball team after...



Answer given in the comments, if you need it.

Labels: devil rays, jeopardy

I forgot to mention that I filled out a handful of All-Star ballots while at the game -- and on the American League side, I voted for all the Devil Rays. That way they won't feel quite so bad when the only Ray who gets to go to Pittsburgh is Scott Kazmir.

Labels: all-star game, devil rays, scott kazmir

Lou Piniella is going to be a color commentator on Fox, paired with Thom Brennaman, at least for a month and a half. If I recall correctly, he had some pretty good insights during that one game during last year's playoffs where he was the third man in the booth -- when he could get a word in edgewise between Joe Buck and Tim McCarver, of course.

Labels: devil rays, joe buck, lou piniella, thom brennaman, tim mccarver, tv

Baseball blogger Deadspin is giving a goofy preseason look at each team.
One of his points about Jim's favorite team, the Devil Rays?

"The team is considering changing its name from the 'Devil Rays,' saying 'Devil' has a negative connotation. Well, only when 'Rays' is added.

Labels: devil rays

I only watch "Jeopardy!" and reruns of "Super Password," so I depend on the L.A. Times sports section to let me know what's happening on any other game shows. It seems recently, there was a "Same Name" puzzle on "Wheel of Fortune" that had the solution ULTRAVIOLET AND TAMPA BAY DEVIL RAYS. After the puzzle was solved, Pat Sajak quipped, "They're both invisible to the naked eye."

Come on, Pat -- some might say you are the Tampa Bay Devil Rays of game show hosts, having come out of relative obscurity as a local weatherman to host "Wheel of Fortune." That's in contrast to Alex Trebek, who represents the New York Yankees in this analogy, having been groomed for greatness back in Canada and having a succession of fairly successful shows, from "High Rollers" to the non-super-sloppy "Double Dare" to the non-Activision "Pitfall," before getting the "Jeopardy!" gig -- and even then, there was a time when he was being seen on three daily game shows at once ("Classic Concentration" and "To Tell the Truth" in addition to "Jeopardy!"), which is like winning the World Series every day or something like that. Hey, I didn't say this was a perfect analogy.

Labels: devil rays, jeopardy, pat sajak

It looks like the Florida Marlins are beginning yet another fire sale.

This will be their second such sale in their twelve years of existence. Are they determined to make the Devil Rays look good?

Anyway, if you want a speedy center fielder for your beer-league team, you might call them up. Sounds like they'd consider an offer of a bag of batting practice balls.

Just keep repeating to yourself: Bud Selig has been good for baseball. Saddam Hussein was a threat. Bud Selig has been good for baseball.

Labels: bud selig, devil rays, marlins

With the sale of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and the subsequent firing of the only general manager in the team's history, Chuck LaMar--he of the .400 winning percentage over the team's 8 seasons--the field has been cleared for the Bush administration to take sole possession of first place in the "least accountable organization" standings.

Manifest failure? Sickening incompetence? Take a bow, Donald Rumsfeld. Smile while you're picking up your consulting check, Brownie. If you worked for anyone else--even the new and improved Tampa Bay Devil Rays--you'd be out of a job. As someone more clever than I put it, "Not only does the buck not stop there--it doesn't even slow down!" Well, it's finally landed, for the Devil Rays, at least.

Next step for the Devil Rays: setting some goals. Any kind of goals.

Labels: chuck lamar, devil rays, politicians

It'll probably change soon, but right now, a highlighted link on the Tampa Tribune's home page is to a PDF file of the Devil Rays' tentative 2006 schedule. This is clearly intended for the people who are incredibly excited about the fact that minority owner Stuart Sternberg has taken control of the franchise -- all five or six of them. Also, on a non-baseball-related note, the headline on the Tribune's story about a major traffic jam caused by a truck overturning on Interstate 275, the main freeway through Tampa, is "Late For Work Thursday? Show This To Your Boss," which is just too cute.

Labels: devil rays, stuart sternberg, tampa tribune

(This "ticket" is a printout, courtesy of a season-ticket holder who didn't want to see this classic battle of good vs. evil represented by the Angels and the Devil Rays, although I can't imagine why someone would turn down the chance to see the Devil Rays!)



Let's get this anecdote out of the way first: as I was walking through the concourse of Angel Stadium on my way to the concession stand, proudly wearing my Devil Rays cap and Rocco Baldelli T-shirt, an Angels fan pointed at me and yelled, "Holy crap! They do exist!" I said nothing; unfortunately, it wasn't until much later that I realized my comeback should have been, "There are dozens of us! Dozens!" That has the advantage of being a reference to "Arrested Development."

Yes, at my suggestion, Jason, Rachel, Chris, and I went to Angel Stadium because my beloved Devil Rays were in town.



We were early enough to see the tail end of batting practice...



And they were showing the White Sox-Mariners game live on the giant screen...



At Angel Stadium, you can sometimes spot cameramen in their natural mountain environment...



Exchanging lineup cards; Lou Piniella looked like he was in a good mood...



Angels starting pitcher Chris Bootcheck, which I believe is also the name of a Windows XP utility...



Carl Crawford at the plate...



Devil Rays starting pitcher Mark Hendrickson, who is 6'9", but doesn't look quite as intimidating as Randy Johnson from way up here in the "view" level...



Why, these "view" level seats are high enough up that we can see Arrowhead Pond, home of the Los Angeles Mighty Ducks of Anaheim...



On the scoreboard, Jose Molina has to be "J.Molina," but Bengie Molina gets to be just plain "Molina"...



Say, here's something stupid and distracting: cell phone text messages on the scoreboard...



While we're at it, note that the Dodgers are "LAD" on the scoreboard here in Anaheim...



The Devil Rays somehow manage to light up Bootcheck, but as evening turns to night at Angel Stadium...



...the Angels have the bases loaded in the bottom of the 6th...



However, the Angels only put 3 runs across in the 6th, and so the Devil Rays are ahead 6-4 going into the bottom of the 9th with Danys Baez on the mound. After some anxious moments, Danys Baez has to call time because he's broken his belt; he has to walk over to get a new one...



And then both the umpire and catcher Toby Hall get to watch him closely as he puts the new belt on...



The "broken belt" ploy works, and, holy crap, the Devil Rays win...



Happy Rays...



Happy Jim...



After the game, we wait in the parking lot for the traffic to clear. Rachel and Jason leaning on Jason's car...



Chris and Jason...



Poor Angels, now tied with the A's for the American League West lead...

Labels: angels, chris lee, devil rays, game report, jason kaifesh, rachel morris

I guess I should call attention to the fact that someone from my hometown (in fact, we're both alumni of the same high school) was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame this past weekend. The Tampa Tribune was apparently giving Wade Boggs saturation coverage all last week. And his plaque mentions the Devil Rays!

Levi (or Toby): any Carmi connections to the Hall of Fame?

Labels: devil rays, hall of fame, tampa, wade boggs

The only real comment I have about watching the Devil Rays-Blue Jays game on TV tonight is that when Levi and I saw the Jays at SkyDome last year, the artificial turf was a brilliant shade of bright green; now that the building is known as Rogers Centre, they've switched to the modern-day artificial turf that more closely matches the color of real grass, yet somehow manages to look much worse on TV than real grass does.

Since that wasn't quite substantial enough for a post, I'll also provide a baseball-related excerpt from Bennett Cerf's 1956 collection of jokes and anecdotes "The Life of the Party"...

Two rooters at a ball game were so engrossed in the contest that neither wanted to take time out to march back to the refreshment bar for hot dogs -- and there wasn't a vendor in sight. They finally bribed a kid nearby to go for them, giving him forty-five cents and saying, "Buy a dog for yourself at the same time."

The kid came back with thirty cents change for them, explaining, "They only had my hot dog left."

Actually, this one is slightly more typical of a Bennett Cerf collection of jokes and anecdotes...

Milton Berle discovered Tallulah Bankhead rooted to a radio in her dressing room one day, screaming her head off for the New York Giants. "Gosh," exclaimed Miltie, "I didn't realize you were so interested in the national pastime." "Darling," snapped Tallulah, "I am the national pastime."

Incidentally, Tallulah wanted some new recipes for her chef to try. She called her favorite bookseller and ordered two copies of Fanny Farmer's Boston Red Sox Cookbook!

Labels: bennett cerf, blue jays, devil rays, fanny farmer, giants, milton berle, red sox, rogers centre, tallulah bankhead

Here's an article from the Tampa Tribune about the Devil Rays and why they're going to be playing in Tropicana Field for the foreseeable future.

Labels: devil rays, tropicana field

I didn't realize it, but apparently, yesterday was Throwback Uniform Day throughout the major leagues. I was tipped off by my father, who I called for Father's Day today; he had gone to see the Devil Rays play the Cardinals Saturday night, and reported that the Cardinals were wearing their 1982 powder blue road uniforms -- from back when we as a nation decided gray didn't look good enough on TV -- and the Devil Rays were wearing early 1960s uniforms from the University of Tampa, i.e., Lou Piniella's old college baseball uniform. Unfortunately, this is the best picture I could find showing the front of the Rays' uniforms.

Labels: Cardinals, devil rays

First of all, on last night's "Simpsons," astrology was described as "the Tampa Bay Devil Rays of the sciences." True enough.

Now, then, a while back, someone asked about baseball trips this summer. Sorry to say Levi and I aren't doing a big baseball road trip this year like we did last year. But -- unless gas goes above $4.00 a gallon -- Jason and I have a Western trip planned for July, involving fewer games than the trip last year...

Thursday, July 7: St. Louis at Arizona
Friday, July 8: Memphis at Albuquerque (Pacific Coast League, class AAA)
Saturday, July 9: Salt Lake City at Colorado Springs (another PCL game)
Sunday, July 10: San Diego at Colorado

We'd have done a slightly longer trip, but the baseball schedules didn't permit (for one thing, that's leading into the All-Star break for both MLB and the PCL).

Now, I also happen to know that Levi and Stacey are visiting New York next month with friends from the U.K.; I assume either the Yankees or the Mets will be in town, but their schedule might be filled with other plans. (The two minor-league teams in NYC won't be playing yet, since they're short-season Class A.)

And I have also suggested a fair number of potential itineraries to Levi and Stacey that would work if they wanted to visit southern California and see the Dodgers, Angels, and Padres. Now, Levi's predictable enough that I know his top choice would be the last weekend in July, when the Cardinals are in town to play the Dodgers, but he hasn't made a decision yet on whether or not he can make it then (or ever).

As far as I know, my first major-league game attendance this year is going to be two weeks from tonight, to see the first-place Dodgers play, that's right, the first-place Washington Nationals on May 2nd. Well, maybe they won't be in first place in two weeks, but whatever. The post-Opening Day column in the L.A. Times about how horrible the Dodgers were going to be this year is now but a distant memory.

Original comments...

Levi: I just this morning purchased several tickets in a terrible, distant-from-the-plate (maybe not even in Queens!) section of the upper deck of Shea Stadium to see the Cardinals play the Mets on May 14th.

Jim: From what I know about Shea Stadium, sounds like you'll have a very good view of the underside of airplanes.

Labels: devil rays, jason kaifesh, planning, simpsons

As you may recall from a post here a few weeks ago, I wanted to hate the new movie "Fever Pitch." You can't truly hate what you don't know, so I went to the theater today, grumbling through the euphemistically-named "pre-show countdown," grumbling through the trailer for a Hilary Duff movie, grumbling through the trailer for a movie about girls sharing pants, really grumbling through the trailer for "Titanic" in space, and returning to a normal level of grumbling during the unexplained and unexplainable short promoting "American Dad." Then the actual movie started.

Oh, wow, it's just so downright charming, it's impossible to hate. And it's about baseball! Johnny Damon is in several scenes! The words "Devil Rays" come out of Jimmy Fallon's mouth! I didn't even mind Tim McCarver's brief appearance! It made me forget all about that other movie called "Fever Pitch" with Colin what's-his-name.

Seriously, Levi, I highly recommend that you and Stacey see it. If nothing else, it made me want to go see another game at Fenway Park, or fall in love with Drew Barrymore (or someone similarly cute), or preferably both.

Labels: devil rays, drew barrymore, fever pitch, jimmy fallon, johnny damon, red sox

All is forgiven, Stephen King: "The hapless Devil Rays will be more hapless still if Ivan, third and worst hurricane to menace Florida in the last thirty days, blows away their JuiceDome down there in Tampa; like a certain unlucky Jew, they may be doomed to simply wander, dragging their dusty equipment bags behind them, playing everywhere and always batting in the top of the first. 'We once had a home,' they'll tell those who will listen. 'It wasn't very full, and most of the folks who showed up were old, many equipped with shunts and pee bags, but by God it was ours.'"

At the end of the book, it's fairly obvious that the day after the Sox won the World Series, the publisher was screaming at Stephen King and Stewart O'Nan on the phone: "Just get us the manuscript now so we can get the book out before Christmas!"

Labels: devil rays, Stephen King, tropicana field

Now that things are finally a bit quieter at work, I'm finally going to do a season-ending wrap-up. And I've decided that the way to do it which will be the most fun for me is to pair bad and good things about the season and string them out over many, many posts until I get bored, or all of you get bored, or pitchers and catchers report. So here goes.

Bad:
The *#$)@&@#% Braves won their weak-ass division again. Remember at the All-Star Break, when Dan pointed out that the Braves' struggles in the first half were one of the good things about the 2004 season so far? Yeah. That was nice. But now they've won their division every year since 1991 (except for 1994, when this much better Expos team would have beaten them, had it not been for Bud Selig). The last time the Braves didn't win their division, I had just gotten my driver's license. Only true political junkies knew who Bill Clinton was. Bob Hope wasn't even 90 years old yet. John Smoltz's Abe Lincoln beard had just gone out of style, along with high, starched collars and medicinal leeching.

And they've done it with a constantly changing cast. Smoltz is the only Braves player who's been on every one of those teams. *#$)@&@#% Braves.

Good:

The Tampa Bay Devil Rays escaped the cellar for the first time in team history. And the American League's Eastern Division had a new order of finish for the first time since 1998.

Original comments...

Toby: Levi, Surely you are as outraged as I am that a Cardinal didn't win the MVP... Do you think having three legitimate candidates ended up hurting each of their chances?

Levi: I have to admit, Toby, that I think Bonds was the MVP. He was just that much better.

I am surprised that Beltre finished second, since both Edmonds and Pujols were better than he was, and Rolen was just as good.

Edmonds is the one I think got jobbed: in my view, he was the second-best player in baseball this year, hands-down. But he finishes a distant fifth.

Dan: Down the stretch I was pulling for Beltre, because he sure carried the Dodgers on their back (and as he was on my fantasy team, I was paying close attention). But when I put it all in perspective, the Giants are, really, a last-place team without Bonds. He's just killer. I don't like him, but he's just in another world.

Of course, I'm no Cardinals fan. So I didn't see which of they three were most deserving, were deserving at all, etc.

And I have my own issues with Jime. So I'd call Vlad or Tejada 2nd best, but that's just me.

Dan: OT: http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/bal/news/bal_news.jsp?ymd=20041111&content_id=912833&vkey=news_bal&fext=.jsp -- an update on the Orioles' owbn Stahl.

Levi: Dan, it sounds like you dated Jimmy Edmonds, or were roommates with him, or the Porsche he sold you was a lemon.

Or do you have other problems with him?

Dan: Did I never tell you the story about the "Jime" fan?

I was at the one 2000 NLCS game the Mets lost (or, to your POV, that the Cardinals won), at Shea. There was some dude who was being insanely annoying, strangely combative guy wearing a shirt he made that said JimE (with no spaces) and a big No. 15. Under that it said MVP. He was a real pain in the ass and we (Mets fans) gave him an earful. And our seats sucked, so we were all collectively edgy as it is.

So that's why I don't like Jim Edmonds -- or, Jime. Not a very good one, but at least there's SOME story behind it.

Oh, and he had sex with my sister.

-Dan

Labels: braves, devil rays

With only two games to go, the Devil Rays are 3 games ahead of the Blue Jays for fourth place in the AL East.

Labels: devil rays

The Tampa Bay Devil Rays have released 1B/DH Randall Simon.

Now, this confuses me. That is to say, I'm not really confused about why a team might release a guy who's managed only a .188/.266/.266 line for the year. What confuses me is why you'd release him a mere 20 days after you signed him? You might remember that I picked on the Pirates for releasing him a month ago when they had nothing to play for and no reason not to keep the guy around. But this is far less explicable.

What could the Devil Rays have seen in Simon's 20 at-bats for them over the past 20 days that his whole career couldn't have prepared them for? Did he sleep with someone's wife? Does hs have particularly stinky socks? Did he steal Rocco Baldelli's glove and try to sell it to a collector? Did that walking Sausage invasion of Florida that the D-Rays were worried about fizzle out? Does Tampa Bay have enough prospects that they needed every space on their 40-man rost . . . oh, that sentence is just too silly to finish typing.

Regardless, it appears that Simon's career may have come to an end. So the next time we all gather, let's raise a glass to the wildest-swinging hitter I've ever seen.

Original comments...

Jim: Sausage invasion? He sure wasn't helping the Devil Rays defend Florida against the hurricane invasion!

Dan: Oh, this reminds me.. So as to avoid all the inevitable Ivan the Terrible references to that new hurricane, I want to refer to that storm as Hurricane Pudge. Who's with me?

Levi: I'm so there. Great idea.

Labels: devil rays, randall simon

Highs in the 60s in Chicago and St. Louis in August? I didn't think I was going to have to bring a jacket on this trip!

P.S.: I think the Devil Rays should call do-over on their 6-0 loss to the Red Sox today in Boston; clearly, they were distracted by the hurricane approaching their hometown. Actually, I wonder if they're secretly hoping Tropicana Field suffers damage serious enough that they'll have to have a new stadium built for them.

Original comments...

Levi: I don't think FEMA builds stadiums.

I remembered last night that the weather was unseasonably chilly ten years ago this week, when my parents, Pete Bodensteiner, Bob Hanscum, my brother, and I saw what turned out to be the last game of the season at Wrigley Field. The strike started the next day. It was so chilly at Wrigley that everyone wore jackets, but even that wasn't enough to keep my parents from huddling under the grandstand much of the game.

Man, the strike sure sucked. Fortunately, so did the Cardinals that year. I still feel like apologizing to Expos fans on behalf of human (and corporate) intransigence and greed.

Jim: I have quite a few episodes of "Mystery Science Theater 3000" that I taped in the summer of 1994, with Comedy Central ID bumpers where they're calling themselves "Official Network of the 1994 Players' Strike."

Unfortunately, Tropicana Field is quite a bit further inland than -- and probably much more solidly built than -- Al Lang Stadium, former spring training home of the Cardinals, and a very nice place to spend a spring afternoon.

Labels: devil rays, red sox, tropicana field

My brother got married last weekend in Indianapolis. Stacey and I and all the family had a great time dancing and making fun of Matt and generally enjoying welcoming a great new sister-in-law.

I had the honor of being the best man. While the groomsmen were locked away in a room in the bowels of the church away from the ladies, we got to watch the Cubs/Giants game. Despite the interest in the game displayed by most of the groomsmen, the wedding was not delayed, and I had to sneak back during picture-taking afterwards to see whether Greg Maddux had moved up a notch on this list.

The weekend was a good reminder of how useful a knowledge of sports can be in social situations. Say what you will about alcohol as a social lubricant; give me a little bit of knowledge of recent developments in sports over an Old Fashioned any day when I'm going to be hanging around a group of people I don't know very well.

P.S. Derek Zumsteg at USS Mariner has a good post about the bizarre obstruction call on Jose Lopez that handed the Devil Rays the game. (The archive link doesn't work, so scroll down to Saturday's posts.) There's also a good, if lengthy and inconclusive, discussion at Baseball Primer. My understanding of the rules on obstruction is that obstruction of a baserunner is necessarily a physical act, and that, as no one (Including the umpires!) has a right to a clear view of the field, obstructing a base runner's view can't be obstruction. Maura, is there an official D-Rays company position you'd like to share?

Original comments...

Jim: Thanks for the link to the Baseball Think Factory comments. Seems like a fun group there, if they can come up with both a reference to the Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players and the phrase "Vince Naimoli's daughter is crying like a baby."

Levi: Do you agree with me that, though some evidence is introduced to bolster both sides of the argument, the "That call [stunk]!" side is stronger?

Levi: Oh, and Toby, something you'll appreciate: Sunday morning I went for a run with Thys Bax. Thys humored me by allowing me to set the pace for our 12-mile run, but I still ended up really pushing myself because, well, I didn't want Thys to get completely bored. Then when we were mostly done, Brandon showed up on the trail and ran part of the way with us. I was, of course, way outclassed.

Toby: Thys, by the way, folks, is 59 years old. Brandon is his son (graduated a year after Matt if memory serves me correct).

thatbob: A little bit of knowledge of recent developments in sports in unfamiliar social situations is just not as likely to lead to spontaneous making out with cute girls as a few Old Fashioneds are. But I guess if it's also less likely to lead to throwing up all over everyone, then it has its place.

Labels: cubs, devil rays, giants, jose lopez, stacey shintani, stahls

One of my stops while I was in New York last week was the New York Transit Museum, which is in an old subway station in Brooklyn. Many of the old subway and elevated cars that are normally parked on the lower level had been moved out to run on fan trips all summer (this being the 100th anniversary of the opening of the first subway line in New York), so instead they brought in some not-so-old cars that have only recently been retired from the system. Including this one:



Yes, there's a Yankees logo on the other end of the car, but the platform wasn't wide enough for me to get a picture of the entire car. Besides, I would see plenty of Yankees logos at Yankee Stadium.

When I arrived at the stadium from the subway, wearing my Devil Rays shirt and cap, I ended up walking around the stadium the "wrong" way looking for the ticket booths. At the press/game personnel entrance, one of New York's finest stopped me and said, "You look like a big fan," then asked me who Paul Olden was, since he had just come in. I eventually remembered he was their radio play-by-play announcer. He was the TV broadcaster for the Yankees in the mid-1990s, but perhaps the cop was actually a Mets fan in disguise.

At any rate, there were plenty of good seats left for this game, now that the Devil Rays were no longer the hottest team in baseball. Here's the view I had:



Yes, you can smell the history at Yankee Stadium, or maybe that was just in the men's room. I completely forgot about going to Monument Park on my way in, so I had to settle for taking pictures from across the field. Also, I guess Adidas has enough money that they can print up a different bullpen awning for every visiting team:



Now, here's the sacrilegious part: because certain people had to work Thursday night, I was at the game alone; when I'm at a game alone, I try to keep up my scorekeeping skills. At Yankee Stadium, you had to buy the $7.00 magazine to get a scorecard, which I expected because of their evilness. (Surprisingly, though, they serve good and pure Coca-Cola instead of evil Pepsi.) One of the articles, written by Keith Olbermann, was about how no one can remember who the P.A. announcer for Yankees was before Bob Sheppard took over in 1951, not even Bob Sheppard himself. These days, he doesn't even do the between-inning promotions, just announces the starting lineups and does some of the other announcements at the beginning of the game, and then announces the players during the game. Problem is, I found him a little bit hard to hear and understand, especially his first announcement of each half-inning where he was usually talking over music. It's probably a combination of the P.A. speakers all being in center field, plus his 136-year-old voice. Vin Scully, who is almost as old, has the benefit of going through radio and/or TV audio engineering.

Also at the game, by the way, were former New York Giants quarterback Phil Simms (who got a lot of applause) and current Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach Jon Gruden (who got no applause because they showed him briefly on the Diamond Vision screen but didn't put his name on the scoreboard, so I may have been the only person who noticed him and recognized him). I saw only two other people wearing Devil Rays merchandise. I was asked a couple of times if I was from Florida. "Originally," I said both times. The man sitting next to me asked if I knew why Fred McGriff only had two home runs for the season, so I attempted to explain the whole sordid story.

Anyway, here, have some more pictures. Anyone want to translate the orange-and-white ad here, which I assume is for the benefit of people in Japan watching Hideki Matsui?



And anyone want to translate the "F" and "G," or perhaps "FG," on the out-of-town scoreboard? It's hard to see because I didn't take this picture until after dark, but there is a column of single-digit numbers available under each letter, which weren't used at any point. Until I hear differently, I'm going to assume it stands for "Faraway Games."



They still make the groundskeepers do "YMCA"!



The Number 4 wins the subway race!



Speaking of which, this isn't necessarily a baseball-related story, but people who know me may find it amusing: on the way back from the game, I had to change trains at 59th Street-Columbus Circle. So picture me, wearing a Devil Rays shirt and cap, on a subway platform with dozens of people wearing Yankees shirts and/or caps, so I perhaps looked less like a New Yorker than every other person there. Nevertheless, two people came up to me and asked about getting to Penn Station. I'm beginning to think my reputation is preceding me. (Yes, I did know the right answer, more or less. I didn't realize it was as late as it was, so I told them they could either take the local C on the outside track or the express A on the inside track, whichever came first, but in the late-night hours, the A runs local instead of the C, so what showed up first was an A on the outside track. The people I had helped had wandered off, so I didn't see if they managed to figure it out or not. Yes, the New York subway is somewhat more complicated than, for example, the Chicago 'L'.)

Later, waiting for the light to change at the corner of 48th Street and 8th Avenue, a man asked me if I knew where the strip clubs were. But that's another story.

The final line, on the Yankee Stadium scoreboard (and note that, although they have enough money to make a "Tampa Bay Devil Rays" awning, they don't have enough money to put in a scoreboard with enough characters available to allow a space between "Tampa" and "Bay"):



Here's the headline from the Daily News. Really, the difference in the game was that Victor Zambrano was shaky at the beginning, and Jose Contreras wasn't.



And the front page. I wonder how many people know what that thing between "Daily" and "News" is supposed to be, now that they're "New York's Hometown Newspaper" instead of "New York's Picture Newspaper." Why, they don't even own WPIX-TV anymore. But the good news is that, since both New York teams have baseball-shaped logos, it makes for a nice layout balance.



Later, in Connecticut, I saw The Ballpark at Harbor Yard, home of the Bridgeport Bluefish. You get a very nice long view into the stadium as you're on a train that's decelerating into the Bridgeport train station, it turns out, but there wasn't a game going on as I was preparing to detrain in Bridgeport.

Original comments...

Dan: I believe I read somewhere it's an ad for a Japanese newspaper (Yomiuri Shimbun?)

Luke: FG = First game?

Levi: I bet the guy who asked you about the strip clubs had been hoping to run into Mo Vaughn, but in Vaughn's absence, he turned to you.

Steve: I find it hard to believe nobody knew who Jon Gruden was. During the football season they cut over to him on the sidelines more than any other coach.

maura: victor, not carlos, zambrano. but don't worry, people make that mistake all the time.

Jim: Well, Carlos Zambrano would have been shaky at the beginning, too, if he'd been there.

maura: a handy mnemonic: the 'v' in victor stands for 'get out of the way, because there's a good chance he'll hit you.'

DrBear: Yup, FG is for first game. You kids may be too young, but us old-timers remember when teams used to play two games in one day! The old scoreboard at County Stadium in Milwaukee had the same thing as G1, even including it at the end of the linescore for the Braves/Brewers game.

Labels: devil rays, game report, jon gruden, paul olden, phil simms, victor zambrano, yankees

Yes, I was at Yankee Stadium for last Thursday's 7-1 loss by the Devil Rays. I'll post photos and more details tomorrow (or later Monday, given what the time stamp is going to be on this post), including some perhaps sacrilegious observations regarding Yankee P.A. announcer Bob Sheppard and my ability to understand what he was saying.

Actually, here's an observation I'll post right now: during the seventh-inning stretch, the Yankees play "God Bless America" (a recording of Kate Smith, in this case) and then "Take Me Out to the Ball Game." A disheartening number of people sat down after "God Bless America."

Original comments...

Levi: Though I'm with you on the "Only one song should be played during the seventh-inning stretch, and that's 'Take Me Out to the Ballgame' (although I make an exception for Wisconsin, where tradition and history demand following it up with 'Roll Out the Barrel'), I'm willing to give Yankee fans a pass for a few weeks.

After all, maybe they were worn out from booing Cheney recently.

Dan: Yankee fans, with a handful of exceptions, are bandwagon-jumping pricks. And they have been for the better part of 80 years.

Go Mets, woo!

Dan: Oh, and kids who like the Yankees are even worse.

Labels: bob sheppard, devil rays, god bless america, seventh inning stretch, take me out to the ball game, yankees

The Sports Illustrated cover curse strikes again! The Devil Rays have a losing record since the "10 things that are awesome about baseball" issue came out last Thursday with their name mentioned on the cover (2-4), and now with his blown save today, Eric Gagne is not quite so awesome anymore. The other items specifically listed: "Perfect Randy Johnson," "Yankee Economics," and "Must-see Barry Bonds." So let's see: Randy Johnson gets hypnotized into thinking he's a chicken, Barry Bonds falls into a bottomless pit...

Labels: devil rays, eric gagne, simpsons, sports illustrated

Yes, I know I claimed I wasn't going to post any more Devil Rays updates until they put another long winning streak together, but Maura practically ordered me to post this...

At one point this season, the Rays were 18 games under .500. Now they're 1 game over .500.

As of Friday night, they became the first team to claw their way back up to .500 after being 18 under since the 1899 Louisville Colonels.

Original comments...

maura: this run has also inspired some excellent google searches.

Jim: No wonder the Rays are doing so well; Lou Piniella seems to have gone insane. A potential bikini wax is supposed to motivate the team? And between him and Tony La Russa, that's too many people from Tampa that I've been forced to picture nude recently (yes, I know La Russa wasn't the naked one in the Steve Kline incident, but that's still a little too close for comfort). The only people from Tampa who I want to think about being naked are Alesha Oreskovich (Playboy's Miss June 1993) and both Rebecca Romijn-Stamos and Laura Harring's characters in "The Punisher." I don't even enjoy picturing myself nude.

Jason: If you check the 2nd link from Maura's google search, you might find some pics of me floating around there.

Jim: Jason's secret other life revealed!

Labels: devil rays, louisville colonel

All right, last Devil Rays update for now, at least until their new winning streak reaches double digits.

I always enjoy how two teams can play completely different games on consecutive days: 2-1 in 10 innings on Wednesday, and then 19-13 on Thursday. So I hope we see examples of both types on our trip.

Original comments...

Jason: Tampa Bay pitcher Dewon Brazelton had a no-hitter going until the 8th in the Devil Rays' 2-0 win over Florida. It's their 12th straight interleague win.

Maybe they should trade places with the Marlins.

Labels: devil rays

So much for the Devil Rays' win streak. If there's any consolation, it's that they didn't go out quietly, since it took the Blue Jays 10 innings to win tonight's game.

Tomorrow, the new streak starts!

Original comments...

thatbob: Well, no. Technically the new streak started the night of the loss. Perhaps tomorrow (ie. today) the streak will continue, 2L?

Jim: No, I meant that a new winning streak would start tomorrow. And it did!

thatbob: Oh.

Labels: blue jays, devil rays

I guess the Devil Rays can continue their winning ways, even against the AL! Or maybe the problem is too many zombies in the Blue Jay lineup.

Labels: blue jays, devil rays

The Devil Rays have now set the MLB record for longest win streak of the 2004 season. Too bad they have to play an AL team on Tuesday.

Original comments...

maura: yeah, but it's the blue jays. who are without both vernon wells and carlos delgado.

i have faith. i mean, sheesh, mark hendrickson got out of that bases-loaded jam today, and i thought he was TOTALLY SCREWED at that point.

maura: not to mention: rocco baldelli WALKED today. when does he ever do that?!?

(rocco, if you find this via google, i still adore you! and your bobblehead is right next to my powerbook)

Levi: You know, when they were talking about moving the Diamondbacks to the AL a few years ago, maybe they were talking about the wrong team moving. I haven't looked at the standings today, but I bet a 70-0 record would lead any National League division.

Steve: Eleven in a row is pretty awesome. But I would think that after 11 straight wins less than 1/2 way through the season the team would be a little better than 10 games out. Wasn't Lou Pinella going around Tampa during the off-season touting how well the D-Rays were going to do. I heard something about how in the course of a week in front of three different audiences he said they would, "not finish last," "finish third," "challenge for a playoff spot" Paraphrasing of course.....

Levi: Also, I would think that after five seasons of finishing in last place, with almost no signs of progress, D-Rays GM Chuck LaMar would have been fired six or seven times.

maura: if they were in the al west, or al central, or nl east, they'd be less than five games out. the yankees (sigh) are running away with the al east, and boston, who the rays are now six games behind, has a better record than both those division's leaders (and the nl east's phillies, too)

thatbob: Gee! If I were in the al west, or al central, or nl east, maybe I'd be less than five games out, too! Gives a boy a chance to dream...

maura: :P

Labels: devil rays

People in the Tampa Bay area are so shocked by the Devil Rays' winning streak, they're hitting the wrong pedal even more often than usual!

Oh, yeah, Levi wanted me to write about the Cardinals, didn't he? Well, they're only 8-2 in their last 10 games. And they may have only four losses in the month of June, but the Rays only have three losses this month. I repeat, they're making people want to pick up their baggage at the Tampa airport really fast so they can get home to watch the games on PAX 66!

Labels: Cardinals, devil rays

Maybe the Devil Rays suddenly realized that the possibility exists for them to win the World Series in the same year that their hockey counterparts, the Lightning, won the Stanley Cup.

Or maybe the thought process is, "Well, we're never going to see these NL West teams again, because we'll probably be contracted out of existence before they come around again in the interleague rotation, so let's make the most of it."

Labels: devil rays

Man #1: So that's your new TiVo?
Man #2: By jumping past pitching changes and the commercial blocks between innings, you can watch a whole game and save almost an hour.
Man #1: What would I do with another hour? Look, I have these unwanted periods of consciousness. I use TV sports to get rid of them.

In other news, the Devil Rays have won a franchise record seven straight games, so clearly, Levi needs to go on vacation more often. Alternately, perhaps the Rays could be switched from the AL to the NL.

Original comments...

thatbob: What is a Tank McNamara? Is it related to the Simon and Garfunkel song?

Jim: There's a Simon and Garfunkel song called "Tank McNamara"?

"Tank McNamara" is a sports-themed comic strip. The title character is a football player turned sportscaster, although many of the strips don't include him at all, such as today's. Many newspapers run it in the sports section instead of on the comics page, including the Tampa Tribune during the 1980s, which is where I first became aware of its existence.

thatbob: "Many newspapers run it in the sports section instead of on the comics page,"

In the sacred space customarily accorded to Gil Thorpe?!? For shame!

Epacris: That particular day's strip is one of my top favourites.

(My all-time favourite is Calvin & Hobbes, 2nd June, 1983 aka 'The Big Picture')

I have TMcN on "My Yahoo" front page. Since I'm from Australia & (somewhat unusually) quite uninterested in sport, a lot of the strip doesn't make much sense, but it can be quite fun about universal sporting foibles.

Labels: devil rays, tank mcnamara

Two recent pieces of news from the Los Angeles Dodgers: their organist Nancy Bea Hefley is playing a lot less than she used to, and they're considering adding a mascot (no link available, but there was a story in today's L.A. Times that, if today were April 1 and not June 1, I would have thought was fake).

I'm wondering if new Dodgers owner Frank McCourt doesn't have some kind of "Producers"-style scam going on that depends on low attendance at Dodger Stadium. Raising ticket prices would have been too obvious, so he raised parking prices and concession stand prices, but that didn't work too well, because people still keep showing up to the games. There were no spectacular free agent signings in the off-season, just a troublemaker acquired at the last minute. Yet the Dodgers are doing pretty well, so people still keep showing up to the games. Perhaps when the no-organ-plus-annoying-mascot plan doesn't work, McCourt will make every night Free Beach Ball Night, in which every fan will get a free pre-inflated beach ball and will be encouraged to bat it around in the stands throughout the game. Oh, wait a second...

By the way, the Major League Baseball organist situation isn't quite as dire as the Seattle Times column makes it out to be. Their list of organists is incomplete. For example, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays have a live organist, believe it or not, to name one team they didn't mention. His booth is next to, but not inside, the press box, and I was just a few sections over from it at the game last month. I only realized afterwards that I should have gone over there to see if he took requests.

Original comments...

Levi: Hey, don't knock Milton Bradley.

As he said last year when sent down by Cleveland, "There seems to be one set of rules for Milton Bradley, and another set for everybody else."

thatbob: Oh, see, I have a deep and profound love for annoying mascots that I'm surprised you don't share, Jim. But at least if they get a Trolley Dodger, they'll have to get a trolley, no? Wouldn't that make you happy! LA hasn't had one of those since, what, the 1940s?

I hope it's a big pink and green trolley made of balloons and glitter that runs back and forth across the backfield. Isn't that the kind you like?

Jason: Bernie Brewer was never annoying.

Levi: If the Dodgers get a mascot, who's next? A big, stinky Red Sock? A plastered Trixie named Cubbina?

We can only hope.

Jim: The Red Sox have a mascot: Wally the Green Monster.

Labels: devil rays, dodger stadium, dodgers, frank mccourt

First and most importantly, I have solved a mystery that has been puzzling Levi ever since last July, regarding the end of a certain White Sox-Devil Rays game, captured by Levi's TiVo and replayed endlessly. The question was, what was the deal with the Devil Rays mascot, Pansy the Wuss-Wuss Fish Who Can't Keep It Up (a.k.a. Raymond), when he was jumping around with the players?

The answer is that if the Rays are behind, he spends the bottom of the ninth standing around on top of the visitors' dugout, dressed in a black shirt and mask, "disguised" as Rally Ray. Unfortunately, I was unable to get a good picture of him as he was unsuccessfully attempting to work his mojo against the Rangers on Tuesday night:



And now, more pictures:


Tropicana Field, as seen from the Interstate. It's hard to tell, but we were driving through a sudden, very brief cloudburst at this point, approximately 6:40 P.M., and that's why the city of St. Petersburg built a dome in the late 1980s.


The view from my seat, on the club level. I have to admit that this would be a very nice stadium if not for the permanent roof.


Plenty of good seats available. The official attendance was 10,389, but there were probably fewer than 7,000 people actually at the game. This is what happens when a team has lost its last five games and 12 out of its last 14, and plays a Tuesday night game against a team other than the Yankees or Red Sox, and doesn't give away some sort of promotional item. They did not play Guess the Attendance on the scoreboard.


Maura's favorite player!


The final line.


Headline in the Tampa Tribune.


Headline in the Dallas Morning News (it was a coincidence that I was changing planes not too far away from The Ballpark at Arlington...excuse me, Ameriquest Field).


Unfortunately, although the Lowry Park Zoo in Tampa has a "please touch" ray pond, since they're all the rage these days, they haven't labeled which ones are the devil rays. (Insert your own joke here, or better yet, in the comments.)

Original comments...

maura: haha, i was totally going to ask you where the picture of rocco was!! nice work, my friend, nice work. have you been to other roofed parks ever? i have never seen a baseball game indoors, and man people i know sure hate tropicana field.

maura: i am really sad about the rays this season, too, but i think i've mentioned that. sigh

Levi: I've been to a game at the Metrodome, with Stacey and Sarah Meisch and Dan Rivkin and Baggarly. We all kind of enjoyed it, although it was weird. The worst part was leaving a 65-degree sunny day to enter a 65-degree fluorescent-lit dome.

Steve: As much as I'm glad Jim was able to enjoy a trip home, (and catch an AL game in a dome) his attention to detail makes a strong case that baseball could use some contraction.

Jim: Nah, I'd have the same attention to detail even if the AL still had only eight teams. But it'll all be worth it if I get on "Super Millionaire."

Steve: I hear you on that super millionare. Will you be my phone a friend if I make it? I don't like the new "jury" lifeline. Even though they should be super brainy, I don't trust them. They are there at the producers behest no?

Labels: devil rays, game report, pansy, rangers, tropicana field

Q. What has Levi done many, many times in his life that Jim had never done until last night, at least as far as he can remember?

A. Fall asleep listening to a West Coast baseball game on the radio. True, Devil Rays announcer Paul Olden is no Jack Buck, and "edgy" news/talk station WFLA is no "classy" news/talk station KMOX, but it was a neat experience. I may have to do it more often than once every 29-1/2 years.

I actually almost turned it off once the Angels scored five runs in the seventh inning, but decided to stay up for updates on the Rangers-Tigers game which ended up being won by Texas 16-15 in the 10th inning. I also wondered idly how many times in his Devil Rays broadcasting career Paul Olden has had to say something like, "Things have gone bad for the Rays," as he did a couple of times during the last inning and a half last night.

Original comments...

Levi: I bet he has had to say that about as often as Bob Uecker, despite it being only April, has had to dig for topics of discussion during a blowout.

Tom Ellwanger: Well, at least they were competitive for 7 innings. Make that 6-1/2.

Levi: I have to admit that I'm impressed the D-Rays have a radio affiliate. Remember a few seasons ago when the Expos, at the worst point of their mismanagement, had no English-language radio broadcasts?

Actually, the Devil Rays are much better off than the Expos. First, they're outhitting Barry Bonds, at least. And second, they're averaging on the season more fans per game than the Expos drew in total for their three weeekend games against St. Louis.

Labels: angels, devil rays, paul olden, radio

As you come down the escalator toward baggage claim at Tampa International Airport, there are these big LCD screens that list all the current incoming flights and their assigned baggage carousels. But there's a panel in the middle that the airport uses to welcome whatever convention, group, or Mafia den is coming to town. Friday afternoon, it read "LIGHTNING VS. PHILADELPHIA FLYERS, SAT. & MON./Devil Rays vs. Texas Rangers, Tues., Wed. Thurs." Nice to know not everyone has hockey fever; however, I have a feeling that very few of the people coming into the airport on Friday afternoon are going to be at any one of those Devil Rays games. But I will.

Labels: devil rays, tampa

Well, no wonder, considering the fact that the Cardinals have a gargantuan number of radio affiliates. I'm thinking you wouldn't have had the same luck if you were driving through Florida trying to listen to the Devil Rays game, although I can't imagine a situation where that would come up.

Next time your iPod freezes up, Levi, try resetting it, by flipping the hold switch back and forth, and then hold down the "play/pause" and "menu" buttons simultaneously for about 10 seconds, until the Apple logo displays on the screen.

(P.S.: I see there's a show on WXRU that has a city in the title, but in reality has nothing whatsoever to do with that city. Where would they have ever gotten that idea? I'm not sure if I should be flattered, or join with WXLO-FM in their lawsuit. They ripped off those call letters from the former WOR-FM in New York anyway. Go to the link and scroll down for some info on that.)

Original comments...

Levi: I've been able to reset my iPod before by toggling the hold switch, then holding down the middle button, but I've not tried the menu/play button thing. Thanks.

Labels: Cardinals, devil rays, radio

I saw "The Punisher" today, which was filmed in, and takes place in, Tampa. I don't think I'm giving anything away here, since it was mentioned in several reviews I've read, but there's a torture scene involving someone's facial piercings and a pair of pliers. Perhaps it would have been more effective if the torture had instead involved attendance at a Devil Rays game.

I say that with love, of course, since the stars have aligned such that I will be in my hometown a mere three weekends from now, and I will be seeing the Devil Rays play the Rangers at Tropicana Field on Tuesday, May 11th. I guess technically, this counts as a new stadium for me, although I've seen both NHL hockey games and college basketball games there in its previous incarnations as the Florida Suncoast Dome and as the Thunderdome.

Labels: devil rays, the punisher

I set the TiVo to record the MLB Extra Innings feed of this morning's game. If I'd been 100% sure it would be showing up for free, I might have woken up earlier to watch it; as it was, I had to fast-forward through major portions of the game, which turned out to be a good thing. It was the Yankees' YES Network coverage, and it looked like they had dug up a lot of old films of teams and players visiting Japan in the past, including Mickey Mantle celebrating his 24th birthday while the Yankees were on a barnstorming tour of Asia. (Actually, maybe ESPN showed the same footage yesterday morning, but I wouldn't know.) Also, there will be a suitable-for-framing 8x10 photo of a Yankee great inside the Sunday Daily News every week.

Anyway, now that we know I'll be getting MLB Extra Innings free for the first week of the season, Levi, you're invited to my nameless apartment for the real Opening Day on Monday. It kicks off with Tigers at Blue Jays at 10:00 A.M. (And then the question is, since this morning's game was the first one in the Extra Innings package, will they define "first week" as lasting only until next Wednesday, or all the way through Sunday the 11th?)

Labels: devil rays, directv, yankees

Future hanger-on Luke Seemann pointed out a photo in the Chicago Tribune yesterday, taken at the Tokyo Dome at the Yankees/Devil Rays game. Luke characterizes it as the best sign ever. I think I might have to agree. It said, "Hi, Derek. I hope you achieve more and more!"

You gotta have wa.

Labels: devil rays, japan, luke seemann, yankees

In case you were sleeping: The Tampa Bay Devil Rays are in first place!

Jim: you'd better put down your subscription copy of Red Eye and start making World Series plans!

Labels: devil rays

You know, I didn't even mention the Fox Sports Net promo in which the burglars are ransacking a house, but stop and put all the stuff back after they spy...some Devil Rays autographed collector's items. At the end of the spot, the burglars leave a note: "Sorry about the window."

I'm pretty sure this is a promo used in every FSN region, with the only difference being a different team's merchandise in the point-of-view shot. But, really, shouldn't Fox Sports Net Florida have also re-edited it so that the note read "Sorry about the Devil Rays"?

But it's all moot, as far as I'm concerned, now that I informed a DirecTV "entertainment consultant" of my sincere desire to not have my DirecTV bill go up by $35.00 a month after my introductory period ends. I think it's a little creepy that they can take away channels instantly while you're still on the phone with them (it seems to take hours, if not days, for the cable company to make changes). Kind of makes you wonder what else they can take away.

Actually, as I understand it, the MLB pay-per-view package is probably going to be free for the first week of the season, so maybe I'll end up watching a Devil Rays regular-season game, assuming every other game being played simultaneously is in a rain delay (or snow delay) and my TiVo has failed to record any "Match Game" episodes recently.

Labels: devil rays, directv

I believe that last line should be "...it's the best place in Tampa Bay to run around like a deranged orphan."

Links to e-mail me and Levi are now at the bottom of the page, under the archives links.

Labels: devil rays

I've been thinking about how I would go about promoting the Devil Rays, if that were part of my sentence for some particularly heinous crime.

It's tough. You can't try to convince people that you're going to win, because they've been watching for six years and they know which Sandberg you have on your team.

You can't tell them about hope for the future, because even a casual fan can see that there's no hope in the near future of passing the Orioles, let alone the Blue Jays, Red Sox, then the Yankees.

And you can't use the Wrigley Field approach, selling drunken fun in the sun, because you play here.

You can't even sell the team on the nine games they play against the Yankees at home, the only games that the mostly-100-year-old retirees from New York City who comprise your market care about. After all, it's only nine games, and the Devil Rays know they're bound to lose seven or eight of them.

So maybe the Devil Rays do have the right idea with the silly ad Jim described of the kids discussing the merits of Tino Martinez and Aubrey Huff. You've got to go for the kids. But, as in most activities, the D-Rays are going about this the wrong way. Here's the text of my radio ad, which would run on, like, Radio Disney.

"Kids. Are you stuck visiting at Grandma's house with NOTHING to do but watch Wheel of Fortune? And you can't go anywhere because you can't drive and our public transit system is nonexistent? And there are no other kids in the neighborhood because the only kids in Florida are at Tomorrowland right now?

I bet your Grandma doesn't even have any video games.

That's right. Being at Grandma's sucks. It might be the only thing that sucks more than . . . . YOUR TAMPA BAY DEVIL RAYS!

Get Grandma to drop you off at the ballpark today! Tropicana Field: it's the best place in Tampa to run around like a deranged orphan!"

I suppose I should give my email in case the Devil Rays want to give me a consulting contract. Oh, and the ad should be read in a wacky, kid-friendly voice.

Labels: devil rays

Oh, those poor Devil Rays. You know it's bad when your commercial is based on a premise (two kids being Devil Rays fans) that is so unlikely that even that Cadillac ad using Led Zeppelin seems more realistic.

But maybe that's their idea. They want to distract viewers with the only premise less likely than the Rays winning 75 games?

Labels: devil rays

Because my DirecTV introductory offer is up in a few days, I'm going to be canceling their sports channel package (turns out it's not going to be worth $12.00 a month to be able to watch "The Best Damn Sports Show Period" on 15 different channels). However, I took advantage of it one last time today to watch some spring training baseball...Tigers vs. Devil Rays, from "Progress Energy Park, home of Al Lang Field," as the announcers were careful to say.

During one commercial break, there was a promo for Devil Rays tickets: two kids on the beach arguing about who's better, Aubrey Huff or Tino Martinez. "Tino's the man!" "Aubrey's the man!" Meanwhile, there's sand being thrown on them; eventually, the scene widens to show that Pansy the Wuss-Wuss Fish has constructed a giant replica World Series trophy out of sand. Then one of the kids yells, "We're trying to make sandcastles here!"

Oh, yeah, Rays 11, Tigers 3, but to be fair, it seemed like the Rays were using a lot of actual players, while the Tigers were using a lot of players with uniform numbers above 70, including some 3-digit numbers.

Labels: aubrey huff, devil rays, directv, pansy, tigers, tino martinez

Three years ago, friends of ours named Luke and Sandy went on a baseball road trip and kept a joint blog about it. So I figured we should either rip them off, or pay homage to them, depending on whether or not Luke and Sandy are going to be reading this.

This is actually the replacement for some "manual" blogging I had been doing about this trip on my own web site, so I've copied all those entries over to here. The advantages are that Levi can easily make entries here as well, and we can both make entries from anywhere...including while we're on the trip, if we can beg, borrow, or steal a computer capable of connecting to the Internet at some point.

It has also been rumored that Luke may be joining us for the first portion of our road trip. I hope he can make it, even if I disagree in part with his opinions on National Anthem etiquette. While I will happily sing along to an instrumental version (especially if it's being played live by an organist), I will remain silent if someone is out on the field performing, because I actually want to listen to their performance. But I do agree that the cheering shouldn't start until the end of the song, no matter how good the singer is at hitting the high note.

Therefore, in case they do instrumental versions of "O Canada" in Toronto and/or Montreal, I want to be sure I have the lyrics down.

On another note, my mother tells me that my cousin is getting married in Connecticut in July. Depending on the exact wedding plans (and the exact wedding location), I may attempt to come up with a scheme to visit New York for a day, a city which is a noticeable gap on the road trip itinerary. The Yankees will be in town that weekend, right before the All-Star break, playing my hometown Devil Rays.

Labels: admin, brpa, devil rays, luke seemann, national anthem, planning, road trip, sandy weisz, yankees