The opening was majestic.  The banner was raised.  There were flags and singing and booing of politicians.  Our favorite cast was in their dress whites.  Fans everywhere were stoked.

It was great to see our heroes Price, Shields and Davis turn in great performances.  However, the plot was full of twists and turns.  The most shocking of which was the cast of villains.

These unsuspecting fellows were terrifying.  One was an artist, one was a marksman, and the third fellow threw darts.  Normally this wouldn’t be a problem, as our guys are pretty talented themselves but their weapons of choice seemed to be broken or compromised.

Brian Roberts was another antagonist that really got under the viewer’s skin.  In the way that you really wish he was on your side instead of the dark side.

The Rays did have their own interesting characters.  BJ the “bad boy” is always a focal point.  Fans either love him or hate him.  He was one of the bright spots but also ran into some problems.  I for one love him protecting center field, but I think he needs to bulk up if he wants to tangle with catchers at the plate. 

Sam Fuld is a nice addition as the sidekick.  My friend laughed when I called him a pocket rocket.  I just think he’s small, totally cute and he gets the job done.

Elliot Johnson made his season debut and fit right in.  He helped bring in a run the Rays way with a beautiful squeeze bunt.  Classic!

Johnny Damon did provide some comedic relief with his play in left field.  However the San Fransisco Giants outfielders were totally hilarious, so he won’t win any awards.

Lets hope the Skipper sharpens his skills as the season goes on.  There were two occasions I thought he left his starting pitchers in a bit too long.  One would think in their first start of the season any sign of fatigue would be a red flag?

There were three shocking twists.  First Jake McGee made a little boo-boo that was kind of a big deal.  Second Benny Z, one of the Rays who seems to still have his powers, drove one high and deep and far but alas another villain Nick Markakis prevented the happy ending from coming to fruition.  Third and most devastating, the shows biggest star Evan Longoria was injured and his storyline will be on the back burner for a couple of weeks.  I was left wanting a montage complete with sad music of his in game makeover.  Sorry folks but the mullet has left the building.

So in the end although the ratings were excellent, the Rays premier was a little darker and more depressing than I thought it would be.  I think this cast of characters has the potential to be extremely entertaining.  I guess we’ll have to tune in tomorrow to see what happens when the Angels come to town.  Go Rays!

Benny Z, BJ and Matt Joyce are back.  I’m looking forward to seeing their familiar faces.

Rays fans should also be familiar with Justin Ruggiano since he’s filled in a time or two.

There are a couple of new Rays that you might have heard a little bit about.  Johnny Damon and Manny Ramirez are both listed as outfielders but let’s hope we don’t see the later actually in the field.

Then there’s Desmond Jennings.  I am really excited to see him in action.  Word on the street is that he’ll probably end up in Durham but I have big dreams of him patrolling left field for the Rays someday.

Now on to the newbies.
#66 Chris Carter

The Rays picked him up from the Mets and signed him to a minor league deal.  He’s mostly a DH type.  He went to Stanford and was pre-med.

#27 Sam Fuld

Sam came to the Rays as part of the Garza trade.  He actually played at Stanford with Chris Carter.  His parents are brilliant and he was an economics student.  Not to mention he’s quite attractive, so I’m wishing him lots of luck this spring.

#30 Brandon Guyer

Brandon is another toolsy outfielder that came over in the Garza trade.  He went to Virginia.  Manny seems to like him, that’s good enough for me.

Why the picture of Matt Joyce you ask?  No reason except he’s super cute and I’m hoping to see a lot of him this season.

Manny and Damon will be fun pieces for Joe Maddon to play with.  However he is going to have so many options this year that I don’t know if any of the other new guys will end up on the roster.  Especially since he’s got guys like Ben Zobrist that can play infield or outfield. 

Next time we’ll look at the infielders…

Lance Cormier

We’ll miss the good times but mostly we’ll miss using this picture.  You might not be 40, and you might not be a virgin but Steve Carrell has nothing on you.

Willy Aybar

We’ll miss your timely home runs, your smile and your boots with fur.

Dan Wheeler

We’ll miss all the big outs you’ve given us fans.  Plus we’re worried Mr. Staats will be lonely without you. 

Rafael Soriano and Joaquin Benoit

I’m afraid I might miss this tag team more than anything from 2010.

Chad Qualls
We hardly knew ye, but we’ll miss the grounders.

Carlos Pena

We will truly miss you and your passion for the game.  Show Chicago that smile and you’ll be fine.

Dioner Navarro

We’ll miss the all-star Navi.  Maybe the Dodgers can bring him back to life.

Gabe Kapler

We’ll miss those forearms, enough said.

Matt Garza

The facial hair, the spitting, the no hitters, we are really going to miss you and your bad self.

Carl Crawford

Yeah this one just plain sucks.  We’re going to miss everything about you dude.  Thanks for the good times.

Randy Choate

Later loogy we’ll miss you.

Jason Bartlett

Oh, Barty it’s hard to quit you, but Briggy will help us get over you.

Grant Balfour

Not you too?  All these bullpen goodbyes are making me nervous.  Good luck to ya mate.

Rocco Baldelli

Your number one in my heart even if you’re not on the field.

Thanks for the memories boys.

The Tampa Bay Rays pitchers and catchers report today.  WooHoo!  However I guess that means I have to answer the question that keeps coming up.  Hello? Where the heck have you been?

Well rest assured I am never far from a baseball field.  I have two boys who play travel ball and when the Rays finish their season the kids are just getting started.  Although it is time consuming it is also exciting.  I’ve even seen a couple of big leaguers this off season.  Roy Halladay was very gracious whenever he was at the fields.  Miguel Cairo looks to be in great shape.  I thought it would be funny to ask him if he could get Jonny Gomes’ autograph for us, but in the end I like to leave these guys alone.  Matt Joyce even coached first base for one of the teams.  All the kids were stoked to see him there.

The off season is also a good time for me to work on my other writing with no interruptions.  So while I have been following all of the Rays news, I haven’t had the urge to tear myself away and write about them.  Valentines day always changes that for me though. 

It is the most optimistic day of the year and for none of the lovey dovey reasons.  Every team has a fresh start on fresh grass under blue skies.  It just warms my heart.  No chocolate needed!

While many in the bay area are not excited about this team after losing some of their favorites, I think this year is going to be a blast.  That could be the optimism talking, but in a very short time the Rays will be in our living rooms every night again and all will be right with the world.  How can you not be delighted by that?

I’ve been sorta watching the championship series’, but it’s definitely not as much fun when your team is home watching it with you.  Up until last night I hadn’t even had an urge to root for any of  ”those” teams.  However the fans in San Fransisco swayed me.  They are so stoked about their team.  It took me back to 2008.  Right then and there I decided to root for the teams that hadn’t been there because I want their fans to have that feeling.

With the Rangers it wasn’t an easy decision.  I like a lot of the players on that team but they did just beat our Rays.  Plus I still want Kinsler to drop and give me twenty for skipping to first base on his devastating home run.  Given a choice between them and the Yankees it is pretty easy though.  I think the Yankees have had their share of success.

The Phillies have also had their share of success.  I am a big fan of Roy Halladay, and would love to see him take on Cliff Lee in Philly but  I can’t help root for the Giants.  It took me a bit to get to that point though since every time Pat Burrell shows up on my TV I wish I had a BB gun.

Other thougths…

A fan is a fan is a fan.  Quit flooding my twitter account with tweets ripping other fan bases.  It all happens everywhere.  There are not only empty seats in Tampa but in Atlanta and New York too.  Rays fans don’t deserve a playoff team because their fans were spotted leaving a playoff game.  However Rangers fans were filmed carrying their antlers and brooms to the exits, and Yankees fans were leaving in droves.  It happens everywhere people.  Bandwagon fans, imbecile fans, arrogant fans are prevalent all across MLB.  It sucks but we need to learn to live with them because they help keep our teams afloat.

When it comes to the Rays should we take an “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it attitude” because the won the AL East?  I mean Derek Shelton was the hitting coach of a team that won 96 games.  So why do I still wish we could trade him for the Blue Jays hitting coach?

How many platoons is too many?  The Rays have used the platoon very successfully, but at what point is it a detriment to the team?  In the ALDS the Rays were two completely different teams depending on the handedness of the opposing pitchers.  One team was way better than the other.  This might have something to do with Cliff Lee and his super awesomeness, but it still made me wonder if the other guys would have been better.

I mean clearly everyone wanted Jaso over Shoppach.  I’m not the best one to ask on that one, since I think batting Shoppach is like batting the pitcher.  He is usually pretty good defensively, but had a very rough game five.  I wish him well, but I hope to see all Jaso all the time next season.  What about Joyce, Johnson, Brignac?  Will they be platooned forever without getting at bats against the other side or will they get a chance to be full-time guys?

Yes the Rays could have picked Posey, but they didn’t.  They still made several really good picks, Longoria, Price, Upton etc.  Not to mention Tim Beckham is still very young.  Here’s hoping he works hard and makes some noise when he finally reaches Posey age, 23.  He’s not a bust yet people.

The 2010 Rays story came to a close last night.  Today I found myself watching all the replays, listening to all of the analysis, reading every blog post, comment, tweet etc., until I just couldn’t do it anymore.  It was making me feel really…sad.

Finally I realized that I wasn’t sad because of how it ended.  I was just sad that it had to end at all.  It’s like when you come to the end of an excellent book or movie.  You don’t want it to end.  You love these characters.  You want to stay involved with them.

True, the ending is not how I would have wrote it.  However it wasn’t like someone died.  The Rays won the AL East.  That’s not just a pretty good season, that’s one win away from the best record in baseball.  Only eight teams make the playoffs.  Our ending was way better than most.  Not only that but they fought back and avoided a three game sweep in the ALDS.  The ending is not even as sad as it could have been a couple of days earlier.  If you know what I mean Vern.

Plus the best thing about baseball is that another edition/sequel is right around the corner.  The characters might not all be the same but the story goes on.

Rays fans wanted to be optimistic.  However the end of season slump and the abysmal showings in games one and two were enough to break any body’s spirit.  Basically it sucks when your team is playing like crap, but it really sucks when it’s the postseason.

Therefore my only wish for Saturday’s game was that the Rays play better.  They were facing elimination and I just wanted a glimpse of the team we all knew was under there.  It didn’t come until late in the game, but the boys really gave us something to cheer about.  That little taste and the possibility of a win fired up the team and the fans immensely.  They lived to fight another day.

After that game the optimisim meter spiked a little.  If only Longo could get going.

On to Sunday where Longo did just that and Davis was the right man for the job and Pena and BJ stayed hot.  Rays win.  Holy turnaround Maverick.  They are right back in it.

It all goes down tomorrow.  You have to believe our boys have a fighting chance.  Cliff Lee is Mr. Buzzkill but the Rays are looking way better than Game 1.  I definitely think our line-up is better vs. righties but I also think the Rays will make some adjustments.  They will be more aggressive at the plate and David Price will mix it up a bit.  I would like to see Jaso in the line-up but I doubt that happens.

No matter what happens it is great to see the Rays show some fire.  Much better than watching them go down in flames in three.

Go Rays!!

I missed most of it.

I recorded it.

I’m not going to watch it.

I’m going to drink instead.

Friggan Yankees won too.

Dammit.

Mr. Buzzkill

The game started off okay.  Price was a little amped, but that’s pretty common for him.  He worked out of trouble in the first.  Things looked good for the Rays in the bottom of the inning when they were able to load the bases with one out, but they failed to bring in a run.  Major buzzkill.

I’m tired, so here are some of my thoughts from the game.

Carlos Pena got thrown off his game in his first at bat and didn’t recover at all.  I love his defense but I don’t know how Maddon can keep him in the line-up tomorrow.

My love for Rocco Baldelli is well documented.  However I was extremely surprised that he made the post season roster.  I secretly hope he recaptures the magic and proves his worth, but he looked awful today.

David Price has had huge success living off his fastball.  Today I found myself longing for him to mix it up.  He was occasionally leaving it up, and the Rangers know exactly what to do with a fastball.  I guess I just wish he would have given them  more to think about.  He’s a hummer, maybe a chucker like James will have better luck?

Take a look at the Rangers line-up.  Did you really think it would be Francoeur and Molina doing the damage.

What ever happen to the Rays way of manufacturing runs?  Zobrist had a lead-off double in the 2nd inning.  The next two batters were Shoppach and Rodriguez.  Isn’t their goal a ball hit to the right side to move Ben?  Why was there no bunt?  I mean to me Shoppach is like having a pitcher bat anyway.  Good pitchers can bunt.  Shoppach struck out and Sean lined out.
The eighth inning also had Jaso lead off with a single.  BJ was up next.  Is it too late in the game to bunt him over?  BJ struck out badly.

Green lights are bad.  At least when your pitcher grooves a fast ball right down the middle and his opponent sends that ball packin.  This happened twice by the way.

I missed Sean’s error.  Was it bad?

Ben Zobrist was the bright spot today.  He hit a  home run and a double not to mention a hard liner in the ninth.

Chad Qualls was also really good.  He reduced the big Rangers bats to measly ground balls.

Red lights are bad.  The contrast in styles was never more evident than in Dan Johnson’s at bat.  The Rangers had been green lighting their sluggers all day.  Dan Johnson got ahead 2-0 in the count and proceed to take a fastball right down the pipe.  He got another pitch to hit at 3-1.  He ended up walking.  Some think that’s great.  I would have to like to see him swinging. 

Glass half full – it’s only one game and no matter how bad the Rays looked, we all know they are capable of big things.

If you want to read something a little more positive on the Rays, I did a guest blog post over at Oh, It’s Those Girls.  I try to convey why the Rays are a lovable team.  Her blog is stellar.  Hopefully the Twins fans won’t mind me mucking it up for a bit.

Go Rays!