Results tagged ‘ Cliff Wittig ’
Favorite Funny Photos from 2009…….Rays Style
www.Cowbelltime.com
2009 will go down as one of those seasons that a few of the members of the Tampa Bay Rays might want to forget as fast as possible. But there also have been some amazing funny and totally memorable photos taken during the past season that might be needed right now for a few who can’t seem to turn their frowns upside down. How could the photo above of a dog lover even turning his canine best friend into a Rays fan not get you to at least start the curving of your mouth into a smile or a deep belly chuckle.
So today I decided to entertain and hopefully lighten up the stress and the angst of the playoff series an hopefully put a few chuckles and smiles on everyones faces as their favorite teams continue to battle it out between the chalk lines. And you know that the best way to relieve stress has always been laughter, or an occasional funny moment. So with that in mind, it is time to begin the 2009 search for the funny bone, and hopefully we all still have one.
I am always amazed at some of the new gadgets, puns and practical joke items on www.ArchieMcPhee.com . I originally used this photo not so long ago on August 7,2009 when I wrote on a visit to Seattle……the Renegade’s way. The place is virtual comics dream with some of the wildest items ever offered online, or in their unique store in Seattle. I mean, look at the photo above of the handerpants, which are billed as “underwear for your hands”. Just the idea of such a thing is beyond words to me at times. But at least you never have to worry about a skid marks, but you might have to worry about hairy palms.
I mean if you get a chance and want to have a really hard belly laugh, you got to go to the website and check out some of the wild and amazing things that you can buy for yourself or to amuse your friends. You can buy bacon soap, Absinthe floss for your teeth or maybe a Monkey portrait oil painting for the upcoming office Christmas party anonymous gift. Whatever your likes, this is the website for the simply insane and the mostly gag gift for people of any ages.
This one actually is not a funny photo, sorry, but it is a great reminder that we lose so many great baseball fans every season to the dangers of smoking. I know it might seem like I am jumping on a soapbox here, but I really feel that it is a habit that has robbed us of a lot of great people even during my lifetime. I have never smoked, chewed or used any tobacco products, but with my luck I will die trying to shove in that last hot dog during the $1 Dog Nights at the Trop.
What is also amazing about this photo is the fact that the skeleton has two handlers right behind them in case they have to run and retrieve a foul ball and the leg-bone becomes disconnected from the hip-bone, and the hip-bone loses its tail-bone somewhere on the stairs. Or maybe that is just my own sick sense of weird humor?
Pat Manfredo
This extremely hungry Toronto Blue Jays reliever about to eat Rays fan Christin Manfredo’s head during a photo opportunity in Dunedin, Florida during Spring Training is Dirk Hayhurst. Most people might remember him as the original storyteller of the Legend of the Garfoose, which is a tremendously funny and totally obscure baseball story that gets me giggling every time I read it. The guy has a wild sense of humor, and seems to like to bite the heads of live Rays fans.
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I always wondered what a 6 foot parrot ate when he came to Florida for Spring Training. I guess he has an appetite for foul ball catching kids. Seriously, when I first saw this photo in April I was wondering if t was one of those caption photos where you decide what he is doing, and what you want to have printed under the photo. If it was just that sort of opportunity, I guess my entry would say something like: Penalty in Pittsburgh for reaching over the wall for a ball, you get pecked to death by the Parrot.
http://www.brianshousefanclub.com
Another website that has gotten me to give up more than a few chuckles this season is www.brainshousefanclub.com. On this website dedicated to the Rays “leftie” specialist, you can see him immortalized as Neo from “The Matrix“, the Terminator, Santa Claus, and also Ghandi. The site was developed when Shouse was with the Milwaukee Brewers and was used in the 8th inning of Brewers games.
When he came to the Rays, I was told about this website, and tried to immortalize it a few times during the season for the Rays faithful to check out and hopefully use as their desktop photo. No one has ever emailed me back with any information as to if they have selected any of the photos, and in turn added them to their desktops, even for one day. But it is still great to see fans of other teams have a great sense of humor about their favorite players, and want to immortalize them like this. Could a Jason Bay website be in the making?
Still not sure what these guys were trying to convey when they showed up at Tropicana Field one night during a Scott Kazmir start. Were they lost on their way to the Middle Ages revival somewhere downtown, or could they actually be showing some level of solidarity for the Rays Republic. I came up with the notion that they were the Knights Tampa, who were sent here by a Coucil of an European hierarchy to protect the American League Championship trophy as our own Holy Grail….or I could be wrong?
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o this day, I wish I had known that the Rays and the GEICO Caveman were going to do a parody commercial where he runs out on the field and attacks the GEICO signage put up on the right-centerfield outfield wall. It was a trip talking with him in the interview I did a few minutes before he decided to run onto the field after being selected as the “GEICO Fan of the Game”. Such and honor, and yet he got to spend a night in the Pinellas County Jail making new friends and maybe getting a “Born to HATE GEICO” prison tattoo.
Earlier in the season I wrote about an old tradition that was resurfacing again in the land of the Oriole. It seemed that some years ago they used to do a cartoon after every game, and after a bit of time, the cartoon fell by the wayside until they decided to return the tradition again in 2009. After every one of the 162 Oriole games there was a cartoon the next morning right there for everyone to see both online and in the morning paper delivered to the doorsteps of thousands in the Baltimore area. Great to see such a humorous tradition again take root in the town that gave us the “Ace of Cakes“.
Mark Duncan / AP
I still want to know how much each of those seagulls makes that have a habit of coming into Progressive Field and making a nuisance of themselves. I know that on at least one occasion, the winged ones have knocked down a potential game winning single then let out that all telling gull laugh as the Indians celebrated at Home Plate with a walk-off win. Make you want to again read “Jonathan Livingston Seagull” and see if there was any real truth to that book. In Cleveland, the proof is sitting right there among the green grass on most nights when the Indians play baseball.
I have to admit, I always wondered why B J Upton never stole any bases against the New York Yankees earlier in the season. I guess during this game in July I got my answer. Seems that Robinson Cano likes to come up behind Upton and clutch him like a long lost buddy until the ball gets to the plate. Seriously tho, it is great to see the guy have a common respect and love for each other, but can we save the “Man Crush” for after the game and let B J run next time?
Steve Nesius / AP
I am not sure why Scott Kazmir first off decided to give his rightfielder, Gabe Gross a nice little extra pat on the back pocket, but the look on Kazmir’s face is simply priceless. I miss Scott, he was always up for some sort of humor within the confines of the game, and usually it somehow did get caught by the camera. Not sure the reasoning behind the low pat, but you can bet he got more a few ribbing from his team mate when this one hit the wire services. But the sign held up in the background by Rays fan George Stone that stated simply “awesome” gives this picture a purely comical edge, and almost turns it a bit cartoonish, but it is a classic moment now.
Chris O’Meara / AP
All during the Rays season there has been at least one culprit during the Rays home games that has been delivering shaving cream pies to unsuspecting victims during television or stadium Jumbotron interviews. And the wild part it is someone who you would never associate such speed and stealth moves to for the most part. Dioner Navarro has been the shaving cream pie stealth bandit all season long, and you never know when he might sprint out of the dugout tunnel holding a towel filled with the creamy substance.
Such was the case when he got Rays Manager Joe Maddon during a FSN Florida interview near the end of the season. But Navarro was not as stealth as usual, as Maddon heard the catcher coming, and turned his head at the right moment to only get a right earful of the cool lime smelling concoction. Maddon, always the cool cucumber basically added during the interview that “Now I feel like one of the boys, and have been accepted into the club”. Classic line by a classic guy who also leads by example for his team to witness nightly. Even wilder, for the next two nights after the shaving cream pie, Navarro started behind the plate for the Rays.
Chris O’Meara / AP
A Major League dugout can be a wild place during a games. You never know just what kind of high jinks or pratfalls might be coming, and you never know who the true culprit is at the moment. Take this photo for example, it is the shoe of Rays Rookie Wade Davis after Rays pitcher Matt Garza gave him a hot foot during a game against the New York Yankees during the last home stand. But Davis was not the only victim of that series.
Earlier in the game, Rays reliever J P Howell, who was shut down in the last weeks before the end of the season got the classic treatment himself when he stayed in the dugout instead of strolling out to the Bullpen like he usually did on game days. He was situated on the dugout rail watching another Rays rookie, David Price pitch during a game and someone, who will remain nameless, got him with the classic bubble gum bubble on top of his Rays cap.
So these are a few of the moments in 2009 that got me to chuckle, laugh and maybe sip a few sips of soda all over the floor of the Trop. The season is long over, and the fans have gone from the stadium, but it is memories like these that will live on within our hearts and minds for a long time.
Rays Review…….Fan Experience Edition
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In the next few days, most of the media members who cover the Rays for the local news media and the occasional magazine will make their yearly reviews and comments regarding the re-defining or re-tooling of the 2009 Tampa Bay Rays. Well, I am going to do the same, but I think my version is going to take a bit of a different direction than most of the media groups. My review is going to be a list of some of the thing I have seen changed in the past season………….either for the good, or for the bad. The list will include special events that Season Ticket holders have grown accustom to, and some new policies that changed the system a bit for some of us.
First and foremost on my list is to compliment the Rays Group Sales department on the annual event held at the Ybor City Gameworks earlier this season. This is the second edition of the event, and it was an event that I actually looked forward to after it great success last season. And when I saw it again on the agenda, it made my eyes sparkle and I think I might have heard a little giggle. Again this season, the event was attended by many of the Rays players and Rays Manager Joe Maddon, and some of them even took the time to play games and chat with the fans while also giving the attendees’ an occasional photo opportunity.
It was a great time to get a photo with one of the players outside of the game element and see how they are in “real life”. As an ex-player, it was always important to me personally to keep that balance between the two groups close, because without it, the fans can put you high up on that golden pedestal, and when you fall, it is a long way down to the bottom. By being open to autographs and photos, it gives a bonding moment between fans and the players that can not be duplicated by the Rays PR staff.
Plus,after seeing some of the players this season, a few of them need to hone their Dance, Dance Revolution skills for the 2010 version……..Maybe that could be one of their off-season workout routines (lol) Seriously, the food, the cartoon artists and the giveaways during the night only added extra spice to the already awesome event.
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So let’s now take a journey down the wrong side of the street for a change. This season for the first time, the Rays Season Ticket holder had to choose which “bag” or selection of giveaway items as if they were viewing a Chinese restaurant menu. You could select Column “A” or Column “B”, but no substitution and no sharing of plates. This is the first time we did not get the “kids items” that are usually included in our yearly bags. I know for myself, it was a bit of a bummer since I have used those items in the past to entice kids to want to see the Rays.
I understand the main reason for the cut-backs was that the giveaways promotional sponsors might have cut back their financial contributions on the total amount of items this season, which is understandable considering the recent economy concerns. But it was a bit of a bummer to see any of these “kids” items this season since I also know of a lot of grand parents who use them as stocking stuffing items at Christmas time for friends who kids love the Rays, but can not attend games. Hopefully within the next season or two we can get back to the old way, or maybe have a Column “C” selection of “kids” items so we can again get some of this awesome stuff to kids who love the Rays.
So lets hit back onto another plus thing this season, which is the increased numbers of Rays Watch Parties and events where the Rays Radio network did on-location appearances and also giveaways during the television broadcast during the season. As usual, Rich Herrera did a fantastic job out and about, and should be commended on enduring sand, chicken wings and bright sunshine during the remote locations this season. But no matter where they were, it seemed everyone had a fantastic time, and hopefully we can see even more expansion in the future.
Guess it is time to again hit the low side of the totem pole. I was a bit upset that the Rays could not secure a time and a sponsor for the annual Team Photo Day in 2009. The event has always been the one time of the season that I bothered players and coaches for photos so as to give the non-Season Ticket folks a chance at autographs and pictures with them during the other 80 games of the season. But when the event was not announced this week, it set me back a bit.
I was all ready for the yearly event with a 3 GB media card and a fresh set of batteries in the camera just waiting for the event. But when I did not get an Email or any confirmation of the event,I asked a member of the Fan Experience department with the Rays and found out that the event was not committed to be held this season. That is truly a bummer since the 2008 event was such a fiasco, and I hoped it would be a great time for the team to redeem themselves with the Season Ticket folks.
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Just a small bit of history for everyone, last season the Team Photo Day with the fans was held the day after the team celebrated stadium-wide with the fans following their win against the Minnesota Twins, securing the Rays first postseason berth. So as you might have gathered, the team’s excitement and celebrations went beyond the walls of Tropicana Field, and a few of them were not in ” photo” shape the next morning. It upset me and a lot of other fans that day big time, but some of the guys still took time out to take photos with some of us, while others were ushered around with escorts to make a haste escape from the photo hungry crowd.
Some of the team’s major contributors to the playoff berth did not make even a dugout appearance to the event, while others felt compelled to come out and circulate and take pictures with the fans. I do not hold the players accountable for any of this since the event did come the day after the team’s biggest moment, and they had every right to be proud of accomplishing their playoff berth. Hopefully in the future the Rays can again schedule this great event where the fans again can spend a few moments with their heroes.
I am going to throw this next item out as a neutral point because I can see both sides of the coin here, but for myself, I am still searching for another option to get this activity done without rocking the boat. But the reality of it all is that the new policy of Sunday autographs for only people under 14 bites it big time to me. I guess I got spoiled by the first 11 years of having the Autograph Saturday event and having two Rays players sign for any fans regardless of age.
I have come to not love this new policy for the simple fact that I hate to bother the Rays players throughout the seas
on when I know they might be signing by the baselines sometimes during the season. I am now finding myself perched above the Rays dugout and bothering them during their paths to the dugout during Batting Practice. Again I have had wait in the shadows for people like Pat Burrell, Greg Zaun and Jason Bartlett to come by and see if they could sign a ball for me. I know this change in policy might have been done because of the increased postings on sites like E Bay of autographs and collectibles for sale and not for your own personal collections.
I enjoy collecting autographs on MLB baseballs, more for the fact we did not have a team here when I was a kid except for the Florida State League squads, and in Progress Energy Park/Al Lang you could not get a ball over the outfield wall unless it went over the extreme right or leftfield fences. I guess it is my way of having my childhood back in small doses via the game of baseball by collecting balls and equipment and displaying them in my home, and not for commercial profit.
So because of this increased traffic of items hitting the web, and some of the counterfeit items that might have been bought by people online, I can empathize with the players that someone of my age could be a ball hawker and not a fan wanting a true autograph for his personal use. And that is one of the reasons I have not written a blog or a posting about this event before today. But with the year-end autograph signing events that are no longer held during the last home stand, I guess I will have to redefine my sights to again perch myself during the season for the desired autographs.
Unknown Photographer
In the wide scope of it all, the Rays have been considered one of the best values in sports by ESPN, the Magazine, and it truly is affordable and entertaining for all ages. Tampa Bay Rays baseball might have taken a hit on the field, but in the surrounding halls and cubbyholes around the stadium, the Fan Experience has increased this season and the fans have been the true winners. the increase in In-Game contests and events from the Pepsi bottles Race to the Bloopers in the eighth inning have made the game enjoyable for everyone.
But even if going to a Rays game is considered one of the best values in sports, wandering around the stadium or even strolling through the Ted Willams Museum is a “must see” for fans of any team. Changes can always be made even to a perfect event or activity. The above mentioned items have not been singled out to embarrass or even stay away from future Rays games or events. But the tweaking and maybe even the revising of some things can only help further the Rays goals of giving fantastic guest experiences and also promote from within the confines of the stadium to the “Rays Way” of thinking off the field as well as on the field in 2010.
Yesterday’s win was totally “Rays Ball”
Way to go guys!
Way to prove myself and a few other voices around the Rays Republic that some of this team might have already packed their bags after Saturday night debacle and headed home, at least in their minds for the season. Way to reclaim your manhood and show some fire and gumption after a game like that…….purly inspiring to me right now. Seriously, the way some of you came off the field after that game on Sat night, your faces gave a bad impression that some of you might be shutting your game down and waiting until Spring to show us more awesome hit and scoring chances.
But as always, you guys had the last laugh. And I am totally okay with being wrong or even apologizing for doubting you for a second. I have to admit, I am a bit proud of all of you for coming out and taking that Sunday “getaway” game like that. For too long this season those series ending game or ”getaway” games have been one of the perils of 2009. And because of that plight, the plane ride home after some of these road trips have not been a happy time together for the Rays. But to put a big black ”W” stamp on the last game of the last road trip in that fashion is only a motivator towards bigger and better results in 2010.
And that is one of the area that the Rays will have to focus on to again re-assemble and re-group for next season. Getting this team back towards a road .500 mark will be one of the biggest rebuilding porjects in the offseason for the Rays. Those road wins translate quickly into a realistic chance at a division or even a playoff berth for the team again next season. One of the deciding factor in the Rays fall from grace in 2009 has been their road record, which pales in comparison to 2008.
But in hindsight, yesterday when this team took the game to the Texas Rangers in the last two innings and played inspired Rays baseball, it was a sign to all of us that the pride and the power is still very much a part of this Rays ballclub. Standing up and taking on the tasks at hand is a positive step for this team towards regaining their stride for the top echelon of this league.
But above all, when you took the final innings of that game to the Rangers, you won on your collective sweat and heart alone. You not only avoided a series sweep, but a seasonal sweep of all the Rays game splayed at the Ballpark at Arlington this year. And that was huge! For some reason this hot and humid stadium has been an albatross to your Rays team in 2009. But you not only exorcised that dang demon, but you put a stake right through its heart by taking down this team late in the game and then taking down their confident closer in the end.
Mike Fuentes / AP
And you got to love that beautiful bunt down the First Base line by speedy Fernando Perez when they even knew it was coming. And Perez put the ball in a perfect spot to get the RBI and extend the inning. Not only did that one play help score a winning run, but to keep the inning going with a possibilities for more runs was tremendous. Sure there were a few negatives attached to this game as it unfolded, but they were quickly forgotten like piece of paper in a windy day. The win is the thing. To take that last road game of the season , then get back on the plane and take it with you is huge. Now you just have to use it as an example that this team can grow and get better on the road in 2010.
Who knows why the road became such a odd stranger to the Rays in 2009. It could be something as simple as the opposition just getting better and the Rays staying with their happy medium for some reaon on the road this year. But in essence, it just could be a simple fix by translating another mindset for the team in 2010. We saw Rays road trip Traveling Parties dressed in wild Cowboy gear, finely pressed all-white outfits, and the “Johnny Cash” inspired all-black ensembles get on their bus at Tropicana Field with high spirits and great team building moments this season.
But for this 2009 season, the trips on the road have all ended. No more Westin-type hotels, the bevy of room service plates and foods, or even the assembling of teammate eager to get a shot at playing on any of the portable Playstation 3′s set up in their rooms for a simple distraction during the long night away from St. Petersburg and your homes. Maybe the team needs to do the “Stadium Tours” in2010 of each stadium the visit. Get into a different frame of mind on the road, to relax, be together and get out and about and put a different feel to the road routine.
So when you finally disembarked from your charter flight last night at the St. Pete/Clearwater airport, it might not have felt like a winning road trip, but you did leave the state of Texas with a winning attitude on the plane. And even though some of you have memories of coming home last year at this time to a bevy of screaming maniacs and fans within the concourse of the airport, it is mostly silent last night. But that easily could happen again in 2010 with a little tweaking. That moment doesn’t have to feel like a mirage,it was a special moment held in time by so many of us in the Rays Republic that we truly want to see it again……..and the sooner the better (lol).
But this season we have to leave the road trip memories alone for now. Forget the Rookie hazing during the last road trip, or even the silence of the trip back from Boston not so long ago. For their is hope that the plane was a bit rowdy last night, and all of you were celebrating the moment, knowing that for the last 7 games you will not only be sleeping in your own beds, but also hearing the cheering and noisy fans of Tropicana Field. So rejoice in the fact you came off the road as winners, and take that momentum and thrust it into these last 7 games to bring another special moment for all of us in 2009.
Mike Fuentes / AP
I know the season is beginning to run together for some of you, and the pains and aches are barking like guard dogs, but hopefully the cheers and the emotions within this dome for the next 7 nights will thrust you again into feeling like it is April again for a few games. To end this season on a glorious note would not only be great for each of you individually, but as a team, the bonding agent by winning can be so invigorating it can become even more addictive in 2010. You know we will be there 100 percent for you for the next 7 games, so why not come out as strong as you did against those pesky Rangers in those late innings last night and take the next 7 games to not only post a plus .500 season, but to set a standard for the 2010 Rays to follow.
Before the first pitch last night, a few of you looked like you were waiting for October 4th to come so you could dismiss this season and prepare for the next one. But do not discount the fact that to stop playing “Rays Ball” now would damage this team and their fan base further than you can ever imagine. To simply want to be “shut down” even within your own mind could
ruin some of the fragile fabric set out in front of you with this fan base. This area has seen teams quit on itself before in a multitude of sports, but this years Rays team should never be a part of that sorted history.
The excitement of Rays baseball over the next 7 games can be the best advertising for the team over the Winter months. To go out fighting in every game, taking defeat and turning it into victory, and smiling all the way is a beauty way to celebrate this season.
You know where I am going to be for all 7 games.
You know how I am going to act for those 7 games.
I only ask that you too take that Rays pride and the strong character you have displayed for the last 155 games and throw it out loud and proud now. Then we all can celebrate as you take off those game-worn jerseys and put them on the backs of fans’ following that Sunday matinee.
From there it is off to where ever you call home for the Winter. To go home to family, friends and routines that you follow in the offseason. I know for some of you it has been a long, hard road, and it might be your last season in this team’s uniform, but wouldn’t it feel a bit more special, a rays of light on a darkened sky if we can take this thing to the house the next 7 games and thrust onward and upward?
I know when I went home after a victory in a game when I was playing ball, it always made the drive feel better if we won.
It always made me see things in a positive light, and it always made me proud to be playing the game.
Simple things can propel this team again back into the spotlight.
Rays Baseball circa 2009 still has a few special moments hidden within itself. Still has some thrills and exciting baseball crammed into the cubbyholes and the halls of the Trop. This season is growing to a close fast, but the next 7 games are also the last things we will remember of this season. To go out with a huge bang would be tremendous not only for the team, but could also boost the excitement and the anticipation of the Spring for the rest of us. See you guys in a few hours when we can begin the road to the end…………..with a victory.
One Man’s Treasure is another Man’s Trash
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You know I was looking around my little shanty shack today and it dawned upon me that I have acquired, obtained and down right bargained for so much baseball related stuff, it might need its own room or banquet hall soon. I know I am not the usual person to have that pack-rat mentality, but when it comes to the items related to the game of baseball, I have a very big problem. I mean I have at least 8-10 large plastic storage bins just filled with Rays team related bobbleheads. And do not get me started on game-used jerseys and other Rays items.
But is that the real destiny of people like me, a team collector, that my home will have to mysteriously have to expand to include a separate room for the team posters, bobbleheads and pictures and assorted knick knacks? I am beginning to think this is how my life is going to unfold from now until my last breath. And I know it would of been a whole lot harder to even move in here if an old ex-girlfriend in North Carolina had not used my memories as firewood and burned my college and professional collectibles and jerseys back in 2000.
I went from a small U-haul pulling all my stuff up to Charlotte, NC, to filling my old full size Ford Bronco’s back section of the cab in a puff of smoke and smoldering ashes. Sure I was upset, but I also had those event moments stuck within the confines between my ears, plus the fact I did not want to upset her enough that I would have to drive home to Florida naked if she also burned my clothes.
It was a huge loss in the aspect of my past sports exploits, but it might have saved me money not to drag them around for the umpteenth time. But why do we, as fans put such value and importance on the things that our favorite teams or events give to us at the gates? Why is it that we keep all of this special cargo if we do not even think we are going to sell it? And think of the hours of grueling agony our families will have deciding what to do with it all after we are gone from this world?
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It is not like if I perished tomorrow anyone besides me will know that the Rays On-Deck circle from 2000-2002 that is sitting on my floor with the old MLB slogan “I Live For This” logo still blazing from it. Or that the rosin bag on top of the lower baseball shelf is from the third World Series game in Philly last season.
I might have to conduct a master collectible file on my laptop for my Last Wills Executors so that they know what this junk acutally consists of, and it is not to be set out with the trash cans to be lost for all generations. Or am I putting too much importance on these bric-a-brac and obtained treasures?
But isn’t that the price we pay for stacking the In-Game magazines and the player pictures and the multiple pieces of team mail we received over the last 12 seasons. I have saved every Rays correspondence they have every sent to me, including the “Under Construction” stickers and little lunchbox with the assorted street work items in it. That item was sent out when the Stuart Sternberg regime began its rein in Tampa Bay, and it is a prized possession.
Maybe someday some one ( besides me) will erect a Rays museum somewhere in town, and I could donate some items no one has thought about for years. You remember those items, they are the ones you scratched your head about years ago, but now wish you had kept. Like the team undistributed Jason Tyner bobblehead that never got into most Rays fans hands, but some of us got them for a price.
Or maybe it is the final Ad Agency proof of a poster done years ago to promote fans bringing in used sports equipment to a Rays game that pictured the local sports icons Brad Richards (TB Lightning) Brent Abernathy (Rays) and Derrick Brooks ( TB Bucs). Oh, and did I mentioned the original was signed by all three guys !
And what would my Executors even think to do with the over 275 signed balls that seem to increase daily. Would they decide to donate them to the Rays Foundation charity, or give them to kids in the neighborhood who might just use them for BP? Or would they just get tired of dealing with all this stuff and fire up the fireplace and burn the over 75 signed bats lining the bedroom wall right now? Thank goodness Florida stays warm for 9 months a year.
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And you might ask yourself why I have even thought about an episode like this right now? And during the Rays season? Well, the honest fact is that we have only 14 games left in the 2009 season makes me think more now. The finality of it all is beginning to thrust itself upon me, and I am daily getting more and more nervous for the future. I have not celebrated a birthday in 12 years, but I have celebrated 12 seasons? And maybe that is where my problem lies?
Maybe this game has now consuming so much of my life and breathing moments that I now only refer to days during the season as home or away days. Why is it that something that feels so good to me might be as bad as a 3,000 calorie multi-leveled hamburger with extra cheese? But isn’t that also the essence of the passion and the undying loyalty you want from a real fan? You would want to feel that the guy who is collecting all of this stuff is doing it out of a love for the game, not the profit he can get some day selling it on Ebay.
But that is the crutch we sometimes bear as collectors. Some see us for the love of the game, while others think we might be planning a retirement fund based on the items we had them sign for in the past. And that can ruin it for some of us. And at tonight game, the first 10,000 fans will get the “Fan’s Choice” bobblehead featuring Rays rightie Matt Garza. And before you ask, the goatee is done nicely, but there are no sunflower seeds spread around the base.
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But it is another item that will go unwillingly into the ever growing pile of Rays related things in my cubbyhole. It will be another piece of the 2009 season that will be stored away for storytelling in 2020 to the great grand kids, or maybe exchanged on holidays if any of my kid’s children get the Rays fever. I have never been a pack rat before, and it is really not in my nature to store or keep stuff like this for so long.
But the truth is the fact that I see bits of Rays history in each of these items. I see player performance and commitment in the bats and jerseys. I can see game contributions in the bobbleheads and rattle drums given out as toys to some, but are a valuable memory collectible to me.
So as I sit here looking at all the stored items from First Game programs to every cap this franchise has ever worn, even the “Throwback Day” caps, I wonder where and what they will be like in 5 years after I am gone from this world.
Hopefully they will either be in the hands of baseball loving relatives or a museum, or even a family heirloom for a collector like me. Because these items go in circles. they are either acquired for history, discarded as useless junk or given away without any knowledge of their treasured importance.
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If you are not a baseball fan, then this stuff is just junk to you. Like the time I went to a local store and bought a soda with a American Eagle silver dollar as a kid. The clerk immediately took it from me and reached into his wallet and took out a paper dollar bill. He then put the coin in his pocket. I asked the guy why he did that, and he told me that silver coin was worth so much more than a simple dollar, and was priceless to him since he was a coin collector.
So you can see, an item to most of us that might seem like trash can be a treasure beyond comparison to another person. Value can be placed on anything according to our own likes and dislikes of things from the past. I just hope that someday someone looks at the Mumm’s champagne bottle signed by the entire 2008 Rays Bullpen after clinching the AL Pennant and see history, and not just an empty champagne bottle taking up valuable space from their treasured Pokemon card collection.
Rain Delay Moments
I have to be honest here. I am very uneducated on the actions and reactions of true rain delays in a baseball game. I do have experience on the field as a player with them, but I have a very limited set of mental resources to remind me of what happens during rain delays with my own team. I mean, we play in an enclosed dome that leaks, but only in centerfield right in front of B J Upton’s position. And even then, the Tampa Bay Rays fans have no real idea of the time involved, or the actions that need to be made for a rain delay.
We do not know about the hustle and bustle of the grounds crew to position and then unroll a massive plastic tarp to cover the infield and keep it from furhter water damage. We do not have a clue on the elements of dictating a rain delay, or even the planning and the execises in boredom that can overtake the moments waiting for a team to “call a game” and send us all home.
Maybe I should consider myself lucky that the three times in my baseball travels that had rain delays, we ended up playing within a few hours and concluded all three games.
But the thing that humors me about rain delays is the simple act it throws the in-stadium video and game crews into an instant panic for a few moments before chaos becomes order. I mean I have been to Progressive Field/Jacobs Field twice for 3-game series in the past, and always the Sat afternoon games have been delayed by liquid sunshine. One game was in the middle of May (5/14/2004) and the other was at the end of the regular season in September (9/30/2006), so the time of the year might not have had a huge impact in the droplets of water.
And I had a ball during both of those delays. During the first one,I learned a new drinking game a few bartenders who were attending the games as a group, and during the second delay I learned a lot about the Indians teams history while also sitting in the sprinkles just beyond the stadium overhang. And I relished sitting there during the last half hour of the delay loving the rain and missing it sometimes on my skin during games in Tampa Bay. For it is a special part of the game where the fans can commune and talk about the team, life or just the weather.
And the only other rain situation I have ever been involved in was on June 3,2005 when I was in Seattle for the Rays 3-game series. During the Sat. night game the rain began to lightly fall, and they began to close that massive steel roof while the game was still in progress below. What truly amazed me was the fact that no one besides me even acknowledged the fact the roof was closing during the inning. It was such a common thing to them only slight glances went skyward during its closure. I was mesmerized watching the huges pieces of metal above me moving with those giant wheels churning towards a closed point. It seemed to only take a few minutes, but for that entire time I was just in total awe of the spectacle.
But what do “normal” fans do during rain delays? For this I have no real information or even knowledge. For I live in a baseball region that employs a domed stadium where the only delays we have is for the electircal situation that come with mega thunderstorms or the odd lightning strike on a nearby substation that flips the breakers and turns off the large lights. Bu that is rare, and only takes 15-20 minutes before the stadium is again aglow with luminated lighting. So what experience do I have in the rain? Well, not much, but I am also someone who could have fun all by himself, and I did have fun.
While in Cleveland, with the rain lightly falling, I went down on the rail by the field taking pictures of the ground crew putting the tarp out on the field. I tried to get the attention of one of the ground crew members to ask about their job, but no one seemed to want to bother with the “Away team” guy. But I stayed down there in that section of seats and let the raindrops hit me again and again. And I decided to sit down by the Visitor’s dugout during the delay and one of my favorite guys on the Rays in 2005, Damian Rolls was out watching the rain fall.
We chatted for a few minutes on why I was there ( personal B-day present to myself), and about the great game of baseball. It was a great moment for me to get to know another one of the Rays, and I did not even notice it was raining harder at the time. As I was getting soaked in my Rays white jersey, Rolls slipped me a Rays green warm up jacket and told me to try and stay warm for they needed to hear my screams during the game. I told him I was seated actually right next to the roof area of the Rays Bullpen in rightfield, and it might take a bit to hear my voice that day.
Rays Manager Lou Pinella then strolled out and predicted it would be two hours before they took the tarp off. I chuckled and he looked my way and acknowledged the Pepsi man. Rolls and I talked for a few more minutes before he said he wanted to go hit in the under stands batting cages and stretch out again for the game. After Rolls left, I wandered around the stadium taking in the sights before meeting a few older gentleman who gave me a short but entertaining history of the Indians franchise.
And at about the 2 hour and 3 minute mark into the rain delay, the grounds crew came out and started to throw down kitty litter or field dry to prepare the field. I laughed that Pinella was only off by a few minutes, but we were again going to see baseball that day in Cleveland. And that is my total, but short history of rain-related adventures. But I know there are scores of other people who read this blog, and who also have had entertaining adventures during rain delays.
Rain is an element some find disturbing, while others love the simple feel of it on their skin. Rain can be romantic or ruin your simple plans. But the rain can also open opportunities for you to explore and even meet new and exciting people while attending a baseball game. I hate to admit it, but every game I go to outside of Tropicana Field I hope for rain. Not to be difficult, but so I can walk around the stadium complex and see things I would not notice if I sat in my seat. Maybe even meet some new friends who will tell me the “hot spot” to hit in the Warehouse District in Cleveland, or a small food vendor I have to see in Seattle before I leave town.
Baseball might be about the game, but for me baseball is also about the experience. And the games that have given me the total experience have been the one that developed into rain delayed contests. I do not get this luxury that much at home. the stadium is not know for their electircal backouts or long delays. So when I travel to other stadiums, I hope and pray that these delays do happen so I can partake in all the oddities and great features of each stadium I visit. And if a little rain must fall……..so be it!
I should be Quarantined right Now!
I was sitting there at Tropicana Field last night right after the Tampa Bay Rays victory over the Boston Red Sox and a friend of mine, who is an ex-corpsman in the military and a current St. Pete Fire Department EMT told me I looked like liquid garbage. Always nice to hear such sweet nothings like that from a cute brunette. But she was right. I was suffering from something that has been growing and growing for the last few weeks. It really has been overtaking a huge chunk of my life inside and outside of this same building.
So she sat there a minute hearing me chatter about the weird things that have been happening to my body in the last several weeks. Of the wild bouts of insomnia that have me watching replays of the game until almost 5 am in the morning every day, or the night sweats after a bad loss, or even a close ballgame that could have gone either way at any time. I told her how my reaction time to foul balls was getting uncommonly sloth-like, and if it was not hit To Me anymore, I just watch it sail even a foot over my head.
And she just sat there and nodded her head. I went on about the slowness of thoughts that did not revolve around baseball, and the difficulty I was having prioritizing even simple events like laundry and lunch at the same time. That I turned my cellphone to silent to keep my little world secure from friends in Boston and New York from ruining my little Utopia right now. And I complained that for some reason only three things seemed to matter to me right now, because my basic system of doing even routine task seems to be centered around what time the gates open at the Trop.
And still she just sat there listening like a $200/hour shrink with a spoiled rich kid on the leather couch. I even went on to tell her about my new found preoccupation with minimal issues like my special free parking place near the stadium, or my routine of walking to and from the stadium a certain way, and not deviating from that path a single step, even if there was a taxi or car in the way.
And that I was battling a huge bout of indecision on simple decisions like if I was going to have the Cuban sandwich, or got “hog-wild” and stack the loaded nachos with a bevy of jalapenos and hot sauce. That that my basic decision making process was being bogged down by a fatigue that made me not even consider anything out of the ordinary or new right now in my routines or my patterns. And that in the bitter end, even after a huge win lately, I was battling a huge mountain of fatigue and restlessness that had never entered my life before.
Well, through all of this she just sat there listening and mentally jotting down the symptoms and the causes and doing that quick analogy that people who work at Emergency Medical Techs do on their daily jobs. You could almost see the wheels turning as she was eliminating mental illnesses and adding psychological responses and cause and effects that could be the source of this ailment that was bogging down my physical being right now. Then she cleared her throat and made the announcement of what I needed to do now.
“First thing “ she stated boldly, “You have to understand that this aliment has been around for a very long, long time. That the cause of your problem is not physical in nature, but can be processed through your body at a rate that will boggle its usual senses and abilities. That your internal clock right now is being sped up to an alarming rate by your visual stimulation brought on by your emotional pull towards the subject matter at hand.”
She then began to laugh and smack me in the noggin a few times. But she still had not revealed what the prognosis was about all of this. But was she just teasing with me, knowing that I might not be able to handle the truth, or was she waiting for the nerves and the mind games I was already playing in my own head to swirl a bit longer and throw me into a mental bowl of mush right now. No, she was sitting there trying to see if my orbiting electrodes could pick out the aliment by itself before revealing the cosmic truth.
“Dude, You really can not figure this out by yourself?” She said while still chuckling and devouring the last sips of her cold, icy beverage. I nodded a very confirming negative and she again began to even chuckle louder. “Darling, you my dear friend are suffering from a odd-cultural ailment that has plagued man every since the cavemen picked up two sticks and began fighting and a crowd began to watch them. You are suffering a urbanite based type of battle fatigue that effects people who follow a particular sports team and live and breath on their outcomes. You are beginning to show extreme signs of Post-Part um Playoff Disorder”
And the news shocked me. Here I was a strong-willed guy who had never fallen into that trap for years and years following my sports teams, but for some reason this season I fell face-first into the abyss. She saw my face go blood-less and white for a moment until I had the look of a man saved by the grace of god, or maybe by a errant throw by the shortstop to first. I finally got it. I finally understood what was going on., and it all made sense to me now.
But still there was the method of prognosis that was missing there. There was a final sense of aliment conclusion that was mildly empty here. what was the cure, or was there a cure? Could this be treated with kindness, or did I have to go through a rapid decompression of emotions and thought to again function like a normal human being? Or did I just have a fever for some Cowbell? She sat there with a sly smile and a simple look on her face that told me I already knew the answer.
“Think about it this way. Last season the tide and the final result of a playoff push was decided early on in the season. The stress and the emotional attachment could be stretched out over the course of the season with no sudden pushes and floods of emotional attachment until October, but in a month’s time the symptoms could be masked with ease. What you need to do now is get up out of your seat, turn around three times and do the “Chicken Dance” for me.” I sat there for a moment before rising from my seat and slowly remembering the moves of that classic dance did it for a few moments.
And you want to know something, it felt better. “For the last few months you have been sitting more in your seat, not celebrating like the rest of the people in the stadium. You have internalize the stress, struggle and the fight for some reason. You have taken your outer fandom and turned it within yourself forgetting your love for celebrating outwards and showing your pride with this team. But last, but not least, you have got to again not hinge every emotion and thought on the outcome of these next few home games. Like goes on without the Rays sweetie, and so do you!”
And with that we both began to have one of those belly-busting laughs that you can have with great friends. She saw that the color was coming back into my skin and the flush look on my face was draining back into the normal peach-color that formed by face. Maybe I needed to hear it from someone else. Maybe I needed a reassurance that others were going through this same mode of illness that was effecting them to, maybe I did just need more cowbell in a sense.
I then asked he what we should call this odd aliment that had taken over my life and my entire thought process for so long. I wanted to attach some kind of name or even an effect to this illness that was causing so much sleep-less nights and sloth-like days. I needed to somehow throw a verbiage up in my mind to finally get a label on it all and move forward. The words out of her mouth seemed to come out in slow motion and my eyes and ear hung on every syllable and vowel until it finally wrestled in my eardrums. “It’s very simple what you got………..You got Playoff Fever and you will not be the first to show these symptoms…or the last.“
Something Special seems to be Missing?
Mark O’Meara / AP
Even before the Tampa Bay Rays started their 2007 season I had a gut level reaction that we were within a few years of breaking the “losers” curse and begin a winning tradition. That season I left my job at Pepsi and was anxiously seeking a position somewhere in the Rays organization. Something within me had me thinking that this franchise was about to turn a corner, and I really wanted a front row seat to the show.
Maybe the final piece was put into place during Spring Training in 2008, when Rays starter Scott Kazmir spoke of a playoff dream for the Rays that season, and the media snickered to themselves. But what they might not have known was the level of ease and comfort this team had with each other coming into this final season of Spring Training at Rays Namoli complex in St. Petersburg.
That this team liked spending time with each other both away and at the ballpark. That veterans in the Bullpen wanted to have dinners accompanied by the entire Bullpen, not just small groups filing in when they felt like it. Small groups of leader began to emerge in the clubhouse, each with their own special flair in support of the team. Carlos Pena was the fashion plate who dressed like a million dollars and had a boat load of confidence and inner strength. Cliff Floyd was the new guy who had been to multiple playoff runs and knew what it would take to funnel this team into winners.
And then you had the odd broad-shoulder pairing of Eric Hinske and Jonny Gomes who could reduce the clubhouse into tears of laughter and showed extreme amount of emotion and passion for the game. Then you had the Rays rotation, all under 26 years of age who acted 5 years older than their birth certificates listed on any given day. From top to bottom, this team enjoyed each other not only as teammates, but as a sense of brotherhood. And that can be a powerful tool when you are molding yourself to do something you team has never done before………..Win, and win now!
Steve Nesius/ AP
And we all know how far that confidence and that slight air of arrogance got this team. How dare they trample to pecking order of the American League East and sit on top of the division for most of the season. How dare they take the mighty Red Sox Nation to 7 games, then disregard them like rag dolls on their way to the team’s first World Series appearance. And all throughout this adventure was door and door being broken down by this bunch of Rays. They had changed their logos and uniforms in November 2007, and with that stripped the losing mentality along with the loss of the forest green caps.
The 2008 Rays even on the plane ride home after World Series game 5.5 were not looking forward to leaving each other yet. the bond of this squad was tight, and the general feeling was that to separate would be the end of that karma train. So as the team packed up after the trip home and had their baseball belongings sent from sea-to-shining sea, they hoped that vibe would continue for a a second shot at the title. They wanted that feeling amongst each of them to hibernate and spring to life in late February 2009, but it was never the same.
People have been trying to find multiple reasons for the wild mood swings and the odd chemistry this team seems to have in 2009. Some might say it is a little bit of the leftover World Series experience mixed with a new found respect for how hard it is to repeat in this game. But the meshing of this team out of Spring Training in 2009 did not have the same feeling to it. You could see it on the field. The powerful defense became average for some reason. The power stroke of B J Upton seemed to be stalled by surgery and unforeseen situations.
The all-mighty pitching staff, the saviors in 2008 seemed to be subdued this season. Almost in a calm serenity than in a mix of attitude and daring antics. Gone was the fire you could see in their eyes and feel in their voices. Not extinguished, but down to embers. The offense still churned to its own beat just like in 2008 finding new heroes every night or so to prop up as examples that 2009 is better than 2008. But other key components of the hitting seemed to be lagging behind and could not adjoin with the rest. This team did not have that fundamental same feeling to it. Something critical was missing.
And some would say it was a few of the fire-breathers that were no longer here like Jonny Gomes, Eric Hinske and Cliff Floyd who inspired by example, and shined through by pure energy and power. You knew that Floyd would take the “father” role and try and nurture some of the guys into becoming better more productive members of the team. Hinske you knew would be fired-up and ready for battle at any time, and he carried that same energy out on the field with him. And Gomes was the ultimate confidence guy.
If someone did something amazing, he was one of the first to see you as you came on the bench. Each of the three had a key role in the bench players, the same way Trever Miller and Dan Wheeler did with the Bullpen guys. They always discussed things, always compared notes, and dined together out on the road. You knew that even young ace Scott Kazmir and the other rotation members keyed off each other to try and post a quality start every time out. People on this team genuinely rooted for each other day in, and day out to succeed.
And this season there has seemed to be something missing from the beginning. Even when I went down to Spring Training for the first time in Port Charlotte, you felt a different vibe. Not a negative energy, just something different. Gomes, Hinske, Miller and Floyd, all left for other teams, and the incoming guys did not replace that lost energy or that instant energy levels. There was leadership in this clubhouse, and there was a sign of wanting to again reach the top of the hill, but it did not have any urgency or finality to it.
For some reason this 2009 edition of the Rays had the talents, abilities and the heart to produce a winner, but some of the classic energy and chemistry seemed to be lacking at moments. And those gaps in the system showed up from time to time. Lackluster performances without someone coming over and encouraging you. A more quiet bench than in 2008 when you never knew what would be said or visualized f
rom a distance. Plenty of times in 2008 the bench seemed alive and the 26th player on the team.
But this season that player is missing in action. Maybe he was lost in the charts and the schemes and the general “cool” vibe of the clubhouse. There is still a huge amount of fire in this team, but they have to spread the embers out again and add wood to that fire. As the losses total up the members grow darker and darker this year, with pillows of hot spots peaking out, and the general feeling of extended dread hanging over the game. And the Rays coaches might have sensed this too.
www.FSNFlorida.com
With traveling parties all dressed in black, dressed in all white and also cowboy wear it is a basic team building exercise to promote from within a pride and a energy among the team. And it has worked at times and had extended into the road trip and on into the next home stand, but the energy seems to dip down again and another action/reaction has to be pulled out of this team. Props and events like this can mold a team, but only if all of them want to mesh as one.
Rays Manager Joe Maddon, knowing the recent stress and daily barrage of expectations went with a “Ring of Fire” Johnny Cash tribute road trip. With this road trip now history and the team heading back to Tampa Bay with a 4-3 record on this trip, was it a success? Or is it going to be an ongoing theme for the rest of the season. Last year the rally cry fell under the guise of a “Rayhawk” with several players even going above and beyond the usual mode of hair.
But for some reason the black hair sported now by Maddon has been christened the 2009 version of the “Rayhawk”, and again there have been a great response to the visual bonding agent, but it doesn’t feel the same. This team is a little more laid-back than the 2008 version, both in personalities and in outward bursts of energy. Maybe it is time for each of these guys to dig deep and know that for the Rays to again taste that Mumm’s champagne, they all have to crank it up a few notches and leave it all on the field.
I know I do not have a solid answer for this decline in energy and outward excitement. I wish I had the perfect solution, because I would march into the Rays offices with the answer. I would proudly ask to speak with Maddon and present this gift with nothing in return. Some times it is the simple things that get us the most confused. Maybe all the expectations and promises have clouded the goal. Something missing this year has been a long winning streak, a true defining moment that separates this club from all the others in the MLB.
Steve Nesius / AP
We have all seem the signs at different times this season. Players have shown us that even the “Team Meetings” at home plate after Walk-off wins seem more subdued compared to 2008. I know it is not a case of “Been there, done that!”, but it could be a symptom of the problem. Maybe something as simple as playing like you are 10-years old again and remembering the fun will shakes the cobwebs and give the Rays back their mojo.
Like I said, if I had the right answer, I would bottle it and sell it to everyone else, but the Rays could have it for FREE. For I want to again see the smiles nightly on their faces for no reasons. See the bubble gum bubbles on top of players caps. I want to see the sunflower seed competitions between the Bullpen guys again. Maybe it is just wishing for the past, maybe it is hoping for the future, maybe it is just about something as simple as having fun playing a kids game again.
Daughtry Short Photo Blog
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Okay, anyone who knows that I have a soft spot for rockers. It might be the lifestyle I drew up with, or it might be the lifestyle I always wanted in life, but a good hard rocking song can get me fired up everytime. So last night in the latest edition of the Rays Concert Series they invited former America Idol fan favorite Chris Daughtry and his band, Daughtry to the Trop. for a FREE after the game concert.
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What was really exiciting is this was the first stop on their concert tour for 2009. They had been in Hamilton, Ontario only two days earlier still doing their final prep work before they got on a tour bus and headed to St. Petersburg, Florida for the beginning of their tour. This is the third time they have been on tour after their original tour made an appearance in the smaller venue of the State Theatre in St. Petersburg. During their second tour they were truly blessed to be the opening act for Bon Jovi.
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The band spent the first part of the Rays game against the Kansas City Royals up in a suite just above the Maddon’s Maniac logo just above Section 136 ion the right field section of the Trop. The band and Daughtry would occasionally come out to the rail and smile and wave to the fans below. A young Rays fan even threw up a blue cowbell for the band drummer Joey at one point in the game. They also took in some of the rituals of the Trop such as the blue cotton candy that Joey had purchased during the game.
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During last night’s the band did a mixture of their second album material and some of the great hits off their first album. The song “Crashed” had a different feel in last night performance, and wasa softer version of the previously recorded hit. The band did end the night with the song that has come to identify the band in the last two years. “Home” also had a great feel to it and he did throw some extra octaves into it and it thrilled the crowd both on the stadium floor and in the stands.
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Some of the band did hang out after the concert and mingled with Rays fans before finally being whisked away to the Vinoy. The band will make their second appearance tonight at the House of Blues in Orlando. The only negative to the enitre night, but I can give him a flyer because the show was so good was the fact he reffered to the city as “Tampa” in his Twitter video last night. But that might also be connected to the fact he was on the tour bus heading to O-town and might have seen a “Tampa” sign along I-275 before he made the video. So let me end this short photo blog with the two Twitter videos sent out by the band before and after the concert last night.
Cursi gets ready for All Star game action
RHaggerty@Flickr.com
Those people who know me in the Trop know I have a good baseball relationship with one of the members of the Rays staff. I would like to think I have a good rapport with several people, but you never really know what is said off the field. Anyways, I have had a post-game gesture with this person since 2001, and I have never tried to revert or change that routine for the fear of breaking a superstition. It is more me than him, but I truly look forward to it right after each third out in victory or in defeat. It is a simple gesture, but it is a bond I have with him in my baseball world.
It is a simple hand salute off the baseball cap, but it has symbolism beyond just the motion to me. I met this guy back in 2001 when I was sitting the the Bullpen Cafe ( before Checkers bought the rights) and he used to always come over before the games to chat with myself and a good friend. I got to know this guy pretty well beyond the foul lines on the diamond, and also had on a few occasions had the chance to meet him over at Ferg’s with others for a post-game brew and some chatter. It was a special time for me because he was living the dream. He was on the field. It did not matter to me that ex-Ray Toby Hall or Greg Vaughn was standing right next to me up in the upstairs bar at Ferg’s run by former Rays Tony Saunders. Those were the simple times with Rays Bullpen catcher Scott Cursi and they have been amazing.
I have gone on road trips following the teams in recent years and Cursi and Chico Fernandez, the Rays Video Coordinator have always welcomed me into their post-game events and we have spent some good times in other cities. Places like Cleveland where we went after a game into the Warehouse District and did the usual pub crawls checking out the nightlife and the local club scene. Or maybe it was a great atmosphere of Swannee’s in Seattle when I went a few years ago and he told me of prior years when Wade Boggs and Fred McGriff were in this same small bar drinking a few beverages and there with the fans. I just wanted to give you guys another side of the guy former Rays broadcaster Joe Magrane called “The Enforcer.”
So when Cursi came over the other day before the game and we chatted for a bit I told him I was upset for finding out that he was getting married in December by seeing it in the Rays 2009 Media Guide. But what he told me next was exciting, even bigger to me than the fact he and Stephanie were going to tie the knot on the beach. Cursi sat there and told me he was going to get a chance to maybe catch during the 2009 State Farm Home Run Derby. I was not totally surprised since I knew he was going to be at the All-Star game in the Bullpen anyways as a member of Rays Manager Joe Maddon’s staff. But the added thrill of seeing Scott catch with the world watching him was simply amazing.
But in the last week there might be a small problem here with Cursi even catching in the Home Run Derby. You see, Evan Longoria can bring along his own pitcher for the event, and Cursi is one of the staff who almost daily throws Batting Practice to the Rays players. In such, you would think he would want a Rays staffer, since they are already there for the All Star game to throw to him. But there is a simple answer.
But to even throw more cold water on either idea is the fact that Longoria, who was imformed by MLB he was the highest vote getter in the American League to participate in the State Farm Home Run Derby, might bow out of the competition to save his ailing hamstring. With the health concern, that is a good idea for Longo, but hopefully he is not pulling out after a poor showing
in the 2008 Home Run Derby. Maybe teammate Ben Zobrist could take his spot? I wonder, have there ever been any switch-hitting home runs hit during the Home Run Derby? I will check on it and let you know the answer…..
It almost makes me want to find some way financially to make it to the game and see it in person. I do not want an outfield seat, but just something near the field so I could yell out to Cursi before he squatted behind the dish and watch dinger after dinger disappear into the St. Louis night. Think of how amazing that is going to be for the guy who has put in countless hours and time warming-up pitchers and coming in and catching pitching prospects and potential free agents over the years for the Rays. I thought 2008 might be the top of the proverbial mountain for some people in the Rays organization, but the hits just keep on rolling here for Cursi.
I am truly so excited that my baseball buddy get to live the All-Star dream on the field this season and also get to attend some of those exclusive and sought after events during the All-Star experience. I can not think of anyone else in baseball that I think deserves that honor than Cursi. Seriously here, the guy has bled Rays green, blue and even yellow for this franchise and this is another great life experience for him in his position with the Rays. But I think I need to let you know a little bit about Scott Cursi before I go today. He is in his 11th season with the Rays organization, and his 13th in professional baseball. He spent three seasons as the Bullpen Catcher for the Double-A Orlando Cubs and the Orlando Rays of the Southern League from 1996-1998.
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And sometimes you will also see him late in the Rays Batting Practice throwing balls to the hitters on the mound. Cursi played college baseball at Seminole Community College in Orlando and graduated from the University of Central Florida with a degree in Physical Education. Before he made his trek to Florida, Cursi spent four seasons coaching for Bishop Waterson High School in Columbus, Ohio under Ohio baseball legend Scott Manahan. The guy knows baseball inside and out, and that has only endeared him more to the Rays.
So Congrats Scott. You deserve a spot in the television of the world, and you can be sure all of Tampa Bay will be watching for you to put your mask on and squat behind the plate during the State Farm Home Run Derby. I know you will have some great memorable chats with some of the hitters that night, and I hope I can hear some of those stories some night after a game over some cool, refreshing beverages with great company. But until then I will just give to the hand salute to the cap back every night and wish you a safe road trip, and tons of great baseball memories.
Hodge Podge of Saturday Samplings
Steve Nesius / AP
Today I am thinking a million things and my mind is running a mile a minute. Every once in a while it seems like there is so much going on that I can not even think of getting even 50 percent of it out to people since my little Acer net book went down in a pile of flaming programming errors. That is right, my new little toy decided it did not want to be in the media world and committed cyber-suicide by shutting down the operating system and playing dead for me.
I was lucky enough to have this happen within the 90-day warranty time and they are in the waiting process of sending me a spanking new unit that they have check out prior to them sending it to me. Put that little adventure along with my room mate now getting into blog talk radio and I have limited time on my own home computer. Imagine that, I have to schedule time on my own computer now. Guess living in the laundry room no longer has its perks. lol
Seriously, I get most of the day and some night time hours that I squeeze in by force, not by kindness. But it could be worse, could still have that refrigerator box on the three skateboards moving the box to different locales every third night for ambiance. So let’s get to some Tampa Bay Rays news that the local media might not know, or want to tell you right now.
Fly Like an Eagle
I have to admit, the idea was amazing the pageantry of the event was spectacular and even the first glimpse of that majestic bird leaving the arm of the cute handler was a sight to be seen. It brought a great wave of positive emotions while I stood there during the National Anthem and watched that beautiful creature do several laps around the Rays outfield before finally deciding to rest.
The birds motions while flying around the outfield were so fluid and amazing to me. I have seen eagles fly in the wild while staying in Washington state with relative for the summers, but watching one in your favorite ballpark was truly a memory for the ages.
But the place this majestic bird decided to roost for about an inning was not the planned ending spot for the event. The bird, maybe by divine intervention, or maybe just for a bird’s eye view decided to finally come to rest on the letter “S” in Rays that is painted on the slanted roof of the Batter’s Eye Restaurant in Tropicana Field. We know it was not a planned event because of the sheer facial expression on the trainers face as she stood in the middle of the Rays outfield looking up that the bald eagle sitting boldly and triumphantly on the roof.
Of course they did finally get him to move towards the trainer up on the roof, but not after a good 10 minutes of him just sitting there checking out the crowd like the proud symbol he represents. It was only by accident that he picked that spot on the roof, but it made for a classic Rays moment, and hopefully an good luck omen for the team the rest of the season. I hope we can again see this awesome bird fly at Tropicana Field and you too can see the effortless flight and beauty up close of this great bird.
Mike Carlson / AP
C C Does it Again
The have been tons of amazing feats and plays by Carl Crawford in his Rays career. The guy has been a huge part of this franchise since he first came up from the minors in 2002. It is hard to imagine this Rays team without him on their roster. But among all the spectacular events and game play during Saturday nights game was lost some huge moments for Carl Crawford as a Rays player.
Crawford on Saturday night played in his 1,000th Rays game, and according to the Elias Bureau, the Rays are the last of the 30 current MLB clubs to reach that 1,000 game plateau in their careers. During that time, Crawford has amassed 87 triples and 341 stolen bases for the Rays.
What is more amazing is that he is the only player aside from Ty Cobb who has amassed as many triples and stolen bases through his first 1,000 games. Crawford is already the Rays All-Time leader in a multitude of categories like triples, stolen bases, hits, RBI, runs and at-bats. With his next double, he will also take over the current doubles title currently held by former Ray Aubrey Huff at 172 doubles.
Crawford is also one stolen base shy of his 6th season of 40+ steals in a year. What is truly amazing is that his 39 current steals are the most by Crawford before the All-Star break. And right now he is ahead of his career high when he stole 59 bases in 2004.
RRCollections
Home Sweet Home
Every team in the major league baseball knows of the traditions of the noise that can rock Tropicana Field during Rays home games. The traditions of the cowbells and that the Trop’s roof become a orange beacon that can be seen from the Howard Franklin bridge in the horizon as you come back into Pinellas county from Tampa on winning nights. But how many fans have noticed that the team since May 15th have gone 19-5 for a .792 winning percentage.
And we have only had two concert series where we are currently 11-0 when the crowd swells to over 30,000. So it was no surprise to most of the Rays faithful when we set down the Florida Marlins on Sat. night before the Lady of Rock and Roll, Pat Benatar took the stage to celebrate the win with us.
So here we are with a current 4-1 record during the home stand with one game to play against the Marlins in the Citrus Series. With the yearly bragging rights already secured by the Rays in the Citrus series, it is the Rays fifth Citrus series win in the last eight seasons, including back-to-back series triumphs since last season.
Also included in all this great karma is the fact the Rays have won seven out of the last nine at home against the Marlins. They will look to Sunday’s game for a chance to take three of the last four series at home against the South Florida based Marlins. But what is even more amazing is the fact that during the 2009 InterLeague schedule, the Rays are currently 12-5 in mixed league play and will go for their 13th win tomorrow.
Their 12-5 record is currently tied for the third best record in the MLB this season. The best InterLeague win total for the Rays was 15 victories set in 2004. They are currently averaging 6.4 runs per game, and are hitting over .300 as a team, both marks are the best in the MLB this season. Also based on winning percentages, Rays Manager Joe Maddon has the third best winning percentage in InterLeague play right now with a 42-29 record for a .592 winning percentage.
Rays Renegade
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