****OFFICIAL TAMPA BAY RAYS THREAD 2008****

[Mr Pickles]

Its time we had an official page. Being a die hard fan living 10 blocks from the stadium I almost feel bad for not starting this sooner. Now is our time!

If you haven't heard about them before, or cared to pay attention, you're hearing about them now. The Tampa Bay Rays just walked out of Tropicana Field with a three game sweep against the number one team in baseball right now, the Chicago Cubs. Here are some other great stats to catch you up to speed:

- Its official, statistically The Rays have the hardest schedule in all of baseball this year.
- At the time of this post, The Rays are 14 games above .500, the best they have ever been.
- Their sweep against the cubs was the first sweep against the best team in baseball ever.

Here's some links:
Rays on ESPN
Rays on MLB
Drays Bay - Popular Rays Blog
Local Rays Coverage

This isn't just a fluke. This is the official beginning of a new era in Rays Baseball.

GO RAYS!

 

[dbk]

The Yankees are hot at the right time and you can never count out the Red Sox. I think the Rays are too young to hold onto the lead. They did just sweep my Cubs. You never know.

 

[maddogchen]

why did you drop devil from the name?

 

[effowe]

Damn rays, sweeping us Cubs last series, Percival is pretty sick I must say. Oh well, at least we just beat the Sox :thumbsup:

 

[BucsMAN3K]

Feel the heat...RAYS!

 

[ThePresence]

The Rays are a solid, young, exciting baseball team.
They are loaded with talent, and their starting pitching has been good.
They are aggressive, fast and athletic.
They are fun to watch and are finally looking like a legit major league team.

 

[anxi80]

now if only they could start the games at 1:00 so the senior citizens could be out in time for the early bird special at denny's and in bed during matlock they might get some attendance numbers.

seriously though, good luck with the team and as someone who has percival on his fantasy team... i definitely wish them all the best!

 

[Glitchny]

Originally posted by: dbk
The Yankees are hot at the right time and you can never count out the Red Sox. I think the Rays are too young to hold onto the lead. They did just sweep my Cubs. You never know.

You do realize the rays dont have the lead in their division.. They are 1.5 games behind the sox, and the yanks are terrible this year.

 

[SoulAssassin]

is there another mlb team out there that is actually two teams?

 

[dbk]

Originally posted by: Glitchny

Originally posted by: dbk
The Yankees are hot at the right time and you can never count out the Red Sox. I think the Rays are too young to hold onto the lead. They did just sweep my Cubs. You never know.

You do realize the rays dont have the lead in their division.. They are 1.5 games behind the sox, and the yanks are terrible this year.

Ooops. I don't really follow the AL east sooo..

 

[Jschmuck2]

Although I'm a Giants fan, the Rays are my AL team. I have a mancrush on no less than 4 Rays players currently.

 

[raystorm]

A very exciting team for sure! Very athletic and there is a great core of players that will hopefully stay together for years. A very solid rotation with Kazmir ( ), Shields, Sonnastine, Jackson and the pen isn't horrible. They really, really need a new stadium and hopefully that neat design with the sail-like overhang will be made.

 

[Mr Pickles]

Originally posted by: raystorm
A very exciting team for sure! Very athletic and there is a great core of players that will hopefully stay together for years. A very solid rotation with Kazmir ( ), Shields, Sonnastine, Jackson and the pen isn't horrible. They really, really need a new stadium and hopefully that neat design with the sail-like overhang will be made.

Most definately. I'm living right across the street from Al Lan Field, the propsed site for the new stadium, and I'd love to see them build it. I hate to say it but the majority of the locals don't seem like they want it. It just isn't the best time to be thinking of entertainment with the economy in the slump that its in.

Not a great show last night against the Astros. I would have liked to have seen Garza do a little better then that. He gets a little hot headed on the mound, which is something he needs to channel into good ball playing. Navarro hit that homer in the 9th and it almost looked like there was hope but I guess it was too little too late.

Jackson is up tonight, to be honest he worries me more than Garza does. He's either has an awesome night or a horrible night, so we'll see. Any locals going to the game? 6:10 est, I'll be there.

 

[Mr Pickles]

Originally posted by: maddogchen
why did you drop devil from the name?

Sorry, I didnt read this earlier. They never admitted it, but they dropped devil because its the word devil. In fact they are very slowly moving the theme from Rays as in the sting-ray to Rays as in rays of sunshine. The last remaining instance of the fish is on their sleeve, which some speculate will be gone next year even.

 

[Mr Pickles]

Big sweep against the Marlins this week. Great comeback to win it 4-6 in the top of the 9th in game one. A crushing game 2 where all 9 players scored a run in one inning, leaving the score 15-3 in the end. But I think the last game was most impressive - Matt Garza pitching his first complete game of his career and only giving up one hit, which just happened to be a home run, ending 6-1.

We face Pittsburgh starting tonight for a three game series and then Boston is back in town for a very important 3 game series starting on Monday. Look for me in the stands, I'll be the one with a messed up Coco Crisp jersey, fake black eyes, a fake missing tooth, and boxing gloves.

As for the Stadium, its a no go this year. They voted to not go through with it, which really is a shame. But hey, they can only deny the talks for one year. They'll be back!

 

[aphex]

I need to get up there sometime to see a game. I drive past the stadium all the time, but i've never actually gone to one. I did manage to get on the field once to help a friend take some engagement pics after the rays screwed up and lost the video of him proposing at the game, so they gave us full access to the field, dugouts, etc...

 

[Mr Pickles]

Rays walked out of the stadium last night with a W. 4-5 Against the Sox, which puts them 1.5 games ahead of the Sox and gives them the best record in all of baseball right now. Percival pulled his hammy even more, which gave JP a chance to clean up the last out and send the Sox back to the dugout. Who else is pumped!? Any ATOTers at the game last night? In my last quote I said I'd be wearing a messed up Coco shirt, but instead we opted to sport giant shields made out of cardboard and aluminum foil for none other than our starting pitcher James Shields. My buddy got kicked out. He didn't exact start a fight, he just kept screaming "RAYS NATION" in the face of some dude. Good times.

No fights on the field though, which is something I expected to see.

RAYS NATION!

 

[oddyager]

Originally posted by: maddogchen
why did you drop devil from the name?

After many consecutive years of suckiness, something's gotta change.

 

[raystorm]

Nice to see them still playing so well unlike the overpaid, overrated shit team I root for. A young, athletic, exciting and hungry team that believes in themselves. They won't take any crap from the Sawx and Yanks anymore. How is the fanbase these days at the stadium? More people showing up? Is there a sense of excitement in the area that this team is the real deal? They have to go .500 the rest of the way to get to 90 wins and I think they'll do better than that.

 

[akshatp]

Originally posted by: raystorm
Nice to see them still playing so well unlike the overpaid, overrated shit team I root for. A young, athletic, exciting and hungry team that believes in themselves. They won't take any crap from the Sawx and Yanks anymore. How is the fanbase these days at the stadium? More people showing up? Is there a sense of excitement in the area that this team is the real deal? They have to go .500 the rest of the way to get to 90 wins and I think they'll do better than that.

34,000 last night if I am correct. But the Sox visiting generally draw a bigger crowd

 

[Mr Pickles]

Originally posted by: akshatp

Originally posted by: raystorm
Nice to see them still playing so well unlike the overpaid, overrated shit team I root for. A young, athletic, exciting and hungry team that believes in themselves. They won't take any crap from the Sawx and Yanks anymore. How is the fanbase these days at the stadium? More people showing up? Is there a sense of excitement in the area that this team is the real deal? They have to go .500 the rest of the way to get to 90 wins and I think they'll do better than that.

34,000 last night if I am correct. But the Sox visiting generally draw a bigger crowd

They have been doing great with the interleague games. I'm talking to more and more fans from Orlando and Sarasota, which are 1-2 hours drives. The Cubs series was incredible and the fans are definitely making the games more and more exciting. It really is a completely different crowd than it used to be 2 years ago.

If you live in tampa for at least 5 years you learn that the whole bay area wouldn't exist if it weren't for snow birds and retirees that came down generations ago. We have a lot of fans that aren't from here, or grew up in families that aren't from here, so its typical to see an adoration for a team from the northeast in all sports. We turned some of the softies when the Bucs won the super bowl, we turned some softies when the Lightning won the cup, and I'm not saying we're going all the way this year but we're doing a hell of a lot better than last place and people are starting to notice. The hardcore diehard fans here will always have an allegiance with a different team, but its good to hear that when that team isn't at the Trop they are rooting for the Rays.

Another win last night and now we've got our best pitcher on the mound. Could this be another sweep at the Trop? The only place they can beat us at is at Fenway and... holy shit... looking at the calendar... we don't play them again there!

 

[Poulsonator]

Went to the game last night, and in typical fashion, the Sox lost. The Sox cannot win in Tampa, and they have always struggled there. I'm now 0-3 seeing the Sox this year (Tampa twice, once at Fenway last weekend)...maybe I need to stop going!

Anyway, this is a Rays thread! Although I cannot stand the Rays as they have been a disgrace to MLB over their entire existence, and they play in the worst warehouse, er, stadium in baseball, they are AWESOME this year. It drives me insane how good they are and how well they are playing. Believe me, I am very happy for their 'fans' (you know, the ones that have been with the team longer than 83 games), and it is about damn time. It's so awesome that the AL East is boasting such good teams and that every single game is so incredibly important.

I hate the Sox losing, but I really do enjoy the Rays finally getting it together and utilizing the incredible talent that's on that team.

 

[Cuda1447]

Its good to see the Rays finally doing good. Im actually considering heading out to the game tonight but I don't know if I'll have a hard time buying tickets at the Trop and how much they'll go for. Anyone have any speculation on this?

In any case, I really hope the Rays can keep up the good work. They dont have many fans right now, but they've only been around a decade and change, as oppose to 100 years for some teams. They will gain fans and popularity in the Tampa area as they show they can provide something to cheer for, which they are doing now. I really hope Rays baseball is something that will stick around and be something to get excited about for years to come.

 

[Poulsonator]

The game wasn't sold out last night, and there were plenty of people selling tickets, so I don't think you'd have any problems tonight. They do jack up the prices for Sox games, so they might be a little more expensive than usual, but for outfield seats, it won't be bad at all.

I, too, hope the Rays can keep it up. A new stadium would be wonderful for the team and the area, and I really hope they're able to build one in the near future. Some of the preliminary drawings/ideas for a new stadium are fantastic.

 

[Mr Pickles]

Originally posted by: Cuda1447
Its good to see the Rays finally doing good. Im actually considering heading out to the game tonight but I don't know if I'll have a hard time buying tickets at the Trop and how much they'll go for. Anyone have any speculation on this?

In any case, I really hope the Rays can keep up the good work. They dont have many fans right now, but they've only been around a decade and change, as oppose to 100 years for some teams. They will gain fans and popularity in the Tampa area as they show they can provide something to cheer for, which they are doing now. I really hope Rays baseball is something that will stick around and be something to get excited about for years to come.

You wont be able to find tickets on ticketmaster at this point, but you will definitely find people selling them. Expect to pay 25 each for decent seats and 40 each for good ones after the first pitch is thrown.