What they're saying
Dan Shaughnessy, Boston Globe
Friday: "Now they call it Tropicana Field and it is truly hideous. Catwalks above. FieldTurf below. All-dirt base paths. Foul poles hanging from the ceiling like sleeping vampire bats. It's baseball's Big Top."
Saturday: "Somebody's got to stand up to the Red Sox and right now it doesn't feel like the Rays can do it. They had everything going for them last night and they came up short time and again."
Sean McAdam, Boston Herald
Saturday: "In blanking the Rays, 2-0, the Red Sox did more than take a lead in the ALCS; they effectively won back home-field advantage. Thanks to their shutout victory, the Sox could conceivably win the pennant without worrying about another win at Tropicana Field."
Jack Curry, The New York Times
Saturday: "With the suddenly captivated fans of the Rays ringing cowbells and trying to implore their worst-to-first team, [Daisuke] Matsuzaka’s precise pitching acted as the ultimate silencer."
Follow Tampa Bay Rays baseball from spring training to the World Series with Marc Topkin, Joe Smith and the St. Petersburg Times sports staff. From Evan Longoria to B.J. Upton and James Shields, we're your source for Tampa Bay Rays scores and schedules.
Even though I am a HUGE RED SOX fan, like most up here in Massachusetts, I have not heard 1 bad word about the Rays.
Actually I have heard the opposite: Sox fans talking up the Rays and how good this (your team) is. My goal was to convey that we're loyalists, but recognize a great team when we face them.
Again, no one that I associate with has said bad things about the Rays...we just wish they weren't so DAMN GOOD!
Posted by: Duncan M. | October 17, 2008 at 12:35 PM
Thanks, Duncan!
Posted by: Amanda | October 17, 2008 at 12:32 PM
Tampa - I need you to know that I am a CARD CARRYING member of RED SOX NATION. (Yes, we carry cards for these types of things ~ we live & die with our team too!)
The Rays lost one game. ONE GAME. It's not over yet, but both teams can see Philadelphia from Boston & St. Petersburg. You have a fantastic, young, energetic team sprinkled with saged veterans that won the AL East.
We (RSN) are just happy it's the best of seven and not five! The Fenway faithful believe that we'll be rewarded, yet again. Maybe.
We have plenty of players that have "been there before".
Whatever the outcome, it's been a good (not yet great) series. However, if the Rays win, it will be a FANTASTICALLY GREAT SERIES for it's fans. It would be well deserved.
A classic series would go seven games.
Even thought we'd love that, it does take its toll.
In Boston, it was reported that the Champagne was ALREADY delivered to the Rays locker room before the game started. (Like the Patriots v. the Giants in SB XLII). Take it one game at a time. The SOX will do that.
Rays Fans - hang in there.
SOX Fans - BELIEVE, again!
Outcome - a classic series!
Remember - Root for two teams, yours and anyone who plays the damn Yankees!
Tip o' the cap to the Rays for a GREAT year! But I do hope our SOX can pull it out!
GO SOX!
Posted by: Duncan M. | October 17, 2008 at 12:27 PM
Hey Ant and Lucas...go one word for you
SCOREBOARD
NOTE: Terry Francona just EXPOSED the one GLARING Boston weakness: it's bullpen. Once you get past Masterson and Pappelbon, you have NOTHING!!!!!!
And I'm just happy the Rays are here. Oh, and last I checked, Fenway Park was a DUMP too! It's charm comes from "Sweet Caroline" in the 7th (which it actually COPIED - look it up on Wikipedia) and the Green Monster (which was RUINED when they put seats on top of it!) Aside from that...it's got about as much charm as Old Comiskey Park in Chicago - the only thing that kept it from the wrecking ball was Ted Kennedy and Pete Gammons having simultaneous hissy fits!
And yes, the Trop IS a dump, but it's OUR dump and we like it just the way it is (a la the ol' Vet in Philly) DEAL WITH IT in Game 6 & 7, cause that's likely where you will be again!
Posted by: John | October 12, 2008 at 02:41 AM
"I almost feel bad that a season of putting you in your place is coming to a close this week."
Yeah, 8-10. You really put us in our place all season.
Posted by: Amanda | October 12, 2008 at 02:23 AM
This column really stinks. Is this a social get-together chat room or a sports blog?
Talk baseball or go to bed!!!!
Its anyone's game now. Good extra innings pitching.
Franconna is running out of gum.
Posted by: | October 12, 2008 at 12:53 AM
You admiration is what I live for.
Posted by: Razzlegator | October 11, 2008 at 11:18 PM
At least you cop to it, that's admirable in some small way
Posted by: Anthony | October 11, 2008 at 11:15 PM
That's FL Genius to you med boy.
Posted by: Razzlegator | October 11, 2008 at 11:05 PM
Pick a retort and stick with it, Einstein
Posted by: Anthony | October 11, 2008 at 10:43 PM
Perhaps you should concentrate on putting the Rays in their place, and leave me out of it. More meds Dr. J and Mr. H.
Posted by: Razzlegator | October 11, 2008 at 10:40 PM
You're so gracious. Still time for your meds Dr. J and Mr. H.
Posted by: Razzlegator | October 11, 2008 at 10:13 PM
Razzle, I almost feel bad that a season of putting you in your place is coming to a close this week. I also feel bad for TB players having to listen to the silence at the Trop as confused fans try to figure out what's going on.
I don't feel bad about the pain that the Sox are going to bring to the Rays this week. WOO WOO!
Posted by: Anthony | October 11, 2008 at 09:07 PM
Ant,
Time for your meds.
Posted by: Razzlegator | October 11, 2008 at 09:03 PM
"The Trop is a dump because it's a bad place to play baseball, according to home and visiting players alike. Whether it's a good place to see a game is irrelevant."
Um, I don't disagree. P.'s gripes seemed to center around the fan experience so I responded to that specifically.
I agree we need a new stadium. One that's nice for players and fans alike. But The Trop's all we got for now, and I'm not so baseball-purist snobby about it that it's going to effect my attitude and support toward my home team one way or another.
P. seemed to suggest it should. It doesn't. Whatever. Shoot me.
Posted by: Helene | October 11, 2008 at 08:04 PM
A full Trop with half the people cheering for the Rays has got to be more depressing for the players than utter silence.
The Trop is a dump because it's a bad place to play baseball, according to home and visiting players alike. Whether it's a good place to see a game is irrelevant.
Posted by: Anthony | October 11, 2008 at 06:39 PM
Dear God,
Let the Rays play like they did all season. Let them respond to a loss with a win. And then another one. Keep the Rays fans noisy and nice. And don't let them beat up any Red Sox fans, even though they will probably deserve it tonight.
Posted by: The One In the Longoria Shirt | October 11, 2008 at 05:44 PM
The Kazmir issue is interesting - it must KILL the Mets when he's lights out.
I think you guys are in trouble tonight. Beckett is furious about his poor start in the ALDS.
If the Rays drop to 0-2 do you think they'll even fly to Boston? It would be better for the environment and their dignity if they just stayed home and forfeited.
Posted by: Novangelus | October 11, 2008 at 05:41 PM
We'll see. Better not be any of that Sam Adams garbage, though!
As far as your Kazmir question... I ask myself the same thing before every game he pitches. Kazmir the strike out genius, or Kazmir the BP pitcher? Horrid first inning against the White Sox last time out had me scared, but then he settled in and did his job. Tonight? Who knows? That's what drives me crazy about him.
Posted by: Amanda | October 11, 2008 at 05:32 PM
Eh. The Pit is what it is. It's ugly but it's not as terrible a place to watch a game as people make it, really. And I say that as someone who has been to much more aesthetically pleasing outdoor stadiums in my day too. Maybe I've just gotten used to it.
My wish? A stadium with a retractable roof, ala Miller Park.
Posted by: Helene | October 11, 2008 at 05:31 PM
Yeah - once we killed the yankees things changed. It happens when you win titles - jerks jump onto the bandwagon.
Amanda I'm sorry but we're going to beat you tonight. I'll mail a beer from new england though!
Posted by: P. Lorio | October 11, 2008 at 05:29 PM
P.-
A few years ago, a night out after a game usually ended up with getting trashed with a bunch of Sox fans. That was pre-2004, back when the Sox fans around here were the fun-loving, gritty, crazy-but-in-a-good way bunch of "idiots" that I loved and miss. (Best drinking buddies, too). Sure, there are still those guys out there. Harder and harder to find these days, though. Too many obnoxious and aggressive pink-hatters taking over for them.
Posted by: Amanda | October 11, 2008 at 05:24 PM
*buy
What Kazmir will it be tonight? I'd love to see the Sox rock him like last time. A lot of questions with Beckett as well. This game could be a shoot out or a pitchers duel, I have no clue.
Posted by: P. Lorio | October 11, 2008 at 05:21 PM
Gotchya. Makes sense, but I still think all the Rays fans should by Sox fans beers at the game for having to put up with the trap, er.. trop.
Posted by: P. Lorio | October 11, 2008 at 05:20 PM
Yeah, P, a little. That's why there's a push for a waterfront stadium. It's in the planning stages.
The biggest problem with the Trop is the fact that it, unfortunately, makes sense here. Not sure if you're from down here or up there, so I don't know if you know this, but most summers it rains. Every day. Right around 5:00. And I don't just mean a shower, I mean crashing and pouring thunderstorms. Would we love to have a completely open-air stadium? Sure, but we'd like to actually get some games played, too. Beyond that, it's hot as hell here in the summer. As the tired saying goes, "It's not the heat, it's the humidity". Well, it's both.
Best option for us would be a retractable roof. We'll see what comes from the talks...
Posted by: Amanda | October 11, 2008 at 05:16 PM
Can I seriously ask you though - aren't you guys ashamed of that Dome? I really think so much less of your franchise for that monstrosity. How old is it?
Have there been talks to build an actual park?
Posted by: P. Lorio | October 11, 2008 at 05:10 PM
Haha Wow. Yeah, you sure pegged us, "P". You got us good! Thanks for the good laugh.
Posted by: Amanda | October 11, 2008 at 05:07 PM
Who flushed you>???
Posted by: Rays R Great | October 11, 2008 at 05:06 PM
I think we can all agree the only "real" fans at the game last night were the ones wearing sox gear (presumably people from the boston area who have moved down south for whatever reasons, or boston fans lucky enough to be able to afford tickets and flight costs.)
Anyone, and I want to stress this, anyone who was rooting for the Rays is just a bandwagoning fake fan. That garbage pile that you call a dome has been empty ALL season and anyone who dragged their face in there and claimed to be a Rays fan last night is a poser and should have been forced to walk up to a Sox fan and buy them a beer.
Yes, we all agree the Rays are a disgracefully bad baseball team and did not deserve to make it - but what I'm trying to add is that the cowbell fans may be even worse.
Posted by: P. Lorio | October 11, 2008 at 04:58 PM
"With the way Longoria's been hitting lately, Madden's green light to Pena, while unorthodox, made some sense."
Hmmm...I think I'd rather believe that Maddon was just being impulsively aggressive in the heat of the moment rather than believe that he blinked and showed a lack of faith in the guys behind Carlos to get at least a run in with bases loaded no outs. Either way, a rare moment of bad-to-the-point-of-indefensible coaching by Maddon.
Anyway, I'll shut up about it now. Looking forward to tonight's game.
Posted by: Helene | October 11, 2008 at 04:55 PM
There was NO ONE from Boston at that game last night. There were a few local losers wearing sux gear, getting drunk and insulting everyone around them. We asked around, really, every sux fan who could managed a word or two lived locally.
Posted by: | October 11, 2008 at 04:50 PM
It's a shame the Rays fluked into the playoffs this year because they are really embarrassing themselves and galvanizing the sports world into hating Tampa Bay.
They would've been better off if they missed the playoffs this year, tore down that absolute DUMP of a stadium, built an actual ball park and banned the pathetic use of cowbells. No one cheers so you have to use cowbells? What's next? Each fan gets his/her own microphone?
Every person in Tampa Bay should stand solemn-faced in front of a mirror and shake their head for the disgrace that the Rays have brought upon the city.
Posted by: Voice of Reason | October 11, 2008 at 04:48 PM
Hey Empress,
REAL fans live where their teams play. Just how many of the sux fans in the trop actually live locally in the Bay Area?
Answer: ALL OF THEM
And we're the bandwagon fans. What a bunch of losers these so-called sux fans are. What a sorry bunch, really. Boo hoo I don't like cowbells, mommy, take me home boo hoo!
Posted by: | October 11, 2008 at 04:46 PM
NOW we call it Tropicana field? Wow this guy has as wide a definition of "now" as some home plate umps have of the strike zone!
Really who cares what they're saying up there?
Posted by: so what | October 11, 2008 at 04:44 PM
I don't understand these Red Sox fans who live here and talk about how terrible it is. If you hate it so much, move back. The only reason that the IQs may be lower here is because of all of the inbreds from Massachusetts and Rhode Island who have moved here. I think most of them were at the game last night. Seriously, a lot of these people wearing their Red Sox shirts made the people at Bucs games look normal!
I just wonder what kind of satisfaction people who live here but think they are part of Red Sox Nation get. Do you enjoy gloating in front of a group of total strangers? Is your life so worthless that the only thing that makes it worthwhile is the ability to brag to your friends that you are a Red Sox fan? If that's the case, it's pretty pathetic.
Sorry if it seems that I am taking potshots, but you guys seem to be able to dish it out. You should be able to take it when people point out your obvious shortcomings.
Posted by: Mac | October 11, 2008 at 04:39 PM
Novangelus-
I'm not saying Rays fans weren't to blame for those fights. But I've been to over a dozen games at the Trop this year, and a few hundred over the past few years. I've NEVER seen a fist fight at a game that wasn't against the Red Sox, other than one time a few years ago at a Yankees game.
As far as the fans leaving in the 8th, I agree; disgusting. I don't mind fans jumping on the bandwagon if they're going to become real fans, but that display of pathetically bailing out last night was unbelievable. I'll only give "free passes" on that to families that were there with really young kids, since the game ran so late.
Posted by: Amanda | October 11, 2008 at 03:57 PM
cowbells, fights in stands, band wagon fans leaving by the 8th.
go to the beach - baseball is not your thing.
Posted by: Novangelus | October 11, 2008 at 03:44 PM
"...have funny accents (insult), like grouper sandwiches, are homophobic (insult), have an average IQ far lower than Bostonians (insult), and make terrible baseball fans (insult)."
"Of course "grouper sandwich" isn't an insult, that's the point. Good Lord, put two and two together, "Florida genius.""
I entirely fail to grasp your so-called "point". If four of the five descriptors you list are obvious insults, it's completely obvious that the fifth one isn't? Your point is...what?
Posted by: Amanda | October 11, 2008 at 03:18 PM
Anthony:
Get off the computer and go do something. It is Saturday for Goodness sake.
Posted by: Jay | October 11, 2008 at 03:17 PM
I've always enjoyed the argument back and forth as if whether or not we win the blog debate depends on how 18 people we don't know play a game of baseball.
This blog entry would go so much differently, not if we were different people, but if the Rays had gotten a few hits in scoring position. Oh well...we lost game 1. it's not football. We play again tonight. On my way out the door!
Posted by: Go Rays!! | October 11, 2008 at 03:00 PM
Play ball! It's game time.
Posted by: Go Rays!! | October 11, 2008 at 02:57 PM
What are the little voices in your head telling right now Anthony?
Posted by: Razzlegator | October 11, 2008 at 02:55 PM
Okay - anthony, you're right - it is time to get a life and get ready for tonight's game. But what a magnificent blogfest. Doesn't this debate make the Palin-Biden affair look competely pedestrian? Where else can you go from throwing fish soup and sandwiches at each other to a raging debate over the socio-historic basis of why people say "Pahhk" instead of "Park" or as we say down here "Pa - rrrk". I can tell you my strange pronounciation has a medical explanation - I tend to slur my words when I drink. Ah, this is a glorious country with a glorious pastime and we are a glorious people, the world be damned!
Posted by: CrackerJack | October 11, 2008 at 02:48 PM
Who is trying to impersonate me?
Is there only one Anthony???
Posted by: Anthony | October 11, 2008 at 02:42 PM
Lucas-
Read your history book. It is documented. Facts.
Posted by: Rays R Great | October 11, 2008 at 02:41 PM
Ah, the "Fake Anthony" gambit. Haven't seen that one before.
A Rays fan equating scouting that builds a farm system with scouting of postseason opponents is more of an insult to Rays fans than anything I could come up with.
Posted by: Anthony | October 11, 2008 at 02:40 PM
Judging from the current Rays lineup and their youth and experience and record, I would say that the Rays scouting organization is pretty damn good as well.
I apologize for all the foolish comments that I made today.
Play ball, already!
Posted by: Anthony | October 11, 2008 at 02:38 PM
Interesting that you consider people seeking the freedom to practice their own religion 'convicts' and 'social outcasts'. Really goes to show what kind of person you are.
Posted by: Lucas | October 11, 2008 at 02:34 PM
CJ, the Sox scouting organization is their secret weapon. Their postseason book on opponents is second to none. Ask STL '04, COL '07, or LAA '08 fans how shocked they were at regular season results vs. postseason. Get ready to join that list.
Posted by: Anthony | October 11, 2008 at 02:33 PM
English immigrants that were convicts and social outcasts. A proud lineage indeed!
Posted by: Rays R Great | October 11, 2008 at 02:31 PM