Very interesting. April 6 was the Devil Rays home opener. Sold out house. A Devil Rays sell out in which you can see a lot of blue seats, but still pretty good turnout. It was also Good Friday so our family wasn't able to attend.
I got home to watch the game on tape. Devil Rays bopping home runs is a great sign, and good plate patience is also going to be great for the year. When we gave up the lead in the late innings, it just gets so frustrating (see right). Going into the bottom of the ninth losing 5-3 was the perfect recipe for three losing home openers in a row.
I couldn't script Delmon Young's game tying home run or BJ knocking in Aki to win the game 6-5. It was slightly reminiscent of the 2003 with Carl Crawford and his walk off homer. It was great to see the Rays win in front of a huge crowd.
That translated to good attendance for the second game. This was our family's "opening day." The four of us got to the ballpark early, took lots of pictures and had a great time.
Fossum did not have so great a time, giving up seven runs before leaving in the 4th. At this point, I'm going to chalk that up to nerves. He hasn't pitched since last August. It was disappointing to see Frank Thomas hit the grand slam. Fossum seemed to be scared to pitch to him. When he was 3-1, he left one right over the plate. The Devil Rays could not recover. down by six runs, they didn't give up however. Brendon Harris out of nowhere hit a three run home run, making it respectable and winnable. The Jays got some great bounces that night too. Some crazy plays. A couple of plays here and there and we would have walked away winners. I guess you could say that about any game.
The Trop looks great, the huge score board is awesome! It's going to be a great experience this year going to the games.
Yesterday I again watched the game in tape delay. Kazmir looked sharp, unbelievably sharp, striking out 10 in the first 5 innings. A home run doomed them, and Stokes came in and made it even worse.
Three good games I thought. The Devil Rays got down early in game 2 but continued to battle.
Impressed- Trop Renovations. it looks great there. Kazmir strikeout strike out strike outs.
Not Impressed - Dioneer Navaro. Is he going to hit the ball this year? It's almost like he's our pitcher up at the plate. Josh Paul had a few hits last Thursday and he'll be up tonight.
The good news is no more tape delay for a little while. I'm watching tonight's game live.
A few years ago, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers became popular because well, because they started winning on a regular basis. Suddenly it seemed like every football player had his own radio show where he spoke about the previous and upcoming game. There wasn't really a problem until the Buccaneers would lose a game or two and then the cry from the public would be that the Bucs should quit doing radio programs and start working on winning. ( Coincedentally I know many people who are fans of the Red Sox and the Buccaneers, It doesn't make sense except here in Tampa Bay)
I only wish the people of Boston would demand the same. A little over a week ago, Schilling spoke up about the Boston/Tampa Bay rivalry. He laid the blame on one person, and that's Scott Kazmir. Why? Because Kazmir doesn't know how to pitch inside and shouldn't. So all the build up going all the way back to Pedro "I can walk nobody and still hit batters" Martinez and Gerald Williams up until Tavarrez and Gathright is the fault of our own Kazmir being unable to pitch inside, so he shouldn't. Maybe someone should put out -- ok I will -- that people who don't know when to stop talking should learn.
Well, since that conversation, Schilling beat the Devil Rays 9-1 and Kazmir beat the Red Sox 5-1 so on a day like today, I'm sure lots of interesting parties were looking to the game where Schilling and Kazmir pitched against each other.
Well, in case you didn't hear the news, the Devil Rays handed Curt "I always get all the run support I need" Schilling his first loss and Kazmir got the win, AND he hit nobody.
Will this make Curt shut up? Of course not, I'm sure the Devil Rays somehow cheated or just acted like punks to beat Boston 2 out of 3.
It was quite a nice treat to see this on almost the one year anniversary of the big fight between the Red Sox and the Devil Rays. You know the one, where the Devil Rays were so frustrated by beating Boston the two previous nights that after the Boston pitchers chucked balls at us, we responded.
I also enjoyed seeing all the Red Coat fans in the stands being disappointed again. You can always count on lots of them to come to the Devil Rays games, when their team is in first place of course.
Yes I know the Devil Rays almost blew it, and the Devil Rays aren't the best team in the league. I also would have said the same thing if they had blown the game, but it probably would sound like sour grapes.
