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Rays Soar After Unique Gathering Of 'Eagles'

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By MARTIN FENNELLY | The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 18, 2008

ST. PETERSBURG - "Where's the rays tank at?"

So asked Louis Victor Piniella shortly after emerging from the tunnel into the visitors dugout at the new Tropicana Field. He brought a winner with him - the Chicago Cubs, of all teams - for his first time back in three years, to play another winner - the Rays, of all teams, and Lou's old team.

"How about that?" Piniella said.

Historians will little note nor long remember, but there was a gathering of eagles at the Trop on Tuesday night, in and around that noisy, always vulnerable Cubs fan that came by the thousands to take over the yard in this, the 100th year since catcher Johnny Kling threw to Cubs first baseman Frank Chance for the final out of the Cubs' last World Series championship. Orval Overall got the win.

No, the gathering was three - count 'em, three - of the four managers in Rays history under one roof. There was Piniella, inaugural Rays manager Larry Rothschild (now Cubs pitching coach), and current Rays skipper Joe Maddon. If only we could have had Hal McRae on the video board by satellite feed. Mount Rushmore, eat your granite heart out.

Maddon smiled.

"It's like a different version of Rushmore."

Ever so slightly. Granted, Rothschild's face still conjures images of Teddy Roosevelt charging up San Juan Hill to pull Bryan Rekar from the game.

Ah, memories.

Happy Ending On Both Ends

The story of Lou and the Rays turns out to have a happy ending on both ends. The Cubs are poised to make consecutive playoff appearances for the first time in ... 100 years. The Rays are poised to, well, we'll see, but Tuesday's dramatic 3-2 win was against the team with the best record in baseball.

Chants of "Let's, go, Cubbies," rose and fell in the ninth as Troy Percival closed it out for the Rays, albeit barely. Reed Johnson tried to bunt in the tying run in from third base with two outs. Only Rays third baseman Evan Longoria's charging bare-handed grab and first baseman Willy Aybar's catch and hold of a one-hop throw saved - yawn - just another night at the yard.

"It's one of those things you see in the movies," Maddon said. "Everything is in slow motion and you're saying 'Nooooo.'"

But what, win or lose, would have been wrong with 31,607 on a Tuesday night in June? True, it was Wrigley South for most of the evening. But, hey, hey, the Cubs were finally in town. Let the neuroses begin!

Some people go through life seeing the glass as half full, others go through life seeing the glass as half empty. Cubs fans go through life saying, "Wait, you mean you guys got glasses?"

Every single Cubs fan has a back story. If you ask them what time it is and they'll tell you about the time the black cat ran on the field against the Mets in '69, or the time the ball went through Leon Durham's legs in the 1984 playoffs or the time Bartman, well, you know.

Judy Lacefield, 57, Cubs fans in attendance on Tuesday, explained it best.

"I married my ex-husband on Sept 6, 1969, and the next day I went to Wrigley and the Cubs lost 7-5 to the Pirates, and pretty soon they collapsed to the Mets. I consider that as a portent for my life."

Ah, memories.

Piniella hadn't been to the Trop since the Rays bought him out of the remainder of his contract in 2005. Rothschild hadn't been back since he was fired in 2001. Both have seen enough to think the Rays are real.

"It's the pitching, from what I've been able to see," Piniella said before the game.

Pointing Out The Rays Tank

As for what followed, starters Ryan Dempster and Scott Kazmir surrendered only a run apiece, but labored heavily and departed inside six innings.

Rays DH and Chicago native Cliff Floyd slipped some ex-Cub factor into the mix when he homered in the second. In the sixth, Longoria showed Lou the exact whereabouts of the rays tank by bonking an opposite-field homer off it.

Amazing how this place looks and sounds when it's filled with baseball fans and real baseball. Piniella gave the joint a cursory inspection beforehand.

"They've done few things here to brighten the place up," Lou said.

Yes, they have.

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