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Rays To Close Spring Training Against Champion Phillies

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By MARC LANCASTER | The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 14, 2008

ST. PETERSBURG – The Rays will finish their preparations for the 2009 season on the same field that saw their historic 2008 campaign come to a disappointing end last month.

The Rays and Phillies will square off in a World Series rematch at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia on April 3 and 4, the final two spring training games for both teams. The Phillies will begin defense of their world championship at home Sunday, April 5 against the Braves, while the Rays head to Boston to open regular-season play the following day.

The two-game series wasn't arranged with the idea of revisiting recent history; the teams agreed to the matchup before the end of the regular season. Nonetheless, that set should keep the fires burning between the two teams, and an interleague series June 23-25 at Tropicana Field could grow the rivalry even further.

"Given the World Series, spring training and this tune-up, we'll be more than acquainted by the time our June series at the Trop arrives," Rays president Matt Silverman said Friday.

Tampa Bay has not yet released its 2009 spring training schedule, but the Phillies' slate has the two teams squaring off two more times in Florida – in Clearwater on Feb. 28 and at the Rays' new facility in Port Charlotte on March 12.

The Rays also will make at least one trip to the Atlantic coast of Florida for the first time since 2005 as they're scheduled to face the Cardinals in Jupiter on March 2.

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