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The New Rays: Anatomy Of A Turnaround

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By MARC LANCASTER

The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 2, 2008

WORST TO FIRST

The Rays became the ninth team to go from last place to first place since Major League Baseball went to divisional play in 1969:

The Rays' 11th season saw numerous club marks fall by the wayside

The Rays are a young team that runs on emotion, and nowhere was it more evident than in these three instances:

March 12 - Spring training turns serious as Rays brawl with Yankees at Al Lang Field. A spikes-high slide into Akinori Iwamura by Shelley Duncan sparked it, but the foundation was laid days before when Elliot Johnson collided with Francisco Cervelli at home plate at Legends Field and the young catcher suffered a broken wrist.

June 5 - Rays, Red Sox mix it up. Coco Crisp charges the mound after being hit by a James Shields pitch and mayhem ensues. Eight players - including five Rays - draw suspensions that are staggered out during the balance of the month.

June 8 - Dioner Navarro and Matt Garza go face-to-face in Arlington. Navarro's very public calling-out of his pitcher spills over into a dugout scuffle and by most indications ends up turning Garza's season around.

WALK-OFF WONDERS

Tampa Bay's 11 walk-off wins at Tropicana Field all generated excitement, but these were the best of the bunch:

April 25 - The Rays didn't leave their magic at Disney after sweeping the Blue Jays there the previous day. They returned home for their first crack at the Red Sox and had Nathan Haynes at the plate four hours later with men on first and second and nobody out in the 11th. Boston was looking for a bunt, but Haynes swung away and his single to right scored Carl Crawford for a 5-4 win.

May 9 - James Shields was the star of the game, allowing just one hit and shutting out the Angels through nine innings on just 92 pitches. But he wouldn't have had a victory to show for it if not for Evan Longoria's two-run shot off Justin Speier in the bottom of the ninth. The rookie's fourth big-league homer and first game-ending hit sent all the Rays home happy.

June 1 - Gabe Gross entered the day 6-for-63 in his big-league career against left-handed pitchers, but ended up hitting a game-tying triple off White Sox lefty Mark Buehrle and a game-ending homer in the 10th inning off southpaw Matt Thornton - who had held lefties to a .133 average. The Rays won 4-3 as Gross collected the second of his three walk-off hits this season.

Aug. 3 - Troy Percival blew a lead against the Tigers in the ninth by giving up a homer, then served up another longball leading off the 10th to put the Rays in a hole. But the Rays loaded the bases in the bottom of the 10th, tied the game, then saw Carlos Pena draw a walk to force home Shawn Riggans - who reached base when he was hit squarely in the chest by a pitch - with the winning run.

KEY OFFSEASON TRANSACTIONS

Nov. 28 - Matt Garza, Jason Bartlett and Eduardo Morlan acquired from Twins in exchange for Delmon Young, Brendan Harris and Jason Pridie

Nov. 30 - Troy Percival agrees to two-year contract

Dec. 17 - Cliff Floyd agrees to one-year contract with club option for 2009

Jan. 17 - Willy Aybar and Chase Fontaine acquired from Braves for Jeff Ridgway

Feb. 6 - Trever Miller agrees to one-year contract with club option for 2009; Eric Hinske agrees to minor-league contract

KEY IN-SEASON TRANSACTIONS

April 11 - Evan Longoria's contract purchased from Durham

April 18 - Evan Longoria agrees to terms on nine-year contract

April 22 - Gabe Gross acquired from Milwaukee for minor-league pitcher Josh Butler

May 15 - Scott Kazmir agrees to terms on four-year contract extension

Aug. 7 - Chad Bradford acquired from Baltimore for a player to be named

Sept. 13 - David Price is recalled from Durham

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