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TO THE PLAYOFFS

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By JOE HENDERSON

The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 21, 2008

Updated: 09/21/2008 01:11 am

ST. PETERSBURG - You can try to think about the bad times but it all just seems funny now. The years and years of losing simply set the stage for a story that has been tremendous and isn't finished yet.

Tremendous. That's how former owner Vince Naimoli explained the bizarre name he had chosen for his baseball team - Devil Rays. It was, he said, "a tremendous fish." And thus, a baseball punch line was born.

The fish might have been tremendous.

The team, not so much.

It took a while, but 13 years, six months and 12 days after Tampa Bay was welcomed into the major leagues, they at least have the "tremendous" part down right.

The explosion of sound at precisely 7:22 p.m. Saturday from 36,048 fans that filled every seat at Tropicana Field confirmed that. That's when a pop-up dropped into the open glove of third baseman Evan Longoria for the final out of the game and a farewell forever to the team's loser legacy.

The Tampa Bay Rays - no devil, thank you - had beaten Minnesota 7-2.

The Tampa Bay Rays are officially in the American League playoffs.

We laughed at them for years, embarrassed by such antics as "Salute To Duct Tape Night" that made a big-league baseball franchise seem minor-league so many times. We groaned at a decade of futility, where the Rays finished last in the American League East nine times in their first 10 seasons.

Nobody's laughing now. Not anymore. These Rays have completed the first step in an extreme turnabout that has landed them atop baseball's toughest division despite having the second-lowest payroll in the game.

"It's a new day here," relief pitcher Dan Wheeler said as champagne and beer flowed freely - a bit of it consumed, most of it thrown and poured on anyone who ventured inside the Rays clubhouse.

"It's not over though. This is just step one; we want to win the division. But we want to enjoy this. There really are no words to describe it."

Team Has Changed

Wheeler has a better perspective than most. He pitched for the Rays from 1999-2001 and they finished last all three seasons, losing 100 games in his final season before he left as a free agent. The Rays got him back last summer in a trade with Houston. Wheeler could see right away that things had changed. And it wasn't just that they dropped "Devil" from their name.

"We knew we were good but it was almost to the point that we didn't want to tell anybody," Wheeler said. "You didn't want them to think that. We wanted to just keep going out and doing what we were doing, maybe be oblivious to everything that was happening."

These Rays have drawn admiration throughout baseball for both their play and the way they are put together. Their $43 million payroll is the second-lowest in baseball and is dwarfed by American League East rivals New York ($209 million) and Boston ($133 million).

"You see them and it's not one real superstar that leads them. They're a team. They all play together," said Hall of Fame third baseman Wade Boggs, who played for the Rays in 1998-99.

The Rays were generally expected to be much improved this season, but few people expected this. They had the worst record in baseball last year at 66-96, but heading into today's final home game they are 92-61. Since 1900, only nine teams have improved by 30 or more games from one season to the next.

They also lead the division by 21/2 games. Even though they have qualified as no worse than a wild card for the playoffs, winning the division would be huge. Just one more step in a season that will rank among the most magical in Bay area history.

Rays manager Joe Maddon, his hair and T-shirt saturated with champagne, was asked if the reality of the moment matched the anticipation. His one-word answer said it all.

"Yes."

Berth Is For Everybody

The Rays rushed from their dugout to mob Longoria and pitcher Trever Miller, who stood at the mound for the final out, as confetti fell from the Trop roof and air raid sirens blasted the surreal message of a special achievement throughout the stadium.

Fans stood and cheered wildly in salute while the team's theme song - "Feel The Heat, Rays" - set the backdrop.

Shortly after that, several players returned to the field with bottles of champagne and sprayed it toward the seats, where fans still reveled in the moment. This win was for everybody.

It was for guys like Tom Berte, who for five years has stood as security sentinel outside the Rays clubhouse.

"I feel it just like them," he said.

It was for the ushers and the workers. It was for the small base of faithful fans who have stuck it out from the start, always believing. It was for the new arrivals who make the Trop so loud. It was even for those who only watch on TV.

It's just the beginning of an October that could be like none we've ever experienced around here. It staggers the mind to think about how far this franchise has come and what might yet be in store. There's only one word that fits. Vince Naimoli had it right after all.

Tremendous.

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