TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Rays Open With A Look Back

ADVERTISEMENT

By MARC LANCASTER

mlancaster@tampatrib.com

Published: February 16, 2009

PORT CHARLOTTE - Before it came time to turn the page Sunday afternoon, the Rays took one last look back.

"We were all done with the physicals about 10 o'clock, most of us, and we were just sitting around chatting about what happened last year and reminiscing on some things and some fun times that happened last year," pitcher James Shields said. "It's good to have smiles on our faces coming into spring training."

Going from last place to the World Series will do that for a team, and there was unquestionably a different air about the Rays as they took the field for the first time in 2009.

The almost desperate optimism personified last spring by Scott Kazmir's bold prediction that the team was good enough to play in October had given way to a confidence that it could be done - and a knowledge of how to do it.

"When you come to a Rays camp anymore, the conversation's going to have to lead right to the World Series all the time," Manager Joe Maddon said. "That's the way it should be in every camp, but sometimes it's believable and sometimes it's not. Right now, for us, it's very believable."

The paradigm shift prompted a change in tactics for Maddon as he addressed his team for the first time. He said he brought back a couple of last season's themes - trust and accountability - but also emphasized "humility and gratitude."

Remaining grateful for what happened in 2008 should help the returning Rays maintain self-discipline, he believes.

"We're good, our players are good, we're very talented, we play baseball well," Maddon said. "It's how we think that's going to control our destiny, so I wanted to make sure that we understood that."

It didn't sound like Maddon would have a tough sales job with his players. Though Shields said he believes the Rays should maintain their status as the team to beat in the AL until someone takes it away from them in October, they know plenty of people will pick them to finish third this year because of improvements in New York and Boston.

"We feel like we still want to go out there and prove that it wasn't a fluke, because that's what you hear all the time," Kazmir said. "We still have something to prove over here."

Reporter Marc Lancaster can be reached at (813) 259-7227.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT