A joyous moment for Joyce family

The telephone rang Saturday afternoon at his home in Riverview just as Matt Joyce Sr. logged onto video of his son hitting a home run the night before for the Durham Bulls. You'll never guess who was on the other end of the phone.

So, whatcha doing, the son asked?

"Watching you hit a home run," the father answered.

"Any plans for tomorrow?"

"Why?"

"Want to go to the Rays game?"

It took a moment to sink in.

"Did they call you up?"

The Tampa Bay Rays, indeed, had called him back to the big leagues. Dad said he took the news calmly, but his wife, Lisa, told a different story.

"He was not cool. He immediately picked up the phone and called everyone who has been rooting for Matt, all of his relatives and all of his friends. He was so excited, he couldn't sit still," she said.

And so, the senior and junior Matt Joyces, along with several other family members, did spend Sunday at Tropicana Field, where dad got to watch his son hit another home run. The kid who graduated from Armwood High and spent a lot of time back in those days watching Rays teams that had a lot less hope than this one sent an arching shot in the fifth inning that landed in the right-field seats but, alas, the Rays lost 3-2 to Minnesota.

Actually, it was Joyce's second homer with the Rays - he had one in the opening series at Boston - but it was the first of many he likely will hit at the Trop before his career is done.

"He is going to be a really good major-league baseball player," Rays manager Joe Maddon said afterward.

There are no guarantees this stay will last longer than his first with the Rays. He got 10 at-bats while B.J. Upton recuperated on the disabled list, then was sent to Durham. Joyce excelled there, hitting .315 with five homers and 27 RBIs in 41 games, but the Rays will have to make a roster move when Pat Burrell comes off the DL and Joyce still has options.

Maddon told him as much when Joyce arrived at the Rays' clubhouse.

"He said, 'Welcome, and I don't know how long your stay is going to be. I'll get you some playing time. Just go out there and play and have fun,'" Joyce said.

The Rays need every bit of juice Joyce can bring right now. He'll play mostly right field, especially with Ben Zobrist likely to spend more time in the infield now because of the season-ending injury to Akinori Iwamura. We know this organization doesn't like to rush things with young players, but dog-gone. Joyce looks as ready as a 24-year-old can be.

Sunday was actually his 96th game in the big leagues, counting the work he did last year with Detroit. This was the 14th homer of his young career. The Rays thought enough of Joyce to surrender Edwin Jackson last winter to acquire him, so you'd like to think that this - like the promotion of David Price - was done with the idea of never sending him back. That's not a given, though.

"He is the kind of guy I believe you'd like to get here and keep here, but the way our team is structured it may not be the same for him," Maddon said. "We'll just wait and see. But I do believe he could be a regular major-leaguer right now."

Matt Joyce Sr. did, indeed, make it to the Trop on Sunday. He and Lisa were comfortably in their seats near the field to watch the almost perfect home debut. And to hear it as well, as in the sound the ball made coming off Matt's bat on the way to the outfield seats.

"When the connection sounds good from where I'm sitting, we're happy," he said. "I know the sound. I pitched to him ever since he was little. It's the best feeling in the world. As soon as he hit it, I was like, 'Go ball, go.'"

Rays fans have been impatient waiting for this day, especially with Jackson pitching lights-out. This was just one game, of course, but everyone had to like what they saw. But no one liked it more than a couple of guys named Matt.

"No. 1 was hitting my first home run in front of my dad, but that Sunday was probably No. 2," Joyce said. "It was just a good feeling, man. Running around the bases, you're just on cloud nine. You don't feel your feet hit the ground."