Oh how SWEEP it is!

Tropicana Field is hands down the worst stadium in sports. And by mid-August the Devil Rays will be busy crumbling. Like the Brewers last year, they aren't ready for the big stage yet.

 

No, the inside looks like shit too. I've never been there, but on TV it looks terrible. It's dark, the turf looks bad, and any stadium where a fucking catwalk can decide a game is an embarrassment.

 

It won't be done for at least 4 or 5 more years, if then. They just recently postponed the public VOTE on it until 2010. The team was being way too shady about it if you ask me, and they knew it.

 

Dude, you realize Joe Jet is a bigger poser than you, right? Toolshed. Congratulations on your successes, ballfan.

 

No it's not. It's fucking hideous. It's the ugliest looking stadium in baseball, by far, on the INSIDE.

 

In March, I figured the Rays would win at least 84 games but no more than 88 in the regular season. Looks like they may get into the 90s.
I figured the Yankees would finish in 3rd place.

Seattle is the only big surprise to me.

 

dude your team isnt going to be good for a long time because Tampa aint gonna pay to retain all these guys. See the Oakland A's business model

 

I don't know what to think about it yet. Their old owner was horrible. The new one actually cares about winning. He may be able to keep the team competitive.

 

Wow, I officially care less about the Rays now, thanks to this thread.

Congratulations.

 

you and the other 6 rays fans must be so excited!

 

so what if the Rays are in first....this is only the midway point of the season. Let's see how they finish up before you crown them like Dennis Green.

 

Yeah, playing in a MUCH harder division with the defending world champions and the team with the highest payroll in baseball is clearly an advantage. Idiot.

Who cares? Outside of Percival who is on the DL now anyway, there isn't a player on the roster that has ever SNIFFED a pennant race. They don't have the experience to handle it, and their lineup will come back to earth.

And that has what to do with the future? You do realize that the Rays are 4 games better than they should be (Pythagorean is 48-36), while the Sox are dead on where they should be? Those things tend to even out over a season.

Sheets, Suppan, Capuano, Gallardo, and Bush. Not bad. Also, Price hasn't thrown a big league pitch yet, so I don't know if you should count him in the rotation, and you have no idea what he'll do in the Majors.

Yes. They had Ryan Braun, who hit .324 with 34 home runs and WON ROOKIE OF THE YEAR! Do some research and maybe you won't look so stupid.

No, but Pena has never won a Gold Glove either. The Brewers DID have Prince Fielder. Not sure if you heard of him. He did ok last year, .288, 50 HR, 119 RBI. Pretty similar.

Geoff Jenkins had pretty much identical defensive stats last year as Crawford has this year.

Bill Hall, who is a decent player himself.

Navarro has 3 passed balls already, Estrada had only 5 all last year. Navarro has a good arm, but it's not like he's a top 5 MLB catcher.

Ned Yost, who has more experience than Maddon, who hasn't proven anything yet in his entire career. His team has had 3 good months to start the year.

I think I just backed them up. They two teams are VERY similar. Want more? As a team the Brewers hit .262 last year. The Rays are hitting .263. The Rays are 11th in HR right now, the Brewers actually led the majors last year. The Brewers were 12th in runs scored, the Rays are 11th. The Rays have the 9th most strikeouts by hitters this year, last year the Brewers were 10th. Pitching wise, the Rays have a 3.67 ERA, the Brewers had a 4.41. That is a difference, but that's what I expect to break down, plus the Brewers have a hitter's park while Tampa has a pitcher's park. The Rays are 12th in pitcher Ks, the Brewers were 4th last year. Both teams are/were 10th in walks.

The biggest similarity though is lack of experience with a pennant race. The Rays are even younger than the Brewers were last year. When it comes down to it, there isn't anyone on that roster that has gone through it, outside of the fragile Percival. I'm not saying the Rays aren't good, or that they aren't headed in the right direction, but they just aren't ready yet.

I did.

 

Yeah, Fenway is known as a shitty field. And you dare accuse OTHERS of not knowing baseball?

The Sox are playing bad right now, but they are missing their second best hitter. When Ortiz comes back, the offense is totally different.

And now a Devil Rays fan is going to talk about losing? After the first 3 month stretch of anything close to decent baseball in FRANCHISE HISTORY? Ridiculous. Not to mention that the Sox have one of the best closers in the game, one of the best postseason pitchers (and a pretty damn good regular season one too), a guy who is currently 9-1, 3.21 ERA in his second year, a lefty who throws mid 90s, has thrown a no hitter and won a World Series clinching game, another kid that has a no hitter and nasty stuff, a rookie who has looked great, and another kid in the minors who is dominating, all under 29 years old. The Red Sox are as stocked with quality young pitching as any team in baseball. Plus Ellsbury and Pedroia at the top of the lineup for the foreseeable future. They aren't going away any time soon.

 

There's no question that on the field things look very bright for the Rays. Off the field the picture is still much fuzzier. Their attendance is up 40% from last year at this time, but it's still only about 20,000 per game, pretty bad for a team this successful. Much more importantly, the plan for the new ballpark is basically back to square one. The team dropped their request for the referendum this November, and they now acknowledge that they need to build far more community support before they can consider any stadium plan. This story describes what's going on:

http://www.bizjournals.com/tampabay/stories/2008/06/23/daily32.html?q=tampa bay rays new stadium

 

AYFKM? Trashtalking after a half-season success? Finally.

Silly person.