Last night's contest was rained out. The Rays and Yankees will play a day-night double-header with the first going at the originally scheduled 1:05 and the night-cap will be at 7:05...Boston beat the Jays last night 7-0, and will also play a double-header today...The Twins were rained out in Baltimore so the magic number remains 10.

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA...

• DRays Bay doesn't understand why all 29 Major League GMs, who are actually, you know, paid to make such decisions, passed on the opportunity to add a guy to their roster who had 103 strikeouts and only 19 walks in triple-A. A player that will be out of minor league options in '09. A player that has a career minor league OBP of .311. A player, who despite all of his "power potential" has only hit 20 home runs once in 7 minor league seasons...And when we *tried* to have an intelligent discussion on the matter in their comments section, the only responses were vile attacks on our website and on us personally. Having a conversation with them is like a Martian talking to a fungo. [Drays Bay]
  
• In case you missed it last night in the Twitter updates in the right-hand column or this morning in the "Down on the Farm" segment, David Price, Jeff Niemann, Mitch Talbot and Jonny Gomes will join the Rays today, now that Durham's season is over. Despite pitching on Tuesday, Price is available to pitch during today's double-header. Niemann last pitched on Wednesday, so we expect he will not be available today. All three, Price, Niemann and Talbot will work out of the bullpen for now. [Rays Report]
• Evan Longoria will return to the lineup in game 1 today. He will not start in game 2. BJ Upton is not expected to play today and Troy Percival is expected to be day-to-day for the rest of the season. [Tampa Tribune]
• John Romano wants to give Joe Maddon the benefit of the doubt, but if Maddon truly has the team's best interest at heart, then Romano thinks Troy Percival should not be closing any longer. [St. Pete Times]
  
• Take away the historical context and the $20 million players, and we fully agree, the Trop is better than Yankee Stadium. And unlike 99% of the people that badmouth the Trop, we have actually been to games in both stadiums. I would also say that the level of comfort and enjoyment of the Trop is better than Fenway where only people 5'2" can be comfortable and half the seats face the outfield wall, Shea Stadium which is a dump and new Commiskey, which is boring. We are sure there are others. [Bugs and Cranks]
• The Rays lost the coin-flip to decide who would host a matchup should a one-game playoff be needed to decide the AL East crown...To clarify, a one-game playoff will only be necessary if both the White Sox and Twins have better records than the Rays and the Red Sox. One-game playoffs are not used if both teams are guaranteed a playoff spot. In this case it is very likely that both the Rays and the Red Sox will be in the playoffs making this entire matter moot. [The Heater]
• The Florida Aquarium has given five new baby Rays some familiar names. [Tampa Bay's 10]
  

Another day, another video...This time we go to the wayback machine for this commercial for the opening of Tropicana Field, or "The Florida Suncoast Dome" as it was known back then. It was "the biggest gala party in Florida history." Of course it was. Kenny Rogers (ballads not baseballs), performed.

Florida Suncoast Dome Grand Opening

The Cubs are said to be cursed even though they have been to the playoffs recently...The Red Sox were said to be cursed even though they had intermittent periods of success...

The Tampa Bay Rays on the other hand have never won more than 70 games. The Tampa Bay Rays have finished last in the AL East in nine of their 10 years of existence. Meanwhile all three of their contemporary expansion brethren have been to the World Series with 3 titles among them.

If any franchise is cursed...it is the Tampa Bay Rays.

When the new ownership group exorcised the "Devil" the curse was supposed to be lifted...They gave the team new uniforms...They even spent money on free agents and gave long-term deals to some of their young talent. This was supposed to be the year the Rays broke out of the cellar and finally started to build respectability.

And yet, here we are almost two weeks into the season and the Tampa Bay Rays are still in last place. Worse, the team that the Rays everybody picked to finish ahead of, the Baltimore Orioles, are 6-1 and in first place.

The Rays have been beset by a number of injuries early on. After the recent injuries to Matt Garza and Cliff Floyd, the Rays now have eight players on the DL, including five (Garza, Floyd, Rocco Baldelli, Scott Kazmir, Dioner Navarro) that were slated to be starters prior to the season.

So if the Tampa Bay Rays are indeed cursed...what is the source of "The Curse"?

The New Kids On The Block.

It's True. On March 31 (Opening Day), we learned that The New Kids On The Block were reuniting and would make an appearance on the "Today Show".

And what do The New Kids On The Block have to do with the Tampa Bay Rays?

The largest crowd ever at the Tropicana Dome was a concert featuring The New Kids On The Block. On August 11, 1990, only months after the dome was opened, 47,150 screaming teens packed the then ThunderDomeThe Florida Suncoast Dome. How many other venues can stake claim to such a dubious distinction?

Of course, as part of the overhaul of the franchise, the Tampa Bay Rays have also announced plans to demolish Tropicana Field and build a new open-air ballpark along the St. Pete waterfront. If the Rays do indeed move, Tropicana Field will be redeveloped into a shopping and residential mecca. And the New Kids will no longer hold the record at any venues, nor are they likely to break any in the future.

Clearly the Tampa Bay Rays have angered the gods (Danny, Donnie, Jordan, Joey and Jonathon). If the Rays play terrible in 2008, there is a good chance the new stadium will not be approved and The Trop will live.

Of course, The New Kids also happen to be from Boston...and well, you already know how we feel about Boston.

The Curse Of THE NEW KIDS...Oh my. We would prefer a goat.

New Kids are back [Boston Herald]
At least Rays' funny bone isn't injured [Bradenton Herald]
Tropicana Field History [MLB]

Ever have one of those ideas that seemed great in your head only to end up being a huge disappointment once implemented? The Tampa Bay Rays had one of those last night for the home opener.

Below is an image of the Rays' new Sunburst logo "emblazoned" into the center field turf (that's it on the right side just behind Upton as he runs towards the outfield wall)...

We have seen this implemented in numerous other stadiums using their respective team's logo. The most memorable is the use of the Red Sox logo often used on the infield at Fenway Park.

The problem with the use of the Sunburst logo at The Trop, is that the logo doesn't look right in a color other than something resembling "sunlight" colors. In fact, in dark green it either looks like a gigantic "splat" of discolored turf or a giant sinkhole threatening to swallow BJ Upton.

Maybe it would look better if it was on grass and not on the shiny FieldTurf2. Or maybe it would look better if it was bigger. But as it is...it just looks stupid. And trying to replicate the artistic grass cutting seen in other parks on plastic carpet is yet another reason why it is a little silly that a team playing in a DOME has sunlight for a mascot.

The Rays dropped their third straight, 8-4 to the Rangers in Arlington. Edwin Jackson made hist first start of the season. He had pop on his fastball, hitting 96-97 regularly. He also had control, with only 1 walk. But he did not have command. He gave up 8 hits and did not make it out of the 6th. Still, he left with 2 outs in the 6th with two runners on and the scored 2-2. It took three pitchers to record the final out of the 6th inning, and by the time Gary Glover got the third out, the Rays bullpen had allowed 6 runs to cross the plate. Carl Crawford who we think will hit 30 home runs this season, hit his second on the young season.

• Joe Maddon will consider production at DH to help decide who plays center field on a regular basis. That sounds like a great idea! So if Elijah Dukes wants to play center instead of DH (and why wouldn't he?) his 0-4 last night as DH actually helps him.
• Tonight's starter for the Rangers, Jamey Wright, is not on the active roster. To make room, Texas may have to release Bruce Chen unless they can trade him today.
  
• Usually we find player diaries boring, but in this case we were actually captivated. Akinori Iwamura recounts his first week in the major leagues, which includes receiving a shaving cream pie to the face from James Shields.
• Baseball Musings wonders allowed if the Rays picked up the steal of the off-season in Akinori Iwamura.
  
• Ben Zobrist led the Rays in hitting this spring. Unfortunately it looks as though he used up all his hits in March.
  
• Minor League Ball wants to know who you think Jeff Niemann will compare most favorably to. We say he already compares to this guy!
  
• SportsIllustrated.com has released their first power rankings for 2007. The Devil Rays debut with a respectable #21, one spot ahead of the 2005 World Series champions.
• Diasuke Matsuzaka of the Red Sox may not throw the Gyroball, but Akinori Iwamura sure does. Or at least he likes to throw it during practice.
• The Indians, who have already had 46 games snowed out, are moving their upcoming series with the Angels to Miller Park in Milwaukee. Before they did, they called to see see if the Trop was available.
  

• The Hardball Times have made a gallant effort to try and project Akinori Iwamura's stats for 2007. The problem they face is that there have not been many comparable players that have made the jump from Japan to the Majors. The only similar player (ie. slugger) was Hideki Matsui. Well, Matsui was Matsui has become a solid contributor, but did struggle his first season. Using several predictive measures, it looks like we can expect .292/.348/.446 with about 20 home runs. Like many of us expected his batting average should be similar, with a slight dip, and a big fall off in power.
• Baseball Prospectus noticed that Dioner Navarro had some decent projections for 2007 and were surprised. That take a closer look and determine that major league experience at a young age for catchers almost guarantees that they become a good hitter.
  
• Earlier this week we worried aloud about Elijah Dukes' weight. He is apparently at 245 pounds even though he has publicly said he would prefer to play at 220. Well we received some first hand accounts from the first day of workouts and the general consensus is that we should shut up and stop worrying. He is in shape. Just a little bigger. Also another feel-good story about leaving his problems behind. This one was an AP article and ran all over the country. If Dukes makes the team and plays in an all-star game some day look for a Sunday night movie.
• How bad is the Rays bullpen? Well apparently a 2006 campaign with a 4.68 ERA and 1.493 WHIP guarantees you a spot in the 2007 pen without having to compete in Spring Training. We thought Shawn Camp had a shot at the big league club, but figured he would at least have to work for it.
  
• The Trop. Only the 28th worst stadium in baseball! Wait...Taking the entire package into consideration (Ticket prices, concession prices, etc.) and The Trop jumps up to 25th. At least Ken Macha understands the need for domes. Personally we are sick and tired of the knocks on the Trop. The city was blackmailed by Major League Baseball into building a stadium on the cheap without a team to help foot the bill. And how many teams out there owe their new state-of-the-art stadiums to the threat of moving to the Tampa Bay area back in the 80s and early 90s? San Fran, Seattle, the White Sox, etc. So back off! Or we will shoot the stuffed animal.
• Don Zimmer, who will wear #58 this season to mark his 58th season in baseball, has spoke out on the on-going Derek Jeter-Alex Rodriguez story. This is what cracks us up about New York sports. For various reasons, we spend a lot of time in New York City and read the newspapers and listen to sports radio and talk to the local fans, and New York fans can get crazy about silly things. But this story has us shaking our collective heads. Seriously? Would we care if Rocco Baldelli and Carl Crawford used to be buddies but no longer hang out together? The way the New York media is spinning this story, we half expect both of these guys to die in drive-by shootings in the next year or two.
• This is a bit stale, but Baseball America has released their annual "Top 10 Prospects" list for the Rays. Delmon Young's eligibility as a rookie keeps him at the top of the list. Evan Longoria debuts at #2. The best news? With all the talent in the minors these days, five of the top ten are pitchers, led by Jeff Niemann and Jacob McGee at four and five. And the list doesn't even include Mitch Talbot who came on strong at the end of 2006. They also provide a projected 2010 lineup.
• Baseball Prospectus has ranked the minor league systems of every major league team. Not surprising is that the Rays top the list. Surprising is that the Rays not only rank first among hitting prospects but fourth among pitching prospects. To quote The best system in baseball and it's not even close.