Projo Sox Blog

BY KEVIN McNAMARA
Journal Sports Writer

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Welcome to Tropicana Field.

The Rays -- sorry, but we're bound to write Devil Rays sometime this week -- are on the field taking batting practice and tossing long lobs in the outfield. They'll do this for about and hour and then the Red Sox will take over at around 3 p.m.

The Rays' clubhouse was just invaded by a large, and growing, press corps. This group is young, loose and has some characters. They'll be even more fun if they jump on the Red Sox out of the gate in this series.

Here are some snippets from the Rays:

-- Star rookie third baseman Evan Longoria and several of his teammates insist that dueling with the Red Sox for the right to advance to the World Series is exactly what the Rays thought might happen this fall.

The Rays jumped out to a 35-22 start and were in first place by June 1. The Red Sox were always in sight, however.

"We knew once it was down to the last couple weeks of the season that it was going to be us and them in the playoffs," said Longoria. "From Day One, this is the way we wanted it to be. Boston and us were the best teams in the A.L. East all year and now it's come to this. I think we're really excited it happened this way."

Longoria said that he's noticed that "in the last couple of years, it's been tougher to win the A.L. East than the World Series. It's a tough road through Boston."

-- Longoria on facing Daisuke Matsuzaka: "The special challenge to Dice-K is to make him throw strikes,'' said Longoria. "He can really lull you to sleep, in my opinion. He throws a lot of balls. He gets into trouble but always wiggles out of it. If we get him on the ropes early, we have to put the dagger in him. It'll be a matter of getting the key hits.''

-- Cumberland's Rocco Baldelli was asked if he sees any Rays hats back home in Rhode Island. "There are some Rays hats up there, but they're all my friends," he said. "There might be some others, but I probably know half the state, anyway."

 Tags  Evan Longoria Rocco Baldelli

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