Mmmmm. Frosty.

In an attempt to offer something new to the site we are bring in the six pack of questions. These questions will basically stem from conversations fellow Rays fans have with each other while drinking, you guessed it, beer. So without further to do, I present the first ever Six Pack

First Beer: (Fan A)Hey dude what the hell is the deal with Soriano man? (Fan B)Not sure bro but he looks Pedro Cerrano from Major League.(Fan A)Didn’t we pay him 7 mil to be a closer? (Fan A) And then he puts up two shaky performances?

New team, new environment, non-save situation. These things can come into factor with Soriano. Should we be worried now? Not at all. If his name isn’t Burrell I have faith in him.

Second Beer: (Fan A) Dude. (Fan B) What’s up bro? (Fan A) That Evan Longoria sure has had a hot start do you think he will win A.L. M.V.P.?

A little early to start the M.V.P. talks for Longo. I am a fan of the hot streak he is on. Hopefully he can find his hat.

Third Beer/Bathroom Break: (Fan A) So that Pat Burrell guy what’s his deal? (Fan B) Seems like he pulled an Adrian Beltre and just got his pay day and said screw it.

As much as I bash Burrell for sucking, which he does, he has had some better approaches at the plate this year. I think if he doesn’t start producing soon the Rays might want to give Blalock a look.

Fourth Beer: (Fan A) Don’t you think we should of swept the O’s? I mean they are the O’s.

The O’s are not a bad team plus it doesn’t help when you lose your starter in the second inning of a game. All that matters is that the Rays keep winning series. I mean did you really think we were going to go 162-0?

Fifth Beer: (Fan A) Dude the 8$ beers at the Trop are taking a toll on my wallet.

Enough Said

Sixth Beer/KEG STAND!!!!!: (Fan A) I wonder how we will fare against the Yankees this weekend? (Fan B) Hopefully the stadium will not be filled with 75% Yankee Fans.

After almost mounting a third straight comeback against the O’s I will be quite interested with how we fair against the Yanks. Timely hitting and smarter base running will be needed since the Rays will see Vazquez, Sabathia, and Burnett.

My Opening Day Experience
By: Alex Monroe

Opening Day…I know this is a little bit late, but to be honest, I am finally sober enough to tell you about my amazing experience. I would like to fore warn you that I am not what you would call a ‘diehard’ Rays fan. I get my updates from the best Rays blog, TropTalk (no bias whatsoever), I watch a decent amount of games, and if I am lucky I get to go to some games. What really matters now though is that I was at Opening Day.

The stadium was packed, fans were yelling, it was a fantastic feeling. It was like opening up a box of cracker jacks for the first time…huh?! Although it started a bit slow, the heckling fans behind me took the game to a level of enjoyment that I could have never expected. Damn, Tampa Bay, I didn’t know the fans had it in them. I guess it was all those years of sucking that we can now finally start talking trash. And WOW was there a lot of it.

I really couldn’t ask for a better opening day. It was only the 5th inning when the Rays were down by two before they made something happen, so my panties were not in too much of a bunch. Then an inning after Bartlett drove one in, Evan Longlorious took a meaty pitch into the outfield, what an experience. Forget Vinny Lecavalier, Longoria now has the key to the city. And then for Clutch Crawford to get that double for the win, now that was incredible. Everyone fist pumping…oh wait never mind that’s the Jersey Shore…everyone went absolutely wild.

Bottom line, Rays played their asses off and really proved that they are going to be top competitor this year. I mean they have to live up to all those predictions by ESPN about going to the World Series again right? Don’t get me wrong, but the fact that a 1 million a year dude is on the cover of a Video Game and is one of the best players in the league really says something. Anyway, I can’t wait to go to the next game because Opening Day really pumped me up! As for now, I’m going to crack open another Yuengling. GO RAYS!

Garza carried the Rays in their victory tonight.

What Went Right

This team notches another come from behind win which is exciting to see. They could of easily come out flat after last nights opening day performance.

Matt Garza kept the Rays in the game with his 8 inning, 9 strikeouts outing giving up only 1 earned run. Seems like Matty is in mid-season form already and Tampa Bay will need him to keep this up playing in the East.

Some other side notes:

• Evan Longoria is on pace for 162 homeruns
• Pena and Brignac racked in two hits each
• Our DH spot in the lineup is producing…..scratch that we might be better off with 8 hitters

What Went Wrong

Rafael Soriano is scaring me. I know it is early in the season but I thought the reason we got him was to feel safe when we enter the 9th inning with a lead. Lets just hope that this little funk isn’t permeant.

Bottom Line

We’re undefeated and leading the AL East.

Whats Next

Tomorrow night is the final game of the series. The Rays will send out Jeff Niemann to go for the sweep against Brian Matusz. First pitch is at 7:10 P.M.

So uh, I was more pumped about Opening Day this year than I have ever been.. The Rays didn’t let that excitement go to waste! WALK OFFFFF!!!!

What Went Right:
Um wow.. My first post game for and I get a walk off.. GO RAYS! Hmmm.. where to start.. So Navi shouldn’t be in the line up until about… uh… Whenever he plays in Durham. Just kidding, but Shoppach earned himself a new fan. This is coming from the guy that still takes crap for liking Navi. And do I need to bring up the bomb that Longo hit? Wow. Hey, how do you spell AL MVP? But seriously, that was crazy. And there was Pat The Bat with a double. And how many runs out of that pen??? This is a nice change.. Hitting was great tonight. In fact, everyone in the starting lineup had a hit, beside CC.. Oh wait, he ended up getting a base knock.. WALK OFF!!!

What Went Wrong:
Hard to complain, but you can always improve. We shouldn’t need a walkoff to beat the O’s but hey, I’ll always take a W. Shields gave up 3 solo homers, but it was simple location mistakes. There was movement on each of the pitches though, so it was just leaving it over the plate. That happens. And besides, he pitched pretty well besides that. There was Pat running through a stop sign. Yeah, he made it, and it turned out to be a crucial run, but if he would have gotten out, and lets be honest, he should have, we would have changed our website name..  I would tell you what I had in mind, but hey, he was safe! Speaking of stop signs, why didn’t Navi get one? But anyways how about Soriano loading the bases? When will managers realize that closers close games. That’s it. Seriously, they suck in any other situation. But good velocity, great movement, struggled with location and put me to sleep in between pitches, but hey, better than anything we’ve had before.

Thoughts:
This is the best Rays team that we’ve ever put on a field. Not a bad compliment for a team that went to the WS in ’08..

Never been more excited for opening day.(MLB)

As I sit here and watch the season opener between the Yanks and Sox (while heavily drinking of course), I am very excited for what this possible season can bring.

1. No more awful Sportscenter Top 10′s featuring only the NBA and womens basketball highlights.

2. The possibility of what can be with this seasons team.

We know the talent that is on this team and so does the whole baseball world. Do we see a team that lives up to the hype and produces? Or do we get the 09 team that underachieves?

One things for sure and that is the beginning of this season will be the most important time for the Rays. It will lead to a possible fire-sale or playoff run. Lets just hope for the latter.

1. Jason Bartlett, SS- I can’t see Maddon moving JB out of the lead-off spot after the season he had last year. Even though his stats will probably drop off a tad, I still expect to see him there.

2. Carl Crawford, LF- Carl move out of the two spot? Come on.

3. Evan Longoria, 3B- 3-4-5 I feel can be moved in different ways depending on how things play out. Longo here for now makes the most sense as he will just improve during at-bats like he showed last year.

4. Carlos Pena, 1B- .240 average, 30 plus homerun season should be expected again.

5. Ben Zobrist, 2B- I like Zorilla in the five or three spot. Just like JB his stats should come down a bit from his monstrous 2008 campaign.

6. B.J. Upton, CF- I still believe this kid has M.V.P type offensive tools. Lets hope the new hitting coach will spark B.J.’s bat or we might have to start sacrificing chickens.

7. Pat Burrell, DH- 1. We find someone to take the salary. 2. We start praying to the Baseball Gods now for him to play better this season.

8. Kelly Shoppach, C- Most people expect him to be an upgrade over Navi as do I. Just hoping that he was worth Mitch Talbot.

9. Matt Joyce, RF- Joyce gets the starting job with Gross being gone from the team now. I would put him in the six spot but we all know how much B.J. hates batting ninth.

Thank you for noting being old and throwing over 90. (AP)

Time to dust the cobwebs off of this site a little bit. The Rays have been pretty active in the off-season and the winter meetings. Lets just take a look at some of the major movies and give our opinion on them.

Rafael Soriano from Atlanta

Tampa Bay basically got Rafael for Aki. This move is basically saying that the Rays want to win, and want to win now. I am personally very happy with this move for the fact that it give the team a definite closer for now.

Kelly Shoppach from Cleveland

Don’t really know too much about Kelly other than reading that he hits left handers fairly well. Should be an upgrade offensively from the catcher spot.

Dioner Navarro Resigned

Dumb…If we were going to pay two million for a catcher why didn’t we just keep Zaun. This move really does not make much sense to me unless they are trying to trade Navi now for prospects.

Then there are the other moves such as Gross being non-tenderd and Balfour being resigned along with Choate and Cormier. So far the off-season is showing promise for next years team.

The only thing that I ask is can someone just make up their mind on the Bradley deal already?

Carl Crawford is the leader of this team. (AP)

Short list before I get started:

• Carl must come back.
• Carl must be signed to a four to five year extension.
• Carl is the leader of this team.

Marc Lancaster from the Tampa Tribune reported that Crawford is open to signing a long term deal. This is probably the best news the Rays will have all offseason. With Kaz getting dumped off C.C. will have is option picked up most likely. But the better scenario is having him signed for four to five more years.

Carl is 28 coming off a major season offensively. Also his running game has been the best I have seen from a player with an injury free season. This is why you have to sign him for four to five years. By the time he is 32/33 his legs are going to start giving out. You can only run at his pace for so long.

Most Rays followers might disagree with me when I say that C.C. is the team leader. People will probably say Carlos Pena is with his inspiration on the field. I look at it like this. Carl has been playing with the big club since 2002. He has been through the hell times and been to the promise land. He’s also 28 and been around the block a couple time. Carl is the face of the Rays now, while Longoria is the future. Crawford has helped put this team on the map by being one of the most dynamic players to watch over the span of his career.

Even in twitter land people want Carl back. @noahpransky @thriftgoddess @pixie1212 @RaysUpdates @FLallday @MediumD are all in agreement to bring C.C. back. And honestly, other than money, there is no reason not to have him back.

If Jason Varitek wears a C on his jersey and sits the bench there should be a shrine in left field for Carl.

Stay as far away as you can from Tampa please. (AP)

There have been some rumors swirling around saying that Mr. Bradley could end up a Ray during this off season. I usually support mostly every move this team makes but this one? Really?

Argument one for Bradley: Bradley has better stats than Burrell.

Ok Bradley might have some better stats that Burrell and is a lot more mobile. But the clubhouse factor is a huge issue. Bradley is a cancer, an non-curable cancer at that.  He is basically the Terrel Owens of the MLB.

Argument two for Bradley: Burrell had an tussle with Crawford this year. There would be no difference with Bradley there.

WRONG. Any time you mother has to publicly apologize for you behavior that gets you suspended for the season by your team is pathetic.

Argument three for Bradley: He is a year removed from his amazing season as a DH.

This would be the only decent argument out there for getting Milton. The reason he would be brought over would be to be a DH. We don’t need an average outfielder while Desmond Jennings is lying around in Durham.

Bottom line is that these Bradley rumors need to go away. He should not be a part of this team. At least with Burrell the young players have someone to look up to for advice. I do not see anyone looking up to Bradley for anything.

This year just seemed like the odds were stacked against the Rays. Did they have the talent to go to the playoffs? Of course. Did they have the capability to win the A.L. East again? Maybe if the Yanks did not buy the whole free agent market. But the team did not play up to par and it could have been from such high expectations set from last season.

The pitching staff and bullpen threw no where near the numbers they had last season. The fact that the starters might have pitched so much last year and were tired to start this year could have been the problem. The pen was not as automatic this season.

The offense was the most bipolar thing to ever witness. Amazing some nights, terrible others.

I could go on and complain about the what ifs and why Tampa Bay was so bad but there is no need. Everyone that reads this is avid followers of the team and has seen what happened this year.

All we can watch now is the end of the season and keep our heads held high. As much as a disappointment it was you have to realize two things. One, the Rays are not the Devil Rays and two, they are going to be good for years to come. Tampa Bay just had to much on there plate this year for such a young ball club.