October 07, 2004
THE PARTY'S OVER
While I was away in New Orleans last week, something of great import happened: the Tampa Bay Devil Rays' season mercifully came to a close.
As promised by manager Lou Pinella, the Rays didn't finish in last place in the division.
But the embarrassment doesn't end there. For every silver lining, there is a cloud - even after the season is over.
Like in this story about how major league teams and former players have come to the aid of a Little League ballpark in Tampa that was hit by arson.
Seems that after Northside Little League's concession stand was torched, The New York Yankees, who train in Tampa in the spring, donated $25,000 Wednesday to the league.
Former Yankee and former Devil Ray Wade Boggs said he planned to send $5,000 on his own from The Wade Boggs Foundation for Youth Athletics.
What did the hometown team do?
The Rays of Hope Foundation is chipping in $2,500 and concession food that was leftover from the season. The team also will donate an autographed Rocco Baldelli jersey to the league so they can raise money in a prize drawing. The winner will get a ticket to a Devil Rays game next season, meet the Rays player and get the jersey at the game.
Note the phrase "at the game." Bottom line: they will do anything to get one more butt in the stands.
Which would be one more than they had at the last home game of the season against the Boston Red Sox.
The Rev. Joe Kendall, Side Salad's official hardball correspondent, took in the game and filed this report and these photos. (A warning: He likes to write in third-person):
It ended Wednesday night where it began in March: in the bland, bizarrely-lit baseball warehouse known as Tropicana Field, home of baseball's most inconsequential ballclub, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. The Reverend kicked off the 2004 campaign by documenting the infamous queen bed on the turf of the Trop at Fanfest during the Grapefruit League. The Reverend documented the offbeat during the pre-season circuit, went on to enjoy many a game at the Phillies' new baseball gem in Clearwater and wrapped up the season with a Red Sox-Devil Rays match.
Rev. Joe was impressed by the never-say-die passion of Red Sox fans, many of whom filled Trop seats that usually go unfanny-ed. One Red Sox fan approached Rev. Joe after the Rays took a rare win from the BoSox Wednesday night and said he hated Devil Rays fans. The Reverend explained to this intoxicated chap that hate never accomplsihed anything and that he would be crying one more time this fall when the Red Sox would spend another autumn crying about another year without a World Series.
Here are the final baseball photos for the 2004 season. The Rev. Joe will be re-appearing on the sports beat if the owners and players of the NHL ever settle their labor impasse. For now, enjoy the following. This is Rev. Joe Kendall, out.
Looks good, right? Oddly, this half of a prime rib roast was enough to feed everyone who came to the ballpark that night.
Twice.
There's something sadly ironic about the DRays having a sculpture in the centerfield mezzanine showing an outfielder breaking through the wall to save a home run from being hit out of the park. It'a slmost as if the club knew when they refurbished the Tropicana Dome that pitching would be a problem.
Note the gentleman strolling down the aisle. He is the loneliest baseball fan in the world.
Hate waiting in long beer lines? That's never a problem at the Trop.
Ladies and gentlemen, I introduce to you the 2005 pitching rotation: Malachi, Menachem, Moshe and Mordechai.
Due to the lack of customers, The Cuesta Rey Cigar Bar has been designated a non-smoking area.
Cue "Star Is Born" Music
"I wannnnt one morrrrrre loooooook at youuuuuuuuuu."
Posted by Jeff at October 7, 2004 07:14 AM | TrackBack