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Rays' goal: sustain

Hal McRae thinks .500 is feasible, and he's already making expectations clear.

By MARC TOPKIN, Times Staff Writer

© St. Petersburg Times
published February 15, 2002

ST. PETERSBURG -- As his young Rays established themselves and their aggressive style of play over the second half of last season, the idea began to bounce around Hal McRae's head.

With today's opening of spring training marking the start of another season, the thought is lodged firmly in the back of his mind:

Finishing the season with a .500 record.

"I would like to win more games than we won last year," McRae said Thursday. "And not just a few more."

To go from 62 wins (and 100 losses) to an 81-81 record would seem like a quantum leap. But the Rays consider the distance to be not that far.

Once they jettisoned their lackluster veterans and went with the young core of players, the Rays were nearly at that pace last season, going 35-39 after the All-Star break, 24-23 over the final two months.

The experience was invaluable and the excitement welcomed, but McRae has made it clear to the players that last season's strong finish didn't necessarily prove anything.

"It's something to build on, but it doesn't mean a great deal in '02," McRae said. "It means we can do some things, but we have to do those things better. And we've got to play more consistently.

"So don't assume anything. What we did last year doesn't mean a great deal this year."

He expects them to work harder, and to play better, this season. And he hopes they'll realize how much more challenging it is to stay competitive for six months than for six weeks.

"It's more difficult," McRae said. "There are ups and downs, and highs and lows. It's a matter of how quickly you come out of a tailspin, of when you start to play better how long do you play better.

"You can't see the finish line in April, and sometimes that has a psychological effect on the players good and bad. I know we saw the finish line last year because when we made our surge it was very late. Can we have the same enthusiasm, the same energy, the same aggression for 162 ballgames that it's going to require?"

McRae will try to establish the standard with a tough spring training regimen.

"We want to be businesslike," McRae said. "We want to do things the correct way the first time. It's not a time for horseplay. They're not here to have fun. We'd like to go about it in a professional way. Do things correctly, do things right. And we'll stay on the field until we do."

It will take until the middle of March or so for McRae to know what to expect this season. And it might be the first of June until he knows for sure.

"The questions are not answered until we actually get into the spring and play some games, and about the middle to last 10 days of spring training you have a decent idea of what kind of club you have, or you think you do," McRae said. "You really don't know until you play 60 or so big-league games, and then you really know what you've got."

The Rays are banking heavily that their young players, a core that includes promising prospects such as Toby Hall, Jason Tyner, Brent Abernathy, Joe Kennedy, Nick Bierbrodt and Jesus Colome, will improve with age.

But McRae said he also is looking for more production, and more consistency, from veterans such as outfielders Greg Vaughn and Ben Grieve, pitcher Paul Wilson and closer Esteban Yan.

"We can be better," McRae said.

The interesting part is how much better.

Rays stuff

QUOTE OF THE DAY: "Third base. First base. DH-type. Slash this. Slash that." -- Rays manager Hal McRae when asked what Aubrey Huff's role could be this season.

Don't I Know You?

Ever play the name game? We used some Internet search engines to find people with the same (or similar) names to Rays players, coaches and officials. Here's today's:

One Paul Wilson is among the Rays' top starting pitchers. Another is the author of more than 20 books, including science fiction novels such as Wheels Within Wheels and horror thrillers such as The Keep and The Tomb. He also created the Repairman Jack character.

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