You gotta believe (hurry, before losing starts)

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© St. Petersburg Times
published April 5, 2002

ST. PETERSBURG -- Hey, Brent. How many g's in "juggernaut"?

Brent Abernathy looks at you for a moment before answering. His face scrunches up, as if he is taking care to mentally spell the word, or perhaps he is pondering whether to call for the security guards to ask them to club you. Finally, a slight grin creases his face.

"Two?" he says, and the grin spreads.

Then, more firmly. "Yeah, two."

Abernathy, spelling ace that he is, was right, of course. And so the hot streak continues. The Tampa Bay Devil Rays continued to excel in the art of pitching, defense and answering silly questions Thursday afternoon. These days, it seems you can't slip anything past these guys.

Three games in, and the Rays are the scourge of the American League, particularly the part of it that plays in Detroit. In case you are interested, the Rays' magic number has been reduced to 158.

So go ahead. Enjoy the moment. Jack that cracker, Carpe that diem. And get your All-Star ballots in early.

This is no time for realism, and certainly no time for restraint. Turn your face away from the music. Do not smell the coffee. Do not wait for the other shoe. Whatever you do, do not look at the calendar.

At a time like this, you should get a little excited. You should get a little wacky.

The Rays are undefeated. They lead the American League East. They have won three games, which figured to be April's allotment. They pitched, they hit, they played defense and -- this one will get you -- they were fun.

Ryan Rupe was Babe Rupe again, a pitcher with poise and potential. Randy Winn had a pinch-hit grand slam. The heart of the order -- Nickelodeon Row -- continue to hit.

And you want to waste that with perspective?

Shame on you.

If ever there was a team that needed to enjoy days such as Thursday and not worry about the days that lie ahead, it is this one. When you are a franchise such as the Rays, who have known the cellar so long that fourth place seems like a skyscraper, who are playing with a bunch of kids the age of a boy band, you need to dance when you get the chance.

"We have to," manager Hal McRae said. "We have to enjoy the ride. Most rides are bumpy rides. When things go the other way, hopefully, there's a bottom near, that we've learned from our success and we'll pull out of the tailspin instead of free-falling. We have to embrace anything we get."

Oh, there are always those who would point out how early it is in the season. Of course there are. Baseball players, as a rule, mistrust early success because it tends to be fleeting. For such players, three games is far too early to smile. "Lot of games ahead," they will say. "It's early."

With some teams, that's called seeing the big picture. With this team, it would be missing the point.

It's never too early for a bad baseball franchise to start changing its face. The Rays set a franchise record by winning their first three games, which broke a record they set Wednesday by winning their first two. For the Yankees, three games like that are "early." For the Rays, it is pronounced "wheeeee!"

For the record, the Rays have had nine other sweeps in their history (they've been swept 30 times). But none that you might remember. Last year, for instance, they swept the Twins in August to improve their record to a nifty 42-77. The year before, they swept the Yankees in September to improve to a stellar 67-91. The year before, they swept Kansas City to improve to dazzling 55-69.

You get the picture. By the time the Rays won three in a row in the past, they were in a grave. No one was saying it was too early to enjoy those. It was too late.

When a team is picked to be last, every victory is an upset. The Rays need to get a little excited. Maybe it will spread to the fans. Maybe it will spread to tomorrow.

For instance, check out the half-dozen fans or so who sat some 20 rows behind the Rays dugout during Thursday's latest conquest. With two outs in the ninth inning, with brooms aloft, they tried mightily to get a chant of "sweep" going. The thing is, they weren't very good at it. No one was in harmony, and the chant came out something like "swee-sweep-eep, swee-swee, swee-eep-eep."

Then again, it isn't as if people around here have had much practice in the art of celebrating excellence, is it? The only need anyone has had for brooms around here has been to clean up the mess this team has been on the field night after night.

"People will ask if we can keep it up," Abernathy said. "But how many people thought we could do this to begin with? Who thought we could be 3-0. I'll take the three games we played and play any team in the league."

If nothing else, then, treat these three games as a coming attraction for what this team will be. It can pitch a little. It has a lot of energy. It can string together a few hits. And it can pester an opponent to death.

Oh, this series won't change the predictions. Believe it or not, there are teams in the American League who are even better than the Tigers. (This just in: golfer Eldrick Woods has changed his nickname to "Yankee".) For instance, the Rays go to Yankee Stadium next. It's going to be as if an entire franchise has been called up to the majors.

Odds are, they still finish last. Tomorrow, you can think about that. Tomorrow, you can talk about all the things the team lacks. Tomorrow, you can have perspective.

For three days, however, the Rays were a little more fun than they have been. A little more exciting. A little easier to like.

All in all, not a bad start.

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