Favorite team now the enemy to rookie

When the neighborhood kids played pickup games, Jason Jimenez always pretended to be wearing the "orange and black."

He saw his first professional baseball game at Candlestick Park and watched from the stands as Steve Carlton pitched his final game in a Giants uniform in 1986.

"I've been a Giants fan for as long as I can remember," Jimenez said. "But I'm a Devil Ray now. So the Devil Rays are my team."

Less than a month since getting his first big-league callup, the left-handed reliever is going home and very well could find himself pitching against the team he grew up rooting for.

Raised in Elk Grove, Calif., about a two-and-a-half-hour drive north of San Francisco, Jimenez guessed 200 to 300 friends and family would be in the stands at PacBell Park during the Rays' three-game series.

"This is something I've been looking forward to for a long time now," said Jimenez, who has allowed one run on four hits in 32/3 innings since being brought up from Triple-A Durham on June 1.

"I didn't know if I'd be up here, but I sure was hoping. I think it will be neat. At times it will be a little overwhelming, but it's nice to have everybody around to share the moment."

WELCOME BACK: The last time Felix Escalona saw the San Francisco skyline, he was driving away from it en route to the airport.

Prepared to open the season with the Giants after he hit .364 and was named the club's top prospect in his first big-league spring training, the Rule 5 infielder was claimed off waivers by the Rays on March 27.

"It's kind of exciting," said Escalona, who is batting .222 in 23 games with a double, triple and six RBIs. "I don't know what to think. (The Giants) gave me a chance to play in spring training so I want to do the best I can."

He is scheduled to start at second base today.

TAKING HIS (EXTRA) CUTS: After a promising start and a terrible May, Ben Grieve may be heating up again.

The rightfielder has been spending extra time in the batting cage with hitting coach Milt May and hit four doubles, drove in two winning runs and batted .417 in the three-game series against the Marlins.

"It's not one thing in particular," Grieve said. "We've just been working in the cage a little bit, doing some underhand toss. I don't know if that has anything to do with it."

MILE-HIGH HOPES: He has not lowering his expectations, but Hal McRae just wants his starting pitchers to keep the Rays close in the next six games against the Giants and Rockies.

In its past 392/3 innings, a span of five games, the starters have a 2.50 ERA with 27 strikeouts and seven walks.

FUTURE HONORS: Minor-league outfielder Carl Crawford and pitcher Gerardo Garcia were chosen to play in the July 7 All-Star Futures Game.

Crawford, the Rays' top prospect, has been having a stellar season at Durham, hitting .322 with 41 runs and 35 RBIs in 54 games. He has done so well he could end up in St. Petersburg before he gets to Milwaukee as part of the U.S. team.

Garcia is 1-0 with a 0.90 ERA in two starts for Durham after a 2-1, 2.79 stint for Double-A Orlando that included a no-hitter. Garcia, a native of Mexico signed as a free agent during spring training, will play for the World team.

PLATE PRESENCE: They boasted about hitting home runs during batting practice, but Rays pitchers did little at the plate against Marlins pitchers.

Tanyon Sturtze, Paul Wilson and Wilson Alvarez went a combined 0-for-8 with four strikeouts. Wilson struck out three times Saturday.

Joe Kennedy, scheduled to start tonight, is the odds-on favorite to get the first hit.