Rays tales

MAKE IT A COLD ONE: Rookie pitcher Chad Gaudin has a pretty good delivery. The first time some team officials saw him was in May 2001, when he was delivering food and drinks at a Louisiana sports bar owned by Rays scout Benny Latino.

Each year, Latino shuts the doors of the Extra Innings Grill the night before the annual predraft workout and hosts a crawfish boil. Gaudin, whom Latino considered a prized find after watching him at the tiny Crescent City Baptist School, was hanging around and offered to help serve. At 5 feet 91/2 - "Got to get that half in there," he said - Gaudin doesn't look much like a pitcher, Latino didn't tell anybody he was, and nobody thought much of it that night or when he sat in the dugout during the workout.

Near the end, Latino said there was one more pitcher he wanted his bosses to see and sent Gaudin to the mound.

"What?" supervisor R.J. Harrison said. "Now the bartender is going to throw?"

He threw, well enough to get drafted in the 34th round and signed for around $120,000.

"I can tell you I wasn't too enthused until I saw him throw," former scouting director Dan Jennings said Friday. "Pretty good for a barkeep."

TEAM PLAYER: Before Al Martin got the tying hit in the bottom of the ninth Tuesday, he was a huge hit with a self-described "die-hard" (yes, they exist) Rays fan.

Cliff Cook, a 22-year-old St. Petersburg man (and part-time employee in the team ticket office), was driving on U.S. 19 with a business associate when he noticed Martin behind the wheel of a Range Rover.

They got his attention, started talking back-and-forth while driving through a school zone, then at a red light asked Martin for tickets to that night's game. Martin obliged, offering to leave four at will call.

As Cook's friend jumped out to give Martin a business card with his name on it, the light changed. "So there we are," Cook said, "stopped on the middle of 19 with traffic backed up for half a mile."

Cook didn't know if Martin would deliver, but sure enough, the tickets were there, and good seats too. Then Martin really made the outing a hit with his clutch single. Afterward, Cook waited by the dugout to thank Martin and to congratulate him. "He just made my night," Cook said. "It was an absolutely awesome experience."

Said Martin: "It worked out well."

Carl Crawford, who will be 22 years, 1 month, 23 days old at the end of the season, is in the running to become the fourth-youngest league stolen-base champion:

Ty Cobb, Detroit: 20 yrs, 9 mos, 15 days

Rickey Henderson, Oak: 21 yrs, 9 mos, 10 days

Tim Raines, Montreal: 22 yrs, 17 days

YOU DON'T SAY

"Devil Rays baseball - we'll keep you guessing." - LOU PINIELLA, Rays manager describing a number of things

BIG NUMBER

5: Pitchers who got their first major-league win this season.