RAYS 8, YANKEES 3: Tampa Bay thoroughly outplays mighty New York in historic opener.
By MARC TOPKIN
Published March 31, 2004
TOKYO - The most unusual scene from the Devil Rays' extraordinary season opener Tuesday at the Tokyo Dome was the last one.
Standing at home plate on a white box with a red carpet immediately after the game, manager Lou Piniella received congratulations while doing a live interview. Shortstop Julio Lugo collected the gifts for being selected the game MVP - an oversized check for 1-million yen (about $10,000), a color laser printer and a ceremonial samurai helmet. Toby Hall, still covered in dirt, won 500,000 yen (about $5,000) as the substitute recipient of the Fighting Spirit Award.
And best of all, the Rays basked in the satisfaction of beating the Yankees 8-3 in a historic opener they hope is the start of something good.
"Anytime you win on opening day, it's exciting," Piniella said. "It was a heck of a win against a real good Yankees team. And we're proud of it."
The Yankees were so embarrassed by their showing, they refused to participate in the spirit award, which usually goes to a member of the losing team. And it's probably safe to assume principal owner George Steinbrenner didn't go right back to bed in Tampa after getting up early to watch his $182-million team get beaten so badly.
"Hopefully, it's 5 a.m. (EST) and not many people were watching," new Yankee Alex Rodriguez said.
The Rays were just as proud of what they did as how they did it.
Jason Giambi's first-inning homer gave the Yankees the early lead, but Victor Zambrano kept it close, and the Rays eventually took charge. They tied it once on a two-run single by Hall in the fourth and again on sixth-inning homer by Jose Cruz, then took the lead for good against a fading Mike Mussina when Lugo doubled in Tino Martinez and added to it when Hall doubled in Lugo.
"It's good to win," Lugo said. "Especially to beat a team like the Yankees."
By the end of the night (or morning, depending on which side of the world you're on), it was truly a team effort.
"We definitely are overlooked, and I guess rightfully so. They have a lot of household names on that team," Cruz said. "But you've still got to play on the field."
Martinez, in the first game for his hometown Rays, had three hits, including his 300th career homer. Hall had three hits and three RBIs. Zambrano earned a quality start, and the bullpen worked as it was supposed to, with Lance Carter pitching the seventh and eighth and new closer Danys Baez handling the ninth.
"I think what you saw tonight is what you'll get," Hall said. "Everyone contributing like this. It was fun."
The Yankees have received most of the attention all week in Japan, what with the return of Hideki Matsui, the debuts of Rodriguez and Gary Sheffield and their truly worldwide appeal, but the Rays grabbed the headlines when it counted.
"Coming in, we all knew it was going to be an all-Yankees affair," Aubrey Huff said. "This one was especially nice because nobody gave us really a chance. We were in a place where we had maybe five fans out there with the exception of our families."
The historic opener was technically a Tampa Bay home game, but the Yankees had a distinct homefield advantage with the announced sellout crowd at 55,000, including permission from the Rays to wear their traditional white pinstripes.
There was a group of fans in the leftfield seats trying to emulate the Yankee Stadium bleacher creatures by chanting each Yankee's name, some fans sitting near the Yankees dugout wearing green foam Statue of Liberty hats and others who tried several times to launch the just-about familiar cheers of "Let's Go, Yan-kees."
Add the pregame samurai sword dance and shamisen show, the kimono-clad women presenting huge flower arrangements to Piniella and Yankees manager Joe Torre, female vendors roaming the aisles selling bottles of hard liquor and beer out of minikegs on their backs, lavender-clad ushers handing out packs of tissues and polite fans who cheered good plays on either side (but didn't seem to quite grasp the idea of the ThunderStix they were given), and it was a setting few will forget.
"It's a good atmosphere," Hall said. "This place is awesome."
The postgame home-plate ceremony was the latest in what has been a week of new experiences for the Rays.
Even if they didn't know exactly what was happening - there was so much confusion at home plate after the game Piniella was trying, unsuccessfully, to direct traffic in English - they quickly realized they enjoyed it.
"The players like it here," Piniella said. "They've got the most valuable player, they've got the hustling player, where's the check for the manager?
"They give the MVP award after every game. Lugo said he'd like to stay here a week."
"It's pretty cool," Hall said. "We ought to get that going back home. It's a good gig."
If they keep beating the Yankees, anything could be possible.
