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Rays more than ready to get back to normal

After Japan trip, many look at today's Trop game as real start of season.

ST. PETERSBURG - The Devil Rays will enjoy the comforts of tonight's official home opener against the Yankees: the big (though not yet sold-out) crowd, a dressed-up stadium, friendly faces, a familiar language.

But for a team that already has flown halfway around the world and back, for a team that already has played two "home" games in Japan but hasn't worn its white uniforms, for a team that already has split two regular-season games with the Yankees and then had three workouts and an exhibition game with Toronto, for a team that already has made two in-season roster moves, the best thing about tonight's game will be just how normal it is.

And that there is another one Wednesday afternoon, and three more over the weekend, and 155 more after that.

"Seriously, have you ever seen a spring like this?" infielder Geoff Blum said. "Baseball players are so set on routine. We still haven't found that yet, and I think that's what we're all looking for right now. We know we have another game after this one. Finally, we can look at the schedule and know where we have to be and when."

Physically, it should help the Rays to get back on a relatively normal schedule. Some are still having trouble sleeping as remnants of jet lag, and more than a few have complained of stiff backs and sore muscles.

Mentally, there's no doubt.

"To open up in Japan like we did, then to come back for spring training games and whatnot, you still have to go about it the right way, but it's been such an emotional roller coaster," third baseman Damian Rolls said. "I think everybody's ready to get back on that season emotion rather than spring training emotion and just fall into a routine. We're anxious to get the season rolling."

The Rays considered the trip to Japan a huge success in terms of the exposure for their organization and the experience for their players. Splitting the games with the Yankees wasn't bad, either.

But some of the things that happened there will make some of the things that happen here less than routine.

Tonight will be the fifth time in nine days they'll be introduced on the field, though they shouldn't have any trouble understanding their cues. There will be only one anthem played, no checks will be presented at home plate for the game MVP and it's not likely managers Lou Piniella and Joe Torre will be presented flowers at home plate by women in formal Japanese dress.

"Even though in Japan we were playing against the Yankees, it still felt like an exhibition game more or less," Blum said. "To open in your home ballpark, that's what it's all about."

Something else is different: The starting pitchers from the first game of the season, when Tampa Bay's Victor Zambrano beat New York's Mike Mussina, will be matched up again in the third game.

"I'm sure Mussina's got a lot to prove," Rays infielder/outfielder Robert Fick said. "Not that he has anything to prove throughout his career, but he wasn't at his best. It's going to be fun to watch. Victor pitched great against them last time, so early in the year it's kind of an interesting game the way I look at it. The same guys, doing it right again."

As the Rays went through a two-hour workout Monday morning, most said they expected tonight's game to feel like a normal home opener, not much different than when a team returns after opening on the road.

"It's strange because we've already played two games, but at the same time it's going to feel like another opening day because we'll have all the introductions and everything," DH Aubrey Huff said. "It's really for the fans here because they haven't seen us open yet. So it's like it's opening day for them, not so much for us."

"To be at home, opening in front of our crowd, that's opening day," Tino Martinez said. "So it's going to feel like opening day."

Piniella said he expected the same nervous feeling, the same goosebumps, the same rush of adrenaline he gets before every home opener.

But he also knows it won't quite be the same.

"It's unusual," Piniella said. "It's very unusual. But this was supposed to be our opening day anyway. So here we are."