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ROCK ON: In honor of the Rays' weekend visit to Cleveland, home of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, we went in search of the team's resident rocker, pitcher Paul Abbott .
Turns out, he doesn't think much of the various lists of best songs compiled by the Hall, or anyone else.
"Who says those are my favorites? Is there a stat that actually proves that song belongs there? It's because you get a bunch of critics together and they go for this one and that one and make sure they get certain groups in there," Abbott said.
"If you define rock and roll, you're talking about Led Zeppelin, the Rolling Stones, Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, all those bands that kind of started the evolvement. There's Van Halen, who took it to another level, to the "big hair" bands to grunge to fusion/punk."
What Abbott admires most in a band is range, pointing out how even the "hardest, heaviest metal" band will admit to being influenced by the Beatles.
"I think the range is how you show the true measure or a rock and roll band, the different levels they can go to - from a soft balladeer to breaking the windows in your house when you turn up the volume," Abbott said.
Some of his favorites by those standards? "I'm a big Styx fan, they're very underrated. And one of the most underrated rock bands of all time is the Cars. The early '80s was one of the best rock and roll periods, and it's never mentioned - you had REO Speedwagon, Styx, AC/DC, Journey. It was huge then."
And if Abbott could listen to only more song?
"It would have to be Dream On, by Aerosmith."
THUMBS UP: Team orthopedic physician Koco Eaton will be in the spotlight for much of the next two weeks making appearances related to the premiere of the HBO film Something the Lord Made.
The film is based on a true story involving Eaton's uncle, Vivien Thomas , who as a black lab technician joined a white doctor, Alfred Blalock , in pioneering pediatric cardiac surgery 60 years ago.
Eaton was a consultant on the film, which is scheduled to debut May 30 on HBO, and will take the stage at various showings, starting Monday in Birmingham, Ala., to share memories of his uncle, who inspired him to pursue a career in medicine.
BIG NUMBERS.165: Batting average of Rays DHs (through Friday).
.160: Batting average of NL pitchers (through Friday).
YOU DON'T SAY"I got the sense people would embrace the team if you gave them a reason to embrace it."
- STUART STERNBERG, new owner on his impressions of the Tampa Bay market.