LITTLE-LEAGUER AT HEART: It is believed Randall Simon did not endear himself to his former Rays teammates when, after a loss, he watched on television and loudly cheered in the clubhouse for the Little League team from his native Curacao playing in the World Series. Still, you have to like a guy who shows his colors.
Simon is one of four major-league players from the tiny Caribbean island and he said he knows almost all the players who won the Series. He said he even played for that team and arranged a conference call so he could speak to the players all at once.
"Me having a chance to look at them on TV and be proud of them, it's an honor for me," said Simon, released last week after batting just .118 in eight games.
"They love me and they love (Atlanta's) Andruw Jones. But this is the time for me to show them that I'm really proud of them for what they did. It was a beautiful thing."
Simon said the baseball fields in Curacao are "not good." He said the rocky infields might have helped the players because they were so used to bad hops, the true hops on the field in Williamsport, Conn., were easier to field.
"I bring shoes to the kids and I always try to give back to my people," Simon said. "I know where I came from. I came from playing Little League. When I have a chance to go down there and give back to my kids, it's great."
YOUNG, YOUNGER, YOUNGEST
Of the 30 Rays in uniform, seven are rookies: Doug Waechter, B.J. Upton, Scott Kazmir, Chad Gaudin, Matt Diaz, Jorge Cantu and Frankie Nunez. With an average age of 28.32, Tampa Bay is the youngest team in the American League. The youngest in the majors:
AND SPEAKING OF YOUNG
Upton became the first 20-year-old to hit a home run at Yankee Stadium since Juan Gonzalez did it for the Rangers on Sept. 11, 1990. The youngest players to hit home runs at Yankee Stadium since 1976.
YOU DON'T SAY
"He's been good. It's refreshing to see a confident kid." - LOU PINIELLA, Rays manager on Kazmir, 20
HAVING FUN YET?
Piniella sat behind his desk at Yankee Stadium last week, bemoaning the lack of characters in the major leagues; you know the guys who just wanted to have fun.
Piniella was one of them, actually still is. He loved telling the story of how Yankees owner George Steinbrenner had a hot dog waiting for him Wednesday after Piniella jokingly complained he didn't get one of the freebies New York gave away to fans waiting for Monday's doubleheader.
There were other stories the manager prefaced by saying he didn't want to see them in the newspaper.
"I don't take myself all that seriously," Piniella said. "You have to have some fun. You can take this real serious, but sooner or later you have to let go. If you don't, they'll put you in a box. My wife reminds me of that a lot."
