Rays tales
By MARC TOPKIN
Published April 24, 2005
COMEDY CENTRAL
The Devil Rays don't get much love from ESPN, Fox or the other major sports networks and highlights shows.
But they are a hit with the funny guys.
Late-night hosts David Letterman and Jay Leno pick on them regularly. The Simpsons cartoon TV show and the Tank McNamara and Blondie comic strips have taken their shots. There's a dig at them in the new movie Fever Pitch.
A couple of years ago the creative baseball fans behind the Simpsons weaved in - of all things - an Esteban Yan reference (to go along with the equally obscure Tomokazu Ohka reference).
In last Sunday's episode, the cartoon creations were dissing the Rays again, with the nerdy Professor Frick explaining, "Astrology used to be the Tampa Bay Devil Rays of all sciences. Not so very good."
Letterman, who has included the Rays in a more than a dozen of his stinging top 10 lists, got on them again about Alex Sanchez's suspension for failing a drug test.
"Baseball is disappointed that Tampa Bay Devil Ray Alex Sanchez tested positive for steroids," Letterman said. "Bud Selig would like to announce that instead of a 10-game suspension, Sanchez's punishment will be . . . to continue playing for the Devil Rays. Baseball fever - catch it!"
HISTORICAL CONTEXTGive the Rays this - at least they make it interesting. Already this season, they's kept researchers busy with their usual string of, shall we say, special accomplishments. It's not every team that can be linked to the 1988 Orioles, 1901 Reds and Terry Felton, a pitcher who finished his career winless.
Consider:
When Dewon Brazelton lost his 12th straight road game (in 16 career starts away from Tropicana Field), he was the first to have that much trouble away from home since Felton, who lost 12 as part of a four-season big-league career that ended with an 0-16 overall record. Next in line for Brazelton is Kent Peterson, who lost his first 18 road decisions from 1947-49 with the Reds, and finished his eight-year career 13-38.
When the Rays allowed four grand slams - two shy of their high for a season - in a six-game, six-day span, they became only the fourth team to give up so much so fast. With help from SABR's David Vincent, the Rays discovered only three others that ever did so: the 1901 Reds, who allowed four over three games in two days; the 1953 Cardinals, who allowed four in five games over six days; and the 1996 Giants, who allowed four in five games over five days.
When Danys Baez got his first save opportunity Thursday in the Rays' 16th game, it was the latest a team went into a season without one since the 1988 Orioles went 22 games - following an 0-21 start. Since 1969, only one other team went longer - the 1974 Rangers getting their first in their 23rd game.
"TROUBLE"-MAKERSThe seemingly devilish minds behind the increasingly popular www.oustnaimoli.com Web site are, in their words, just three regular guys.
"Three regular guys who go to a lot of Devil Rays games," said Dustin Staggers, who created the site along with brothers Dan and Doug Edwards.
They're young, 23-26; they all grew up in the Tampa area, attending Hillsborough High; and they didn't expect to create such a buzz, doing radio and TV spots all week, getting more than 26,500 hits on their site, and rolling out a series of oust Naimoli T-shirts, which Staggers and friends wore to Friday's game. They are also planning a May 28 one-inning fan walkout, featuring "We Want Stu!" chants in reference to new general partner Stu Sternberg.
"We're pretty psyched," Staggers said. "We're really just trying to raise awareness. There's a lot of people with strong feelings and they've never had a forum before."
THE LISTAubrey Huff hit his 100th career home run in his 595th big-league game. Among active players, only nine lefthanders did in quicker:
Player G
Adam Dunn 435
Todd Helton 491
Ryan Klesko 521
Jim Thome 535
Jim Edmonds 542
Matt Stairs 543
Carlos Delgado 546
Eric Chavez 554
Geoff Jenkins 556
Among big-name sluggers who took longer than Huff:
Tino Martinez 610
Jason Giambi 623
Barry Bonds 640
Ken Griffey Jr. 640
Sammy Sosa 674
Gary Sheffield 666
YOU DON'T SAY"I think Tampa Bay would like to play us a lot." - JOHNNY DAMON, Boston centerfielder, noting the unusual large crowd at the Trop