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Shelton: At last, it's time to believe

It's hard to say exactly how, but this season's Rays are different.

By Gary Shelton, Times Columnist
Published February 21, 2008

ST. PETERSBURG - Sometimes, you look for a difference in the clouds. Sometimes, you feel it in the air.

Take Wednesday, for instance. There have been other overcast mornings for the Rays, other times when the wind blew cool across the infield. Nothing new there. By now, you are probably aware that in the history of this franchise, there have been a lot of gray skies and far too much wind.

Sometimes, you search for a difference in the activity. Sometimes, you sense it from the energy.

There was nothing distinctive about the drills the Rays went through in their first full squad. They threw a little, they caught a little, they swung a little. They chattered a lot.

All in all, it looked like every other spring training workout in the history of baseball.

For the Rays, all that has changed is, well, everything.

Yes, there is a difference to this franchise. You cannot see it and you cannot hear it. If you have been around for the last decade or so, you probably cannot bring yourself to say it out loud. Nonetheless, it is there.

It feels like a graduation. It feels like "finally."

I know, I know. When it comes to the Rays, optimism is a difficult thing to wrap your hands around. Over the years, we have seen so much zirconium and fool's gold, so much false hope and so many empty promises, that it is hard to believe and easy to scoff at those who do. Around here, you are positive at your own risk.

And still, there is a different air, a different fabric to this franchise. No, the Rays are not there yet. Yes, they have a lot of proving to do.

For the first time, however, you get the feeling this team believes in its future.

For the first time, perhaps you find yourself on the verge of believing, too.

"This feels like a major-league clubhouse for the first time since I've been here," vice president Gerry Hunsicker said. "The first two years I was here, it felt like a Triple-A clubhouse. There was talent, but it didn't feel like it was on a major-league level."

According to the standings, it wasn't. The Rays have always been a team made up of the too old and the too young, and together, they were always doomed for last place. Over the years, the players have tried to be optimistic in the spring, but for the most part, it was the sound of condemned men talking about their day planners.

As for the rest of us, we looked for a reason to think this season would be different than the previous one. Mostly, we failed.

1998: That year, the first year, the Rays were a new toy and nobody much cared about the standings. "We have a team guaranteed to finish last," I wrote that year. "Remember what Thayer said about Casey's teammates, Flynn and Jimmy Blake. 'The former was a lulu and the latter was a cake.' By design, that's what expansion teams wind up with: lulus and cakes."

1999: "More than anything else, last year felt like history," I wrote. "This year, it felt like baseball." Silly me. That team won 69 games.

2000: In the Hit Show year, the Rays spent a little money. They didn't spend it wisely. That year, I sat in Vince Naimoli's box. "I'll be real disappointed if we don't make a run at the postseason," Naimoli said. Silly him. The Rays won 69 that year, too.

2001: "The Rays are among the many teams that have been mathematically eliminated by the salary structure," I wrote then. "The latest standings have them $55-million behind the Yankees with 162 left to play."

2002: Before the season, I went around from one player to another, asking each of them why they would buy a ticket to watch this team. Manager Hal McRae wouldn't answer. Later, the reason finally occurred to me. He wouldn't buy one.

2003: New manager Lou Piniella was optimistic. The rest of us weren't. "It is tough duty, preaching a sermon no one believes," I wrote. "We are doubters. All of us. We have been hardened by what we have seen, by what Piniella will see. "

2004: By then, writing about hope in the spring was getting difficult. And so there was a temptation to write about the players who weren't ready. That year, my first spring training column started with the words "In the year 2014 ... " That's how bad it was.

2005: Sometimes, it is impossible to muster enthusiasm about a team that never changed. "I'm trying, Vince. Really I am," I wrote. Also: "I'm failing, Vince. Really I am."

2006: Stu Sternberg made things a little better. Still, I wrote: "The history is awful. The payroll is a dime-to-a-dollar compared to the other teams. The division is still formidable. The offseason didn't bear any big names. The rotation is unproven. The closer is a mystery. The youth still needs some ripening."

2007: Even last year, the Rays had a ways to climb. "Here at the factory that produces last place, there is a dreary familiarity to the Rays," I wrote. "Another year, another cellar, that sort of thing. It doesn't matter how many of these you have been to, the taste is always the same. It tastes like 64 victories."

When it comes to the pessimists around here, in other words, I could run for class president. It isn't easy to give that up.

And yet, I had this conversation with James Shields on Wednesday.

Can this team have a winning record? "Absolutely," Shields said.

Can this team make the playoffs? "Absolutely," Shields said.

And that's the thing. This team seems to believe it. The guys who have been here through the bad times feel it, too. "In the old days, it was like we ordered a pizza, and when you opened the box, there were only seven slices," said Dave Martinez, the current bench coach who played with the original Rays. "There was always a piece missing. This time, we have the whole pie."

Go ahead. Hold onto your skepticism if it helps. No one is going to blame you if you want to see 70 wins before you believe in 75 or 75 before you believe in 80.

Sometimes, however, the difference isn't in what you can touch. Sometimes, it is in what you can allow yourself to feel.

[Last modified February 20, 2008, 22:55:57]