Rays tales

By Compiled by MARC TOPKIN

© St. Petersburg Times, published June 4, 2000

ONE FOR ALL: New Devil Ray Tanyon Sturtze has the arm strength and potential to be a successful major-league pitcher for a long time. He already has one of the most unusual first names in the big leagues.

Seems that Tanyon's father, who has the rather ordinary name of Ken, was a big fan of the Three Musketeers and took a special liking to Musketeer wannabe D'Artagnan. So Mr. Sturtze somehow shortened D'Artagnan to Tanyon and, just like that, his first-born son had a unique moniker. The Sturtzes went on to have three other children but didn't dabble into anything nearly as creative. "Their names are Heidi, Heather and Todd," Tanyon said. "I guess after me everyone else got off the hook."

NUMBERS GAME: Shortly after rejoining the Rays from Triple-A Durham, Bryan Rekar expressed interest in changing uniform numbers, looking to go from 56 to something a little lower. He settled on 35, which by then had been passed from Herbert Perry to new pitching coach Bill Fischer. Rekar approached the grandfatherly Fischer and found him to be fully accommodating and, unusual among clubhouse circles, willing to make the swap at no charge. "I told him I'd give him some money or something," Rekar said. "I told him I'd buy him a gift. Maybe I'll buy him a PEZ dispenser."

FAMILY BUSINESS: It's a good thing the Disney Co. doesn't have a strict nepotism policy. When ex-Ray Kevin Stocker signed with the Angels, he joined his brother in the Disney employment ranks: Mike Stocker is a Disney animator.

EAT TO WIN: Tropicana Field takes its share of abuse from many corners. But there are some who like the place. And there's a writer for a Web site dedicated to baby boomers, myprimetime.com, who really loves going to games there. "The field and baseball facilities are minor league," W. Blake Gray writes in his "Wise Guide to Ballparks," "but the food, drinks and ambience may be the best anywhere." Gray's favorites? The Cuban sandwich from the Columbia restaurant booth and meatloaf and green beans at the Atwater's counter.

WHAT THEY'RE SAYING

Bob Nightengale, distributing Baseball Weekly's "awards" at the season's one-third mark:

"WORST TEAM: Devil Rays. This was a tough call with the Tigers and Phillies putting up a stiff fight, but no team has spent more money and been more miserable than the Devil Rays. Oh, yeah, and if this year isn't bad enough, they have only one choice in the first five rounds of the amateur draft. Back to the drawing board, boys.

"WORST GENERAL MANAGER: Chuck LaMar, Devil Rays. They assembled a team that looks good in batting practice and turns into the Bad News Bears once the game starts.

"MANAGER MOST LIKELY TO BE FIRED, runner-up: Larry Rothschild, Devil Rays. It wasn't Rothschild's idea to squander all of their money on a bunch of sluggers while ignoring the high-profile pitchers, but it's Rothschild who'll take the fall with their colossal collapse."

QUOTE OF THE WEEK "We haven't won that many, and it's like we win and it's taken away from us." -- BILLY HATCHER, Rays third-base coach, after the umpires reversed the call on what was the final out of Wednesday's game

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$STPT ID: +

Paper: Date: 6/04/00 +

Page: 13C Section: SPORTS+

Byline: DOUG HEMMER Headline: Captain's corner+

Notes:

When somebody screams "fish on," it's time to start the fire drill and you hope that everyone remembers his part

The fire drill is two minutes of prepared madness required of tarpon anglers fishing under a bridge.

Most anglers anchor up-current and lay free-lined threadfins out the back of the boat. Their anchor will have a large orange ball attached to the end. Once the boat is anchored, and the lines are out, you must decide who will be the first angler up. This person will need to get to the bent rod and set the hook before the fish jumps.

The next angler needs to untie the anchor line and throw the ball away from the boat. The driver needs to start the engine and spin the boat toward the fish while others reel in unattended rods.

Most hooked tarpon will run out from the bridge for about 20 seconds, then run back toward the bridge and end up in the piling. This is why the fire drill is important. When performed correctly the boat should end up directly above the fish before it reaches the piling.

When the tarpon is under the boat, drive through the bridge and around the pilings until the fish clears the bridge. During the chase you will encounter other boats fishing under the bridge. Politely ask the other anglers to reel in line or lift their anchor. It takes a lot of time to rig rods and catch bait, then sit in a boat for hours waiting for a strike, just to lose the fish in less than five minutes.

Performing the fire drill quickly will increase the number of tarpon landed.

-- Doug Hemmer charters out of St. Petersburg. Call (727) 347-1389.

© St. Petersburg Times. All rights reserved.

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