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© St. Petersburg Times, published October 5, 2001
ST. PETERSBURG -- Without a top-notch shortstop ready in their farm system, the Rays appear serious about keeping Chris Gomez around for at least one more season.
General manager Chuck LaMar said Thursday he has spoken with Gomez's agent and would like to sign the 30-year-old, who becomes a free agent at the end of the season."
"If he has to explore free agency then that's a decision that we'll have to make," LaMar said. "It doesn't mean we won't re-sign him. It's maybe a case where I can only offer him or want to offer him a one-year contract."
Gomez is making $3-million in the final season of a three-year deal.
He joined the Rays on June 27 after the Padres released him and has been a good fit, batting .295 with seven homers and 30 RBI in 54 games and playing solid defensively.
"It was a good move," LaMar said. "He can play and he's a class guy."
SURPRISE: Bench coach Billy Hatcher found a special present on his 41st birthday.
After a large rat ran through the dugout in Boston, Damian Rolls and Hatcher each proclaimed their dislike for the rodents. That sparked Russ Johnson's going to a pet store, buying a feeder rat and sticking it in Hatcher's locker.
A video camera was positioned on the other side of the clubhouse to capture Hatcher's reaction, which included him jumping off his seat and scurrying to the middle of the clubhouse while players and coaches laughed. When Johnson retrieved the rat after a couple of minutes and showed it to Hatcher, the coach threw a chair at him from across the clubhouse and used another chair as a barrier.
"Cats, rats and snakes. They're all evil," Hatcher said.
RUNNING WILD: Jason Tyner stole his club-record 29th base Wednesday night despite only playing two-thirds of the season with Tampa Bay. So what if he played an entire season?
"If I play every day and get on base then I think I could get 50 or 60," Tyner said.
FIRST PITCHES: Manny Mojica Sr. and Steve Dahlquist threw out honorary first pitches as part of a tribute to the Sept. 11 World Trade Center tragedy.
Mojica's son, Manny Jr., was a New York firefighter who died when the buildings collapsed. Dahlquist, a financial planner from Sarasota, was in the World Trade Center during the attacks.
THIS N' THAT: Carl Crawford is batting .600 after two games of the Arizona Fall League. Josh Hamilton has a strained left biceps and probably won't play for about 10 days.