Men and Boys

“We’ve been getting stomped around the last 10 years and it isn’t going to happen anymore. I had to let them know early and let them know right away,” is the "wisdom" bestowed on baseball by Rays pitcher, James Shields, the day after sparking the bench-clearing ball when he plunked Coco Crisp.

And that's pretty much been the Tampa Bay attitude since the beginning of Spring Training, when the Rays went after The Evil Empire to establish their apparent theme for 2008. Up until this season, I was impressed by Manager Joe Maddon's steady leadership on a team that got very little attention. Not this season; either he's going along with his players destructive attitude, or he's spearheading it.

High schoolers believe they can earn respect by brawling with rivals in the parking lot and corridors, Mr Manager. Men earn theirs stoically and without fanfare. The Rays do not have the depth of the Sox, or the blank checks of the Bombers; this may be only season where the Rays can take the East by storm before returning to earth for awhile (like the Rockies have, or the Pirates did). Why throw it away for short-term pride?

If you haven't realised this now, perhaps you will come to remember it when you're sitting through a drubbing of your bullpen in Texas or LAofaA. I hope you will not have to reflect on it in October while staring at a schedule result sheet that shows a season lost following June 5th.

Comments

[Dawn]

Maddon is quite the hypocrite. You should hear some of his postgame interviews. I'm far less impressed by him -- and not just because he cooked up that stupid shift that everyone uses now on Papi.