The devil's in the details

For years (11, to be exact), the Tampa Bay Rays (sans "Devil") were the bottom feeders of the American League East Division. Season, after season, the Red Sox padded their own post-90 win totals, as well as batting averages, against a team that considered 70 wins, a pyrrhic victory. Apparently, kicking the devil to the curve is all it takes to turn things around.

There is little to trumpet when it comes to the club’s history, since joining the AL, in 1998. Playing in a woeful indoor stadium, with ground rules that remind me of childhood WIFFLE® Ball games, rather than big league baseball, the Rays became the post-modern equivalent of the old Kansas City A’s clubs. Where else could a home run get swallowed up by a catwalk and become a harmless single, but in Tampa Bay and Tropicana Field?

[the former "evil" logo]

During most of their existence, the club regularly signed former stars, years after their best days were behind them. Names like Boggs, Canseco, Castilla, Vaughn (as in Greg), and McGriff, graced the back of their various uniform color schemes.

In 2003, the Rays began a youth movement, introducing a 21-year-old speedster, Carl Crawford, to the everyday lineup. He stole 54 bases his rookie year and has been patrolling left field in Tampa, ever since. Alongside Crawford, in center, was can’t-miss prospect, Rocco Baldelli, the former pride of Warwick, Rhode Island. Is there a better name to pronounce for PR announcers than, “Roc-co Bal-delee!”? Baldelli’s athleticism and Italian-American heritage illicited comparisons to a young Joe DiMaggio.

The summer of 2004 was the Rays high water mark, with 70 wins. The Lou Pinella-led club was in contention until just after the All-Star break, with a 42-41 record, but a late season swoon left them 21 games under .500.

The luster of young Baldelli, however, began to fade. The future upside of this young star, whom the club had built their hopes around, seemed to disappear before fan’s eyes, as he first tore his anterior cruciate ligament in his knee while playing baseball with his brother in the offseason. Expected back by the All-Star break, he injured his elbow during rehab and required Tommy John surgery, forcing him to miss all of 2005.

Then, as if he’d never been gone for nearly a season and a half, Baldelli returned on June 7, 2006. Playing nearly every night, Baldelli finished with a .302 average, with 16 homers and 57 RBI, in only 364 at bats.

Spring training in 2007 had him pulling a hamstring that never got better and limited him to only 35 games. Then, in 2008, Baldelli underwent extensive medical testing to determine the reasons for his muscle problems and extreme fatigue after even brief workouts. Doctors discovered some "metabolic and/or mitochondrial abnormalities" but were unable to provide an exact diagnosis. At present, Baldelli’s career is stalled and some aren’t sure that he’ll return.

[New logo=wins]

On November 8, 2007, the team unveiled new uniforms and announced they were dropping the “Devil” from their name.

In the original press release, principal owner Stuart Sternberg said "We are now the 'Rays' - a beacon that radiates throughout Tampa Bay and across the entire state of Florida."

"We Are One Team," the pitch for the 2008 season was announced February 22, 2008. The phrase, as president Matt Silverman says, refers to the idea of an improved and talented team allied with the fan base across the Tampa Bay area.

November 9 was when the Rays announced that they were in negotiations to potentially build a new $450-million, 34,000 seat, open-air baseball stadium at the site of Progress Energy Park/Al Lang Field, their current spring training facility on the St. Petersburg waterfront, to open by 2012. Stu Sternberg would provide $150 million and sign a long-term lease, and much of the remaining money would be covered by the sale of redevelopment rights to Tropicana Field and the state of Florida's 30-year, $60-million sales tax rebate for new venues. Any final plans would have to be approved by voters in St. Petersburg since all new construction on public property must be put to a referendum, regardless of whether or not the project uses taxpayer money.

The Rays ended spring training with a club record, 18 wins. They kept on winning during April and finished with their best opening month ever, posting a 15-12 mark, including a six-game winning streak and seven wins in their final eight games during the month.

Last weekend, the Rays swept the Red Sox, their first ever sweep of Boston. Their young arms of Matt Garza, Edwin Jackson, and James Shields, shut down Boston’s potent bats and bested their veteran arms, including ace, Josh Beckett.

Heading into tonight’s series, the Rays lifetime mark at fabled Fenway is a dismal 23-61. It's a long, grueling season and 29 games don't make a season. However, if the Rays keep things rolling, then we know that there might be something to sending the devil packing.

Juice above the fold

Mark LaFlamme cut his journalistic teeth on the mean streets of Lewiston, Maine. Later, he directed his considerable writing talent towards fiction, penning his horror novel, The Pink Room, about "a physicist's attempts to use the science of string theory to bring his daughter back from the dead. Government agents and a bestselling author race to find out if he was succesful."

LaFlamme also maintains a blog, while continuing his duties with the Sun Journal, prowling the side streets and alleyways of Maine's grittiest community, mining for stories and dealing with "dumb crooks, hard cases and vile editors." He also writes a weekly column, Street Talk. Some might call him prolific. I won't mention what others say about him.

We hear so much about the mega-selling authors and celebrity writers, which tend to skewer the realities that most writers live with. There are countless others, like LaFamme that actually churn out more and arguably, better material; they just don't get obscene advances for the work that they produce.

Moxie beyond New England's borders

I just found a writer who lives in Elmira, New York that's written his own ode to the virtues of Moxie.

John P. Cleary, who writes for the Star-Gazette (a Gannett paper), visits Maine each summer and when he and his family do, they make a trip to Frank Anicetti's Kennebec Fruit Co., for Moxie ice cream and to visit with the Moxie Man.

Cleary details the difficulty that Moxie lovers outside of New England struggle with in acquiring their favorite soft drink. Still, they persevere and find ways to score Moxie.

He writes,

"My wife came to love Moxie on her childhood visits to Maine, where it is the official state soft drink. We take our children on annual vacations to Bailey Island, Maine, and, each year, include a pilgrimage to Lisbon Falls, home of the Kennebec Fruit Co., the headquarters of the Moxie Universe. It's there that Frank Anicetti, the high priest of all things Moxie, holds court and sells, along with Moxie T-shirts, bumper stickers, baby clothes, clocks, blankets, and other stuff, his delicious, homemade Moxie ice cream. Lisbon Falls hosts the Moxie Days festival every July.

In New England, you can buy Moxie at almost any grocery store, but it's hard to find elsewhere. Before we leave Maine every summer, I load up our van with Moxie. I'm also lucky enough to have a brother-in-law who lives not far from Catawissa, Pa., where the Catawissa Bottling Co. has been bottling Moxie since the 1940s."

You can read the rest of Cleary's article here.

On the book front, I sent seven chapters of my manuscript to my copy editor, this morning. Things are looking good for our Moxie Festival launch.

Hillary takes my advice; goes to Gary

I've been steering clear of politics, of late. Since none of the three remaining candidates seem capable of speaking to any of the issues germane to most Americans, I've decided to tune out, until November.

I did happen to hear that Hillary stopped by Gary, Indiana, to talk with steelworkers (what few are left, from the region's heyday, as "Steeltown, USA, a moniker shared with another similar U.S. city, Youngstown, Ohio). It made me reflect back to last year, right about at this time, when I spent a week near Gary and visited the city a couple of times. I wasn't there for a photo op and I actually did it without a security detail.

I wrote about it and Counterpunch published my "fantasy" debate piece. You can read it here, if you happened to miss it.

In retrospect, I think I "nailed" the candidates fairly well, with my handicap.

Regional drinks like Moxie: Cheerwine

I'm officially "off" today, from my daytime gig. But like Monday's "holiday," my non-paid work time is taken up with Moxietown and stories of Moxie. My deadline's tight, but I can see some light up ahead, I think?

I've been at my keyboard since about 6:00 am, transcribing my interview with Justin Conroy, from Cornucopia. He happened to mention a similar, regional brand of soft drink, called Cheerwine, which turned 90, last year. Time to take a "break" and get up a blog post.



A southern regional phenomenom, like Moxie, this burgundy colored drink is said to possess a distinctive cherry taste. It's available throughout the southeastern United States, from West Virginia, south to Georgia.

What I found interesting when I Googled "Cheerwine," was the product's website. They've taken a local news motif and made it their own, with "stories," sightings and their very own blog (although someone needs to learn that blogging requires periodic updates; your last post is from July 2007!). Nice work on the marketing side.

Personally, I don't know if this would work for Moxie. IMHO, Moxie's lure is Frank Anicetti's store, his aversion to technology and the NEMC's fixation with memorabilia that belongs to the previous century.