Hats off to the Rays
 

Played first game of 2nd half of the year tonight.. won again and enjoy a 1.5 game lead over the Bosox. It's great... Leo, Elvis and Bigs likely hangin' in Hillsborough celebrating as we speak...

**** the god damn Rays....:)

The new evil empire. ;) :D

Go Sox

and Im inclined to think they're not a fluke, they are for REAL...A solid effort allthe way around...

Whats the attendance looking like this year?? Has it picked up since the fans realized they have a contender?

FTFY :)

GFY:)

:tro: :tro:

Monday night we actually out screamed the Sox fans for once. They will draw 100k for the series. The big attendance test will be this weekend vs. KC. I think they would be happy with 60 to 70K.

Are they building a new stadium for you guys?

They have played well so far but it is a shame they don't draw to the level of their talent. Listening to their radio guy call a game on XM is akin to what it must have been like to get the news in USSR during the 80's....

The stadium issue is back burnered for now. The economic timing was awful. People around here are still worried about property tax and insurance issues.
The models of the new stadium look great on paper. The heat and rain during the summer are a big concern. It started raining Monday about the eighth inning. If we weren't inside it would have been an hour at least to finish that game.

Too bad...Tough to sell a funding plan for a retractable roof stadium with gas at $4.50. You think they would ever leave Tampa?

The keys to the Rays future is will they pay for some of the guys to stay once they reach free agency. The payroll now I believe is in the $25 million range.

My fear is they move from St Pete to Tampa. I would still go just not as much. The roof is actually not retractable. If can find the design link I will post it. The material is similiar to a sail and would be raised over the field.

Here's one

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rays_Ballpark

I saw pictures of the design when I went to a spring training game this march. It looks strange.

they payed Kazmir (sp?) and i think that is a sign of things to come. They had 30 some odd thousand the other night for a week night game and theyve never had that kind of attendance.

Hopefully they will reinvest the money.

We need expert opinion by The Gardens in here.

Their payroll is actually $43 million for this year. However when you consider that Shields makes 1 million, Crawford 5, Garza 400k, Howell 400k, Jackson 400k, Iwamura 2.4, Navarro 400k, Upton 400k, and Longoria 400k the payroll is going to way up if they are to keep most of these guys. I dont know what the status is on a year by year basis but Shields is pitching himself into 15 million a year territory, Crawford is in the same range, Howell will be 4 or 5 million a year as a set up guy, Navarro is probably a 10 million a year catcher, and Upton and Longoria are still a few years away but arent going to be happy unless they get a raise and may be 20 million a year gys by then.

I know for sure they have Longoria signed for a long term deal. They wrote that deal after his first week up from the minors in April.

He hit his first career home run against the New York Yankees on April 14, 2008. The Rays signed Longoria to a six-year, $17.5 million contract with options for 2014, 2015 and 2016.

From wikipedia