[THE HANGOVER]

Tampa Bay Rays (9 days until pitchers and catchers report)
Today is Hank Aaron’s birthday. Major League Baseball tried to honor Aaron by naming an award after him, when in fact the award does nothing to honor his legacy. We have made our feelings known about the Hank Aaron Award in the past, but in short it is a glorified advertising opportunity for MLB to make money off of Hank Aaron’s name, and the award needs to be overhauled or it will never have any legitimacy.

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

• If you have not had a chance to vote in our “Tampa Bay Rays Confidence” polls, please do so. This will become a weekly feature and the resulting graph will makes it debut tomorrow. [Rays Index]
• Willy Aybar has been jailed in the Dominican Republic on charges of domestic violence. He has been held without bail since last week. We will have more on this topic later on this morning. [ESPN]
• Rays of Light reports that Rocco Baldelli stated in a radio interview that he has been working out at first base in the off-season. Do the Rays think this will actually help? We are talking about a guy who once needed Tommy John surgery after injuring his knee. Rocco could pull a hamstring just thinking about running. [Rays of Light]
• Tom Singer believes the Rays are one team that could surprise in 2008, comparing them to the 1969 Mets. [MLB]

The rest of the AL East is concerned. In fact, Toronto general manager J.P. Ricciardi has frankly branded the Rays a team “no one will want to face.”…But why stop at .500 — the Rays haven’t been closer than 11 games to that — as a major surprise? We keep looking at Tampa Bay’s new uniforms and seeing “Mets” scrawled across the chest…The Amazin’s averaged 56 wins in their first seven seasons, then broke loose for a World Series title in the eighth. And they did so without any major roster additions; a young team simply grew into it.

• The Rays have planned a series of appearances in neighboring counties with players and staff, in their effort to expand the team’s fan base. [TampaBay.com]
  
• Edwin Jackson is one of several major leaguers working to bring baseball back to young African-Americans. We wish we had not read that. Last thing in the world we need is a soft-spot for Nuke. [MLB]

“In the black schools, football and basketball are getting more attention than baseball,” Jackson said. “We need to expose it within the community, talk about it more. It starts in the household, where most parents are talking about basketball and football to their young black children.”

• One website names the best and worst moves of the off-season for each team. Signing Troy Percival to a two-year contract is rated as the Rays worst move. [SWB Yankees Blog]
• One fantasy baseball site compares BJ Upton to Alex Rios. [The Fantasy Man]
• The Rays will be offering free skin cancer screenings throughout March at various spring training facilities. We will avoid the obvious joke of a team that plays in a dome offering skin cancer screening. [DevilRays.com]
• The Gaston Gazette profiles Chris Mason. [Gaston Gazette]
• One protester is creating a Manatee named “Pete” made of duct tape to help bring awareness to the plight of the Manatees and to dredge up support for the opposition of the Rays new stadium…seriously [Tampa Bays 10]

AL East Roundup: Prelude To The Great A-Rod Escape

AL EAST	W	L	GB	L10	STK	E#
Toronto Blue Jays	4	3	–	4-3	L1	—
Boston Red Sox	4	3	–	4-3	W2	—
New York Yankees	4	3	–	4-3	W2	—
Baltimore Orioles	3	5	1.5	3-5	W2	154
Tampa Bay Devil Rays	2	5	2.0	2-5	L4	154

Red Sox 14, Mariners 3. The Sox went all Tea Party on the Mariners in their home opener at Fenway. Boston scored 7 in the first two innings and were up 13-1 after 5. Josh Beckett may have had his best start as a Red Sox giving up just 2 hits and 1 run over 7 innings. He walked none and struck out 8. JD Drew managed to hit his first home run with Boston and he didn’t pull a hamstring rounding the bases.

Tigers 3, Orioles 1. The Orioles just can’t catch a break. Jaret Wright pitched better, but still lost his second straight with the O’s and then had to be removed with shoulder stiffness.

Royals 6, Blue Jays 3. Toronto committed 4 errors leading to 3 unearned runs. Josh Towers made his first start of the year and gave up all 6 runs.

Yankees 10, Twins 1. Andy Pettite pitched 6 scoreless innings and he was supported by Alex Rodiguez’s 6th home run of the season. An A-bomb by A-Rod! At this pace A-Rod may beat Barry Bonds to the home run record. He only needs 286 more home runs. The Yankees, Sox and Jays are all tied for first in the AL East. This race is going down to the wire!

NOTES FROM AROUND THE AL EAST…

• Jaret Wright was upset after the game and indicated that the injury to his shoulder is reminiscent of his previous shoulder injuries that led to two surgeries.
• The Yankees starters have struggled, but the bullpen has been strong.
• Daisuke Matsuzaka will face Ichiro tonight to lead off the Red Sox game against the Mariners. The two have faced each other before in Japan. Here is video of their encounters in Japan.
• The Red Sox honored the 1967 AL Championship team before their home opener.
• Frank Thomas has 488 career home runs, but his sights are set on 600.
• Alex Rodriguez is just the 4th player in the last 50 years with an extra-base hit in each of his team’s first seven games, and one of seven players with 6 home runs in his teams first 7 games.
• It is only seven games, but some are already talking MVP for Alex Rodriguez. The funny thing about all this is…Let’s say A-Rod hits .330 with 60 home runs, 150 RBI and wins the MVP. The he has a big October but the Yankees fall short in the playoffs. Because of all the crap he has received from the fans, he will opt-out of his contract and Yankees fans will find a way to blame A-Rod. He will be a coward, even though it was the fans that wanted him gone as recently as the second game of the season when he popped up in the 8th inning with the bases loaded against the Rays.
• Alex Rios is a better player when he is leading off.