DET/TB info...

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SCOUTING REPORT: The Tigers are coming off their eighth-consecutive losing season but have more talent than at this time last season. First baseman Dmitri Young was the most significant offseason addition, signing a four-year deal worth $28.5-million in February. He has hit .300 or better in each of the past four seasons and provides additional power (21 homers in 2001). Shortstop Shane Halter had a tremendous spring and will open as a starter for the first time in his career. The Tigers are without third baseman Dean Palmer, who was placed on the 15-day disabled list while he continues to strengthen his surgically-repaired shoulder. Palmer is expected to return this weekend. Craig Paquette, who hit .282 for St. Louis last season, will start at third until then. The pitching staff has two proven starters in Jeff Weaver and Steve Sparks and a solid closer in Matt Anderson, who saved 22 games in 2001. The Tigers finished spring training with a 16-15 record. The pitching staff ranked fourth among AL teams in ERA (4.39) and the offense batted a combined .273. Fielding continues to be a concern. The Tigers made 16 errors in their final six spring games.

CONNECTIONS: Rays catcher John Flaherty and shortstop Chris Gomez spent time in Detroit and were involved in the same trade to San Diego in 1996. Bullpen coach Glenn Ezell was the Tigers roving minor-league catching instructor before being hired by the Rays.

2001 SEASON SERIES: The Tigers won four of six against the Rays last season, but Tampa Bay leads the series 18-17. Detroit has won eight of 18 at Tropicana Field, including the first in Rays history on March 31, 1998.

WHO'S HOT: Shortstop Shane Halter ranked second among AL hitters in average (.439) and third in hits (29) during the spring.

WHO'S NOT: Coming off a 2001 season in which he hit .277 with 17 homers and 77 RBIs, leftfielder Bobby Higginson batted .238 with two homers and seven RBIs in 23 spring games.

 

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Sturtze expecting to feel some flutters
By KEVIN KELLY, Times Staff Writer
? St. Petersburg Times
published April 2, 2002
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ST. PETERSBURG -- Sure, Tanyon Sturtze will be a little nervous today.

"If I didn't get butterflies," he said, "I wouldn't play the game."

When Sturtze throws the first pitch of the Rays season opener against the Tigers at Tropicana Field, he will become the fourth opening-day starter in the club's five-year existence.

Wilson Alvarez (1998, 1999), Steve Trachsel (2000) and Albie Lopez (last season) were the others.

"You never think that it could be you, but you always hope it's going to be you," Sturtze said. "Now it is. And I'm excited about it."

It's a deserved honor for the 31-year-old, whose 11 wins, 27 starts and 1951/3 innings led the Rays in 2001. Though manager Hal McRae knew last season who would throw on opening day, Sturtze reconfirmed that decision this spring.

He had a 14-inning scoreless streak at one point and finished 2-2 with a 5.19 ERA in six games. The ERA jumped after his final two spring outings, against the Braves on March 23 and Tigers on March 29, when he allowed 13 runs on 20 hits in 10 innings.

"I really didn't put too much into the last two outings," Sturtze said. "I was a little upset after the Braves outing. Then the Detroit outing I just went out there and said, "Whatever happens, happens.' I'm going to face them again.

"But everything feels good. I felt good in my last start. I was just rushing a little bit. We worked on that in our bullpen. I'm ready."

THE REPLACEMENTS: With Russ Johnson on the disabled list and four position players on the bench -- catcher John Flaherty, outfielder Jason Conti and infielders Jason Smith and Felix Escalona -- McRae has limited options when it comes to substitutions.

Three-player moves are unlikely and pinch hitters will be rare until Johnson comes off the disabled list.

"I don't anticipate pinch hitting for anyone that's on the field," McRae said. "Therefore my main concern is pinch running. I don't plan to defend for anyone to start the season. My concern was the pinch-running situation, which I anticipate we'll have to do."

THE SAME FEELING: For nearly half of the Rays, tonight's game will be one of their most memorable. Twelve players never have been on a major-league opening-day roster.

"It doesn't get any better than that," said outfielder Greg Vaughn, who experienced his first opening day with the Brewers in 1990. "It's like being 7 years old on the first day of Little League. It's still the same feeling. Even though you're a man, there's the same feeling."

NEW DIRT: Apparently, all dirt is not created equal.

Groundskeepers removed the infield dirt at Tropicana Field in the offseason and replaced it with another type of clay that holds moisture better in the dome's dry and cool.

The new clay also is mixed with Turface, a granular substance that controls moisture.

ODDS AND ENDS: In a minor-league game at the Ray Naimoli Complex on Monday, Alvarez threw five innings for Class-A Bakersfield against Double-A Orlando. The No. 5 starter allowed three earned runs on six hits, walking two and striking out one. ... Rays officials expect a crowd of around 30,000.

 

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ST. PETERSBURG -- As the Rays open their fifth season tonight, general manager Chuck LaMar, as is his job, tries to mix cautious optimism and reality.

He says he expects the Rays to win more than the 62 games they did last season, which means they'll avoiding becoming the first team to lose 100 games in consecutive seasons since the 1977-79 Blue Jays. And he says if everything goes right, if they stay healthy, their young players continue to develop and they play well, they could have their best season yet, which means they'll break the 70-win plateau for the first time and possibly escape last place.

Manager Hal McRae, as is his nature, says that's not enough.

"We want to be competitive," McRae said. "Winning half your games has to be a goal for everyone in baseball, and it's not a great accomplishment. You haven't done very much. But from where we sit we think it's achievable, and a realistic goal. And it would be an accomplishment.

"It means you're competitive, that you like to compete. That's what I hope to achieve this year, regardless of how difficult it might be, regardless of how short we are, regardless of what we don't have or don't possess. I see no reason to show up if you can't do that. That's not what it's all about. And if anybody thinks that's what it's all about, they're mistaken. Somehow, we've got to figure out a way to get that done."

Doing so, obviously, won't be easy.

To get to .500, the Rays would have to win 19 more than last season.

Over the past 20 years, not counting the strike-shortened 1994 and 19'95 seasons, there have been six teams that lost 100 and improved by at least 19 the next season. Only three -- the 1989 Orioles, the 1986 Indians, the 1986 Giants -- made it to .500.

To have any success, the Rays are going to have to have a lot of things go right: Every team needs to avoid major injuries to their star, but even minor injuries to lesser players could hurt the Rays because their bench is thin and their backups are inexperienced.

"The biggest thing is to stay healthy because we don't have a lot of depth in certain areas," second baseman Brent Abernathy said. "You can't expect to beat the best teams in the league day in and day out with a bunch of guys out there with no experience."

Their core young players, such as Toby Hall, Jason Tyner, Brent Abernathy and Joe Kennedy, have to play as well, and as hard, in their first full big-league seasons as they did last year.

"The way the players played the last three months has to continue," LaMar said. "We cannot have a fall-off in production because, quote, this is their first full season, or, quote, this is their first opening-day major-league roster. No. The production we saw out of the young players the second half of the season we have to pick up and actually improve upon."

And they have to keep the proper mind-set, playing aggressively, realizing they need to do whatever it takes to win, and staying positive, not allowing brief skids to turn into long slumps or bad weeks become horrible months.

"I think there needs to be a quiet cockiness about us, a little bit of arrogance," pitcher Paul Wilson said. "Not meaning that we're better than everyone when we walk on the field, but there has to be some kind of pride.

"We can't act like we're expecting to lose 100 games. Who wants to act like that? That attitude we had at the end of last year, when we were playing great baseball even though we were still in last place, there's no reason we can't start with that attitude. Right now, everyone's even. And if we can do that, I think we'll be successful."

LaMar has been criticized for not making substantial changes to a 100-loss team. His answer is that he made the moves during last season, jettisoning veterans Gerald Williams, Fred McGriff, Albie Lopez and Vinny Castilla, and starting the youth movement. The kids were all right, as the Rays went 35-39 in the second half, 24-23 the last two months.

Of the 25 players on the opening-day roster, 14 weren't there last season, 12 never have been on any major-league opening-day roster, three never have played in the majors (or better than Class A).

The Rays have the youngest team (average age of 27.51) and least-experienced team (average service time of 2 years, 162 days) in the majors, and by the end of the season, if not sooner, they will have the least-expensive team as LaMar follows orders to keep reducing a payroll that already has shrunk to $34-million.

"I think we can be better," Greg Vaughn said. "Yeah, we can be better."

"We must be better," McRae said. "Why show up if you're not going to be better?"