Piecing together the Rays championship puzzle

Tampa Bay third baseman Akinori Iwamura stood helpless at the plate after a called third strike Sept. 1 last year at Yankee Stadium, as 53,637 fans cheered a 9-6 New York win and another painful Rays defeat.

It was an all-too-familiar scene for Tampa Bay in a 2007 season that included 66 victories and 96 losses, the team's 10th consecutive year with a losing record after joining the major leagues as an expansion franchise in 1998.

Without a magic button to push or $200 million US to compete with the rich and famous Yankees in the American League East division, Tampa Bay general manager Andrew Friedman needed to come up with a plan, and fast.

"As we got into September of last year, we started to shift the focus internally to constructing a 25-man roster," Friedman, who had spent the previous two seasons stockpiling the Rays' minor-league system, told CBCSports.ca on the phone from Tampa Bay . "We felt we had the talent in place to start the process and ability to supplement the core [group] to take a big step forward."

Well, the big step forward has turned into a quantum leap.

Tampa Bay entered September 2008 with a franchise-best 84 wins (compared to 51 losses) — an 18-game improvement from last season — and a 5½-game lead over the reigning World Series champion Boston Red Sox atop the AL East.

Friedman pointed to the work of Joe Maddon, who is in line for his first manager of the year award in just his third season with the Rays after spending 31 years in the Los Angeles Angels organization.

"He's a great in-game strategist," Friedman said of Maddon. "But his impact goes well beyond that, in terms of his ability to relate to the younger and older players. I think that combination really makes him the type of manager that players want to play for, which is important, especially when we're trying to create a destination spot here where players around the league want to play."

On target for 100 wins

At their current pace, the Rays will reach the century mark in victories, which would be a 34-game improvement from 2007. The 1999 Arizona Diamondbacks (35 games) and 1903 New York Giants (34.5) are the only two teams in baseball history to have a greater leap in wins.

"Our advanced planning for '09 certainly has suffered, but we'll take it," said Friedman, laughing. "There was no doubt we were going to be able to compete in the [AL East]. The last two years for us were about acquiring as many good players as we could, irrespective of how they fit [within the team]."

Contrary to popular belief, the bulk of the Rays' current roster was not the result of astute drafting. Rocco Baldelli (2000), B.J. Upton (2002) and Evan Longoria (2006) are the only players drafted in the first round, while four others were taken in the 10th round and beyond. Friedman acquired 13 players through trades and signed six free agents.

Two of the more notable free agents — first baseman Carlos Pena and outfielder Eric Hinske — inked minor-league deals in the 2007 and 2006 off-seasons, respectively, and have flourished with the Rays after falling on tough times elsewhere.

'We weren't sure once games started whether the execution and consistency would be there. And to our players' credit, they've played with great consistency throughout the year.' —Andrew Friedman, Tampa Bay GM

Pena, who had minimal success in Detroit after a failed attempt in Oakland, was cut two days before the end of spring training 2007 with Tampa Bay, only to be brought back as an injury replacement. He went on to have a career season with a .282 average, 46 home runs and 121 runs batted in. Pena's 27 homers through Sept. 3 of this season also lead the Rays.

Hinske, a converted third baseman, was named AL rookie of the year in 2002 before seeing his play tail off. He was traded in August 2006 to Boston, where he spent one-plus seasons before joining Tampa Bay.

The additions of infield role players Ben Zobrist and Willy Aybar, along with the return of outfielder Rocco Baldelli from illness and Iwamura's successful shift to second base from third, have helped the Rays overcome injuries to numerous players. All-star outfielder Carl Crawford (finger surgery) could miss the rest of the season, while Longoria should return this month after fracturing his right wrist.

Another of Friedman's better acquisitions in recent memory was trading highly touted outfielder Delmon Young to Minnesota last November for pitcher Matt Garza and shortstop Jason Bartlett, who has aided in stabilizing Tampa Bay's defence.

"I think the biggest improvement from last year to this year has been our defence," Friedman said. "We had talented pitchers last year who were still learning and developing at the major-league level, but defensively we had a lot of difficulties last year."

The improved defence has helped a Rays pitching staff that ranked last in the 14-team AL in ERA last season (5.53) climb to second spot in 2008 (3.74 through Sept. 3).

Tampa Bay boasts five 10-game winners in Andy Sonnanstine (13), James Shields (12), Edwin Jackson (11), Garza (11) and Scott Kazmir (10), who missed the first month of the season with a strained left elbow. Only Kazmir (13) and Shields (12) reached double digits a year ago.

"With the core of young players we have, a lot was dependent on their maturation process and how quickly they were able to take what they learned in '06 and '07 and apply it in '08," said Friedman, who joined the Rays in 2004 as director of baseball development. "When Joe Maddon and I sat down at the end of spring training [this year], we were going through the final cuts and roster construction and felt like this was a team that had the talent to compete.

"We weren't sure once games started whether the execution and consistency would be there. And to our players' credit, they've played with great consistency throughout the year."

Rays sparkle at home

Only twice this season have the Rays had losing streaks of more than three games after setting a club record for wins in spring training with 18. And they began September with the best home record in the majors at 52-19.

Still, fans have stayed away in droves for most of the season — save for when the Yankees or Red Sox are in town — despite the fact a family of four can attend a game for $36 US. Parking is free, and fans can bring their own food and drink to the park.

The fact Tampa Bay is a non-traditional baseball market and not among the richest markets in the United States as far as disposable income could explain the fan apathy. It's also a high-transient population, meaning there are oodles of Yankees fans, Red Sox fans and Tigers fans in the area, but not true baseball fans.

"Attendance remains opponent-driven," Marc Lancaster, who covers the Rays for the Tampa Tribune, told CBCSports.ca. "I think every game for the Red Sox has drawn 30,000 [to the 36,000-seat Tropicana Field]. The [Los Angeles] Angels series [from Aug. 18-20] drew less than 20,000 for all three games and that was [to watch] the teams with the two best records in the AL."

Fuelling fan flames

The Rays have been last in the league in attendance for the past seven seasons, but the average has risen from 17,148 in 2007 to 21,206 this season through Aug. 26.

To rid themselves of bad memories and create a new identity, management officially shortened the team's nickname from "Devil Rays" to simply "Rays" last November. Rays is now splashed across the front of the uniform featuring a bright yellow sunburst, with navy blue and light blue having replaced green and black as the primary colours.

"I think [the Rays] are doing what they can [to attract fans], but it just takes time and it's an education process," said Lancaster. "I don't think that's right for a city that's been begging for a winner, now has won and is not coming out. We'll see how it goes down the stretch and in the playoffs if they make it that far."

The odds are in Tampa Bay's favour, as historically, teams that lead their division at the end of the first Monday in September reach the post-season more than 70 per cent of the time.

"Our guys have great short-term memory loss where they enjoy a victory for 30 minutes, they wallow in defeat for 30 minutes and they have an uncanny ability to move on and focus on the next day and treat each game, no matter who we're playing, the exact same way," said Friedman.

"I think that's going to pay dividends for us in September."