How the Rays Emerged as a True Contender This Season

Dwayne, was there a moment in the season when you went, yes, this team here? Because when we talked earlier, we didn't really know, as I said, what we were looking at yet. A lot of people thought this was going to be a transition year. There was talk with all the things going on off the diamond with the stadium and all. Bob Nightingale was telling me the whole time, he goes, hey, if this team wins 70 or 80 games, that'll be a great year for this team. And all of a sudden, like we said, it started gathering steam. Was there a moment in the year where you went, hey, this team's for real? Was there that moment? It's interesting because the team, I don't know if there was one exact moment or one game that did that, but they did start to grow on us, you know, and I think it was a developmental situation. You know, Brian Anderson is our analyst, and, you know, I love pitchers and left-handed pitchers especially, I think, are kind of fun, and he's like that. And, you know, we'd kick around after a game or, you know, back of the hotel or whenever we were together. You know, what's the story on this team? Because you could not anticipate, for example, the year that Baker had. Cam Boozer comes in. I mean, here's a guy who not only was, you know, for a time out of the game, but, you know, maybe out of life itself. he overcame some great challenges and turned out to be this unbelievable left-hander out of the bullpen and and those are the kinds of things you know yet you do have to ask yourself as good a team as this Rays team is you know what if Baker doesn't work out as a closer or or what if they don't have Boozer show up and develop into this just outstanding reliable left-handed arm out there um so it's you know and that's one of the great things about baseball is as you well know we all do this we try to we try to figure out early if a team's going to be good and and i think my take on this team is um that first week or so of the season was was semi-problematic but you know you write that off you go look it was cold in milwaukee and it was cold in st louis and uncomfortable and all of that. And so, you know, you can't get a really good feel for a team under those adverse conditions, especially St. Louis. You know, at least you had the protection in Milwaukee. But it took me a while to look at this team and then look at each other on a day-by-day basis and go, you know, this is a pretty good team. And, you know, the question you ask is always a great question what was that seminal moment that you said hey this team is really good and and there have been teams like that but this team grew on me you know game by game and almost pitch by pitch and at bat by at bat no question about it real quick here uh duane who's the unsung hero for this race team this year and again there are a bunch of them you know for example um one of the one of the young players i like they got from the marlins is it's Victor Mesa Jr and And you look at him, and I don't know if you saw the throw he made, you know, in that final series game. But he is an outstanding defensive player, and looking toward the future, he's also a great left-handed bat with some pop in that bat.