Search

Byline: TOM JONES Who is the best baseball player you ever saw? Your answer likely depends on your age. Older generations will say Willie Mays or Mickey Mantle. More recent [...]

Byline: TOM JONES; Times Staff Writer As reported earlier this week, Tampa native and former big-league player and manager Lou Piniella has been hired by the Yankees' YES Network to [...]

Byline: TOM JONES Three hours before Thursday's Orioles-Devil Rays game, a dozen reporters with notebooks and recorders crowded around Rays centerfielder Alex Sanchez. A few minutes later came Round 2, [...]

Byline: TOM JONES; DAMIAN CRISTODERO The Devil Rays thought they had a problem when they lost centerfielder Alex Sanchez to a suspension for using a performance-enhancing substance to start the [...]

Byline: TOM JONES On Aug. 22, pitcher Dewon Brazelton and the Devil Rays beat Oakland 2-1 at Tropicana Field. But six days later, on Saturday, the A's beat Brazelton and [...]

Byline: TOM JONES A month remains in the 2004 baseball season, but the Devil Rays are ready to take a peek at next season right now. The Rays will call [...]

Byline: TOM JONES The Devil Rays deserved to reap more than they sowed over the weekend. They're pretty much playing out the string, well into the dog days of another [...]

Byline: TOM JONES Devil Rays manager Lou Piniella is having a tough time figuring out which of six pitchers should be in his five-man rotation. So the natural solution? Go [...]

Byline: TOM JONES ISN'T IT IRONIC: Funny how things work out. Devil Rays manager Lou Piniella is fortunate Scott Kazmir was pitching for him Monday night instead of against him. [...]

Byline: TOM JONES Devil Rays manager Lou Piniella tried to do starting pitcher Mark Hendrickson a favor Friday night. 'I gave Hendrickson every opportunity to win a ballgame,'' Piniella said. [...]

Byline: TOM JONES Devil Rays manager Lou Piniella doesn't smoke anymore, but he might have thought about lighting one up Friday night. The Rays' modest four-game win streak came to [...]

Byline: TOM JONES Devil Rays manager Lou Piniella sat down with Tino Martinez last offseason. Piniella told his fellow Tampa native that the Rays weren't looking for the Tino Martinez [...]

Byline: TOM JONES Devil Rays centerfielder Rocco Baldelli is not happy that contract negotiations with the club have broken down. The Rays informed Baldelli this week that they wanted to [...]

Byline: TOM JONES The Devil Rays weren't playing in the World Series, so it wasn't exactly a Kirk Gibson moment. But it was close, at least for the Rays. Aubrey [...]

Byline: TOM JONES Over the past couple of years, the Devil Rays have been waiting for prospects such as B.J. Upton, Josh Hamilton and Delmon Young to work their way [...]

Byline: TOM JONES For the past several seasons, and particularly the past two, the Devil Rays have had a revolving door at third base. Aubrey Huff, Jared Sandberg, Chris Truby, [...]

Byline: TOM JONES Devil Rays manager Lou Piniella said it again Monday. He's not going anywhere. With a slew of reporters from New York at Monday's game to watch former [...]

Byline: TOM JONES Devil Rays manager Lou Piniella met rookie Scott Kazmir for the first time Sunday. 'Young-looking kid,'' Piniella said. 'Then I realized he should look young. He's only [...]

Byline: TOM JONES Devil Rays manager Lou Piniella met rookie pitcher Scott Kazmir on Sunday for the first time. 'Young-looking kid,'' Piniella said. 'Then I realized he should look young. [...]

Byline: TOM JONES If this were all a movie, it would be hard to decide who gets top billing. Think about it for a second. What if Spielberg started casting [...]

Byline: TOM JONES The Devil Rays traveled to Tokyo and back, but they couldn't find their way from Tropicana Field to Progress Energy Park. The Rays dressed at the Tropicana [...]

Byline: TOM JONES It's only March 26, so for 28 teams, spring training lasts another week. For the Devil Rays and Yankees, though, spring is done. The Rays play one [...]

Byline: TOM JONES; MARC TOPKIN Paul Abbott has pitched so well this spring that he has turned manager Lou Piniella's four-man rotation into a five-man rotation. After Abbott threw five [...]

Byline: MARC TOPKIN; TOM JONES Lou Piniella shouldn't be bored on the Devil Rays' 20-hour trip to Japan which starts this afternoon. The Rays essentially cut their roster to the [...]

Byline: TOM JONES Time is up. Well, it looks that way, anyway. The Devil Rays still have until Monday to come up with an opening day 25-man roster, but it [...]

Byline: TOM JONES Manager Lou Piniella lost his patience Monday. It wasn't one of his vintage meltdowns. He didn't yell. He didn't swear. He didn't fly off the handle and [...]

Byline: TOM JONES He can play leftfield. He can play rightfield. He can play first base. He can catch. The only problem Robert Fick might have is finding a place [...]

Byline: TOM JONES It's getting to be crunch time for the Devil Rays. With 38 players in camp, the Rays have six days to get down to where they want [...]

Byline: TOM JONES; MARC TOPKIN The Devil Rays offseason upgrades have cost a veteran his job. Pitcher Rob Bell became a fixture in the rotation last season, starting 18 games [...]

Byline: MARC TOPKIN; TOM JONES Don Zimmer didn't get the chance to see any of his old Yankees friends due to the heavy rains that forced cancellation of Tuesday's exhibition [...]

Byline: TOM JONES; MARC TOPKIN (final edited version not provided for the electronic library, see microfilm) The Devil Rays' Chad Gaudin talked as if he needed to keep pitching well [...]

Byline: TOM JONES Pitcher Damian Moss strolled to the mound Sunday morning at the Naimoli complex for a B game that had far more implications than a B game should. [...]

Byline: MARC TOPKIN; TOM JONES Similar to spring weather, Lou Piniella's pitching plans can go from clear to cloudy and back in a matter of hours. By the end of [...]

Byline: TOM JONES; MARC TOPKIN Devil Rays manager Lou Piniella said he wants to go through the rotation one more time before settling on a fifth starter, but after Saturday, [...]

Byline: TOM JONES It's all subject to change, of course. Devil Rays manager Lou Piniella has been known to change his mind as often as his socks. And there still [...]

Byline: TOM JONES It might seem like it, but the Yankees did not get everything they wanted in the offseason. In fact, the Devil Rays apparently scored a victory over [...]

Byline: TOM JONES Devil Rays manager Lou Piniella was in a bit of a sour mood after Wednesday's 6-1 exhibition loss to the Reds at Ed Smith Stadium. Today, there's [...]

Byline: TOM JONES The names change. The lineup turns over. The faces in the clubhouse become different. The stars come and go. The bench is recycled. The pitchers move in [...]

Byline: TOM JONES Devil Rays manager Lou Piniella knows the potential of shortstop prospect B.J. Upton, but just in case he didn't, Upton gave him a reminder Sunday. Upton, in [...]

Byline: TOM JONES Tino Martinez didn't take long to make his homecoming special. The Tampa native homered in his first at-bat in a Devil Rays uniform in Tampa Bay's spring [...]

Byline: TOM JONES After 10 days of the same mundane routine - batting practice, taking grounders, stretching and running - the Devil Rays finally get to some good stuff today [...]

Byline: TOM JONES (final edited version not provided for the electronic library, see microfilm) The Devil Rays weren't going over rocket science or alternative ways of balancing the federal budget, [...]

Byline: TOM JONES The Devil Rays have a slew of pitchers looking to earn a spot in the five-man starting rotation. But here's a kink in the plans for a [...]

Byline: TOM JONES If you don't like your role while playing for Devil Rays manager Lou Piniella, there's a simple solution. Do something about it. Don't whine to teammates. Don't [...]

Byline: TOM JONES Carlos Reyes looks around the Devil Rays clubhouse and sees a busful of new pitchers seated around him. In all, there are 35 pitchers at camp, and [...]

Byline: TOM JONES Fred McGriff has been playing in the majors since 1986, but driving across the Howard Frankland Bridge on Friday morning, he felt something he hasn't since, well, [...]

Byline: TOM JONES Victor Zambrano, the early favorite to be the Devil Rays' opening-day starter, arrived in camp a day late. But his fastball was on time. Zambrano, who missed [...]

Byline: TOM JONES In a flash, the Devil Rays might have the closer they need. Even though rookie Lance Carter saved 26 games last season, and has what the Rays [...]

Byline: TOM JONES The Devil Rays made their first free-agent acquisitions Friday of what they hope is an active offseason. They didn't sign any big names, but they did begin [...]