Fay vs. Rays

"I'm scared. People will be evacuating and the dumb--- Angels are going there."

So said Torii Hunter, Angels outfielder, prior to this week's three game series at Tampa Bay. I suppose I could have said the same thing, subbing "dumb--- sportscaster," of course.

Tropical Storm Fay was nice enough to allow the Angels and I to arrive in St. Petersburg unharmed on Monday, and as we watch the weather today, it appears that the rest of the series will continue as scheduled. I'm here to fill in as the sideline reporter and host on FSN Florida; the Angels are here to test the Rays' resolve, again.

Playing without Carl Crawford and Evan Longoria, the Rays went 7-3 on their ten-day, three-city road trip. That was one game better than Boston's last ten, which stretched Tampa Bay's lead in the AL East to 4.5 games. The Rays returned to the Bay early Monday morning after their final roadie at Texas. I spoke to the FSN Florida production staff when I arrived on Monday, and most of them didn't get to bed until 5am that morning. How these people maintain this schedule for 162 games is a constant source of wonder for me.

Stepping into Todd Kalas's seat is a unique challenge. While Joe Magrane is in New York calling Olympic baseball for NBC, Todd moves upstairs as a color analyst for a couple of games alongside play-by-play announcer Dewayne Staats. That leaves me to handle the pregame and sideline duties. I welcome these chances to work Rays games -- especially this year -- and would certainly never complain about it, but it's tough to develop a rhythm when you see the team in person only once a month. Having two games this week as opposed to a "one-off" makes a big difference. The prep time for Game 2 is dramatically less than that of Game 1. Simply attending the previous night's game, hearing the locker room talk and weighing the mood at the stadium, makes an enormous difference in my job. Hard to explain, but it goes for anything I do -- NBA, college football, whatever. I'm sure Paul Kennedy feels the same way when he has to step in on the Chevy Florida Fishing Report.

Good game last night, albeit one characterized by mistakes: Vlad Guerrero's defensive brain cramp in right that led to a Rays run, BJ Upton's much-discussed baserunning error, a blown cutoff by the Angels that allowed Justin Ruggiano to score the final run of the game -- after Ruggiano ran through a stop sign at third. Interesting that two teams who pride themselves on doing things 'the right way' -- or 'the Rays way,' according to signs inside the Tampa Bay clubhouse -- had a game decided largely on dumb luck. Baseball, as they say, is a funny game.

The Rays are doing it the right way, of course, something that I have written about extensively in this space before. Monday's crowd was still sparse, but cut them some slack -- there was a freaking hurricane coming, or so we thought.

(On that note -- fantastic column in Monday's Tampa Tribune by Daniel Ruth. Pretty much sums up my view of the weather industry. And yes, it is an industry -- making quasi-educated guesses about that which is mostly unpredictable.)

Two more with the Angels -- weather permitting -- and then into September. Meanwhile, on the TV front, the first episode of 'Tailgate Overtime' on Sun Sports is this coming Monday at 7, with everyone back. Pretty cool that the Rays will be playing meaningful games during college football season for the first time ever.

See you on TV.