Opening day is here. The Tampa Bay Rays will open the season against the Baltimore Orioles at Tropicana field on Tuesday at 3:10 p.m. in St. Petersburg.
Opening day starter David Price won the American League Cy Young in 2012. Sophomore Jimmy Krueger thinks Price has a competitor for the 2013 Cy Young award on his own team.
“Matt Moore will finish with as many Cy Young votes as David price,” Krueger said.
Matt Moore is coming off a rookie season in 2012 where he had a 3.81 earned run average and an average of 8.9 strikeouts per nine innings.
The one major position battle the Rays had during spring training was the fight for the last spot in the starting pitching rotation. Roberto Hernandez, formerly known Fausto Carmona, won the spot over Chris Archer and Jeff Niemann.
The Rays made key acquisitions in the offseason on their quest to claim their first World Series title in franchise history.
“One of the best off seasons the Rays have had as a franchise,” senior Jordan Gratton said about the off-season changes. “The Shields-Myers trade obviously highlighted the offseason but the acquisition of Roberto Hernandez could be a sleeper.”
Fans are waiting for star prospect Wil Myers to the make it to the majors.
USFSP students are excited about the start of the season for a variety of reasons.
The Tampa Bay Rays have always been known for some of the best promotions in sports, from the mock AL championship rings in the 2009 season to last year’s very popular Zimbear (Don Zimmer’s face on a bear).
“I’m just excited about the Joe Maddon gnome bobblehead promotion so I will have something to keep my Zimbear company,” said sophomore Chris Carpentier.
The Rays will be giving away Joe Maddon gnome bobbleheads to the first 20,000 attendees on April 24 against the Yankees.
One of the more popular topics among Rays fans and bay area residents in recent years has been the issue of whether or not the Rays need a new stadium,
“The Rays need a real baseball stadium, not an orange juicer,” said senior Nick Kostallas.
The Rays have been at or near the bottom of the league in attendance in recent years. Tropicana Field has the only non-convertible dome in Major League Baseball. The team’s lack of a “state of the art” facility is one of the many excuses heard when trying to explain why one of the best teams in baseball is at the bottom of the league in attendance.
Nathan Powell is a correspondent at The Crow’s Nest. He can be reached at nathanpowell@mail.usf.edu.
