Spring Training By:Scott Puffer

The Tampa Bay Rays dropped another spring training game today for their second straight loss in as many days losing 9-6 to the Detroit Tigers. In Saturday's loss the Marlins "out duelled' the Rays 8-5 to give Tampa Bay a(MLB Best) record of 9-3 this spring.

The biggest surprise for me this spring has been the play of second baseman Sean Rodriguez who was acquired in the Scott Kazmir deal last season. Rodriguez is batting .400 this Spring with 4 HR's and 9 RBI's and 4 walks with a OBP of .483 in only 10 games so far.

The Ray's seem to be playing very consistent baseball so far and I am extremely happy with the fact that our starting pitchers have been involved from the beginning the year ,unlike last spring where the starters didn't pitch consistently until the very end of of the exhibition season. I truly believe that the extremely slow start that the club got off to last season that put them in a hole too deep to climb out of, was because of the year long "babying' of pitchers.

It is still fairly early in Spring Training ,but this exhibition season has the feel of two seasons ago when the Ray's won 19 Spring games and they seem to have the same "fight" in them to go out and win every game!

We all know what happened two seasons ago... I'm just saying... The Ray's are built to win and some experts have picked them to win the AL East again.

What are you thoughts and comments?
React to me!...

SUPER BOWL XLIV

SUPER BOWL XLIV...Who ya got? The Colts an Saints will square off tonight in south Florida and I would like to hear from you on who you think will win the game! I think that the experience of Manning and the Rest of the Colts will be key in stopping the Saints. New Orleans has never been to a Super Bowl I Feel that they are satisfied just getting to the "Big Game", while the Colts are trying to win it all again at the site of their last Super Bowl victory in 2006. I am also biased because those "stinkin" Saints are in my Buc's division and I hate them!!..lol. That being said I like the Colts and QB Peyton Manning to win their second Title in the last three years!

P.S No team that lost to the Buccaneers in the regular season has ever gone on to win the Super Bowl!!

Have I given you enough to talk about? Colts and Saints fans (or football fans)...REACT TO ME! Give me your reason why your team will win.

Heating up the "stove" By: Scott Puffer

With about 28 days until spring training and 60 days until opening day, the Tampa Bay Rays are giving us something to talk about. The Rays announced Wednesday that they have signed three players adding one to the 40-man roster,and giving the other two minor league contracts with invitations to spring training. Mike Ekstrom was claimed off waivers from the Padres and added to the 40-man roster and catcher Alvin Colina and left-handed pitcher Heath Phillips were signed and are invited to join the Rays in spring training.

In 2009 Ekstrom (26yrs old) pitched in 12 games over two stints with the Padres. He spent the remainder of the season with Triple-A Portland, where he went 4-2 with a 1.73 ERA in 42 appearances (one start). The Oregon native was selected by San Diego in the 12th round of the 2004 First-Year Player Draft. He is also a four-time All-Star over six Minor League seasons and was the Padres' Minor League Pitcher of the Year in 2006.

Alvin Colina the 28 year old catcher has played parts of 11 seasons in the Minor Leagues,and appeared in two games for the Colorado Rockies in 2006. He hit .262 with eight home runs and 42 RBIs in 67 games with the Triple-A Gwinnett Braves in 2009.

Heath Phillips,27 was a member of the Rays' organization briefly in 2008, when he appeared in nine games (three starts) for Triple-A Durham. He was selected by the White Sox in the 10th round of the 2000 Draft,and pitched six games in relief for Chicago in 2007. This past season he went 8-7 with a 4.99 ERA in 27 appearances with Triple-A Omaha in the Royals' organization.

Anaheim 2, Tampa Bay 1 By: Scott Puffer

The Anaheim Ducks skated into the St. Pete Times Forum Friday night looking to snap a two game losing streak where they had lost three out of their last four road games. The lightning on the other hand were trying to extend their season best streak of three games winning four of their last five games.

Tampa Bay struck first when Martin St. Louis scored his (15) goal of the season which gave center Steven Stamkos his (26)assist at the 9:47 mark of the first period. Tampa Bay would take that 1-0 lead into the locker room for the first intermission.

The Ducks would answer the lightning's goal at the 6:36 mark of the second period with a power play goal(ppg) from James Wisniewski. The goal was Wisniewski's (3)goal of the season and his(2)ppg, with assists going to Ryan Getzalf(37) and Ryan Whitney for his(20) assist of season.

The two teams would take this 1-1 tie through the end of regulation and a scoreless overtime period. On to the shoot-out ,which went as follows:

Shootout Summary:

Shootout GOAL scored by Steven Stamkos on Jonas Hiller (Backhand 7 ft)
Shootout attempt by Corey Perry SAVED by Antero Niittymaki (Wristshot 17 ft)
Shootout attempt by Jeff Halpern SAVED by Jonas Hiller (Wristshot 12 ft)
Shootout GOAL scored by Ryan Getzlaf on Antero Niittymaki (Wristshot 8 ft)
Shootout attempt by Brandon Bochenski SAVED by Jonas Hiller (Wristshot 11 ft)
Shootout GOAL scored by James Wisniewski on Antero Niittymaki (Wristshot 21 ft)

Lightning goalie Antero Niittymaki stopped 31 of the 32 shots he faced,but in the end it was the Anaheim Ducks escaping with the 2-1 victory!

"2010 Buccaneers Draft"

With the stench of the Buccaneer's 3-13 season squarely in the rear view mirror,the team is preparing to stop to re-fuel. The next stop is this years NFL Draft in April where the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have five out of the top ninety-nine picks to fill some of their many needs.

This years Draft is supposed to be the deepest in many years because of more juniors leaving early in order to beat the impending lock-out or "work stoppage" in 2011. The discussion of a rookie salary cap also has underclassmen scrambling to declare for the Draft. With Tampa Bay having so many prime picks they can't afford to miss as in years past i.e.taking Gaines Adams at number four, and moving up to get(bust) Dexter Jackson.

Buccaneer's GM Mark Dominik came out this past week and said that the Buc's would be spending "little to no money in free agency", and instead be building "through the Draft".I agree that you need to build a team with the Draft, but you also need veterans and leaders and after cutting Derrick Brooks they had NO leaders! I think that the Buccaneers need to address the following positions in this years Draft:

Safety- Tampa Bay spent most of the season trying to hide safety Sabby Piscitelli in coverage. One Possible answer is taking Tennessee's Eric Berry with the third overall pick.Berry is a play maker and he can be the leader of a defense right away.

Defensive Tackle- Buc's desperately need a pass rusher and their current DT's are under-sized. Most likely DT Ndamukong Suh from Nebraska will be gone,so I like DT Gerald McCoy from Oklahoma . McCoy is a beast in the middle and he can play both the pass and the run. He is definitely a top 5 Draft Prospect and I think he can impact the team immediately.

Wide receiver- With WR Antonio Bryant all but gone and Michael Clayton and his 16 catches (as a #2 WR) pondering skipping town,the Buc's need to address the Wide-out position. If they are going to take a WR early Dez Bryant WR from Oklahoma State is my choice.

The Buccaneers actually need one more good player on the OL and three WR's on the offensive side of the ball,but their main problem is on defense. Tampa Bay averaged giving up 160yds per game rushing,and gave up nine pass plays of 40 yards or more in 2009. Although the team's 3-13 record was less than stellar,they showed signs of promise and "buying into" coach Morris and his system. They did win two out of their last three games (both road games),and came from behind to beat the New Orleans Saints who are in this years Superbowl!

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If you mess with the BULL,you get....the BOOT!

USF fans... Your new football coach is Skip Holtz! How do you feel about this?
Their last few seasons were carbon copies of one another starting 5-0 by beating up on the " cup cake" teams Like Wofford, Elon,Western Kentucky,and Charleston Southern and then falling apart once they get into conference play. Give Jim Leavitt all the credit in the world for building the team from nothing, but that's it!

I got tired of Jim Leavitt's hyper-act watching him embarrass himself and the program on National T.V by coming out after half time with a bloody nose from head-butting a player that had a football helmet on!...BY THE WAY BATTERY (ON JOEL MILLER ) IS A CRIME the last time I checked! I hated to watch USF get over-hyped (mainly by it's students and fans) and then come crashing down to Earth by playing undisciplined football. Now we all understand why.

Skip Holtz is a better coach Who has won the Conference USA Championship the past two seasons, and as far as recruiting talent he coached Titans RB Chris Johnson.Even before this latest incident I felt that he wasn't the right guy to get the team the"over the hump" and now maybe USF will finally beat Pitt,Cin, and Rutgers and have a shot at winning a Big East Championship!
REACT!

KEEP FOX ON!

Fox and Time Warner/Bright house need to do what ever it takes to come to an agreement and keep fox on our cable system. It is NOT right to monopolize most of the NFL games, American Idol,NCAA bowl games, and Most of the good HD programming that is on prime time TV and then rip the broadcast signal away from us at perhaps the most compelling time in the television season with hardly any warning at all. They(fox) have also managed to monopolize most major sporting Championship series' ie: The World Series and Super Bowl, and as a Florida Gator fan I am appalled that they have decided to use Tim Tebow's last game as a Gator as a pawn to hold millions of fans hostage!

KEEP FOX ON!

To make your point go to http://www.keepfoxon.com/ and let your voice be heard!