where dreams come true
04 22 2008 - LAKE BUENA VISTA - Rays pitcher James Shields delivers under an open sky at Disney's Champion Stadium at the Wide World of Sports complex. BRIAN CASSELLA | Times
For the second year in a row, I followed the Rays over to the east side of the state while they played a 3-game series at Disney World. The idea is to grow the fan base around the state, so by playing outside of Orlando they can draw fans who might not make the trek to St. Petersburg very often. And playing outdoors is great in April when the weather's still tolerable in Florida.
The Rays are off to a franchise-best start so far, leading heavyweight AL East after the first month of the season. And for a second year in a row, Disney was their good luck charm as they swept the Blue Jays in a streak of comeback wins.
The wins were nice, but all three games seemed to follow the same pattern of producing better "loss" pictures than "win" pictures. Each night, there seemed to be a decent play or frame that might have held up as the best photo of the night, but with the Rays coming back to win, they were no longer the storytelling moments.
04 22 2008 - LAKE BUENA VISTA - Rays pitcher James Shields drops the ball before he can make the tag on Toronto's Lyle Overbay (17) at home plate as Overbay scores in the 2nd inning. BRIAN CASSELLA | Times
The first night, there's a crazy infield play with two errors, leading to a Toronto lead. It makes a decent home-plate collision play, and features the starting pitcher for a change, but Shields comes back to dominate the rest of the game and the photo barely slips inside the paper.
04 23 2008 - LAKE BUENA VISTA - Rays pitcher Jason Hammel (49) leaves the mound after the 3rd inning. BRIAN CASSELLA | Times
Night two, Hammel's pitching and struggling a bit early, leading to a decent reaction photo between innings. Transmitting mid-game, I include this one thinking it might make the cover, but as the Rays take the lead it becomes useless.
04 24 2008 - LAKE BUENA VISTA - Toronto C Gregg Zaun (9) dives in to score ahead of the tag of Rays catcher Dioner Navarro (30) in the 3rd inning. BRIAN CASSELLA | Times
Night three, I'm up in the stands behind home plate trying to make something interesting of the starting pitcher, Andy Sonnanstine, who was coming off a dominating start. All of a sudden, Toronto's rallying and there's another awkward infield play leading to a home-plate collision. While it's still the most dramatic action photo at the end of the day, the Rays (you guessed it) rally back to win late and the photo doesn't hold up.
So maybe Disney's a little more magical for the Rays than for me.
