Play Ball!

All the stars are here for the first home game of the spring.

There’s St. Pete mayor Rick Baker, who was spotted outside the stadium carrying a baseball glove.

Former Rays owner Vince Naimoli is also on hand, and I have to tell you he looks good. No longer crushed by the weight of owning the worst team in professional sports will do that to a fella, not to mention the coin he received during the sale of the franchise.

Sam Donaldson – yes THE Same Donaldson – threw out the first pitch.

The ABC news anchor is here to kickoff the Moffitt Cancer Centers’ Spring Swing Sun Safety Tour. Donaldson is chairman of Moffitt Cancer Center’s Board of Advisors. I didn’t know that.
The Center is offering free skin cancer screenings to fans.

And speaking of the game, we’re under way.

James Shields mowed down the Jays in the top of the first, three-up and three down.

Cliff Floyd had his first at-bat as a Rays in the bottom of the first. He faced Dustin McGowan with Carlos Pena on first (single) and Carl Crawford on second (fielder’s choice). It wasn’t an at-bat to remember. Floyd popped out to short.

Rocco Baldelli followed, stepping to the plate for the first time since the top of the first inning against Texas on May 15 of last year. That was the first game the Rays played at Disney’s Wide World of Sports. It was Baldelli’s last game of the year. A hamstring strain turned into more than that.

The words “oft injured” are beginning to follow Baldelli like his shadow on a sunny day, or the shadow that trailed Baldelli down the first base line.

He grounded to short and forced Pena at second to retire the side.