Thank God For Tampa Bay

At first I bristled at the idea that the Devil Rays were our biggest rivals when a friend of mine who is a Red Sox fan recently suggested it. I refused to watch the Orioles play Tampa Bay in the first few years of the franchise. Games at Tropicana Field were dimly lit and boring and reminded me more of a jai-alai arena. The games have the energy of being played in a baseball funeral home. But the Rays were beating us and beating us soundly. Against the Orioles they mounted at least three late inning comebacks courtesy of Jorge Julio. So then I started watching. I'm sure Peter Angelos sent out an edict in his sonorous tone: "YOU MUST NOT LOSE TO TAMPA BAY." And now we are dominating--at long last! Peter Angelos should pay a luxury tax to the D-Rays for keeping the Orioles out of last place the last several years. Without Tampa Bay, we would have finished in the basement every year and Angelos would have been under more pressure to field a winner.