Baldelli back in form

You would never guess what stirs Rocco Baldelli the most about playing the Red Sox at Fenway Park. Does the Woonsocket, R.I., native get excited about the Green Monster? The history of the ballyard? Or is it the vast and inviting greensward?

Strike one, two, and three.

"It's close to home for me, that's the biggest thing," said the Devil Rays' talented center fielder before last night's game against the Red Sox. "I slept at home for two nights on this trip. I don't get to go sleep in my bed too often during the baseball season. I don't get to do that too much."

Baldelli has given Tampa Bay's batting order quite a spark, hitting .381 (8 for 21) through the first six games of this nine-game, three-city trip. In the last week, in fact, Baldelli has improved his batting average from .195 to .258 after hitting safely in six of his last seven games. "He's got off to a little bit of a slow start here this year," said Tampa Bay manager Lou Piniella. "But he's starting to turn it on."

The Rays, however, are waiting for the power surge. Fifteen of Baldelli's 16 hits have been singles. His only extra-base hit came on a home run a week ago at Baltimore off lefthander Matt Riley. Last night, Baldelli was the first Devil Ray to reach base on an infield hit off Sox starter Curt Schilling.

Baldelli isn't worried, though, about duplicating his off-the-charts rookie season last year.

"I don't look at the big picture or anything like that," he said. "I just try to go out and play well and just work hard. Whatever happens, happens. You're not going to affect what happens by thinking about the big picture and hoping for grand things."

Baldelli's workmanlike approach enabled him to make a meteroric ascent through the Devil Rays organization two years ago. Baseball America and Sportsticker recognized him as the Minor League Player of the Year after he shot up the ranks, leapfrogging from Single A Bakersfield (where he hit .333 and 14 home runs in 77 games) at the start of the season to Double A Orlando (.371 in 17 games) and Triple A Durham (.292 in 23 games).

Last year, Baldelli, at 22, became the youngest player ever to start on Opening Day for the Devil Rays, setting club rookie marks for at-bats (637), hits (184), runs (89), doubles (32), extra-base hits (51), stolen bases (27), RBIs (78), and games (156).

"Rocco made a name for himself," Piniella said. "He had a great rookie season and got serious consideration for Rookie of the Year."

And yet, when it came time for Rookie of the Year voting, Baldelli finished a distant third behind Kansas City's Angel Berroa and New York's Hideki Matsui, despite leading all American League rookies in batting (.289), stolen bases, hits, multihit games (53), and triples (8).

Baldelli felt his rookie year, as good as it was, could have been even better.

"I got tired and struggled a little bit at the end of the season," he admitted. "The beginning of the season went so well, but a lot of people didn't see that much of it."

And while homering at Fenway last Sept. 17 -- on "Rhode Island Day" no less -- had to rank as the highlight of his rookie campaign, the most gratifying aspect of it for Baldelli was simply making it to the big leagues and cementing a role as the Devil Rays' starting center fielder.

"It's just the fact that you get to come up and establish yourself right away instead of going up and down and not knowing if you can compete at this level," he said. "Getting out there and succeeding right away probably helped me out the most."