Maddon: 1969 Mets=2008 Rays

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- First thing you need to know about Joe Maddon is that he's no Mike Scioscia, which in no way is meant to be a knock on the Angels manager, a true prince of a guy whose club has had rotten luck in its last three division series appearances against the Red Sox.

Although much has been written and said about how Maddon borrowed from Scioscia's playbook when he was with the Angels, Maddon has demonstrated he definitely marches to his own eclectic beat as the manager of The Tampa Rays, who forged one of the more amazing turnabouts in sports by taking Tampa from worst to first in the AL East., winning 97 games, which was 31 more than they had last year.

So it only stood to reason that Maddon's Amazing Rays of 2008 would draw comparisons with Gil Hodges' Amazing Mets of 1969, who won the World Series one year after finishing ninth in the National League with a 73-89 record.

Although he grew up in Hazelton, Pa., a fan of the St. Louis Cardinals, Maddon said yesterday he did see the similarities. After all, he followed the Amazin's in '69 when was 15 years old. ``I was a big fan, actually,'' he said, citing how he followed all the games closely on WOR, watching ``Kiner's Corner'' every night.

``The pitching staff was incredible,'' Maddon recalled. ``They had all those power arms and they had a great bullpen. The biggest thing, obviously, was that they kept beating the odds and that they continued to move forward, obviously, from the meager past that they had.''

But, Maddon said, he remembered one thing above all others when it came to the Amazin' Mets.

``When you watch those games on television, you remember the guy that held up the signs,'' said Maddon. ``The guy that was the sign guy, I mean, you always waited for the TV guy to break to the sign guy to give you the message for the day, and a lot of it was about believing, obviously. I think Tug McGraw was involved in a lot of that stuff, too.

``I remember primarily the fact that they played with a lot of heart. They always seemed to rise to an occasion and come back and win big games. Different guys, just like us, would play a big role.''

As for the manager's role in all this? Well, yesterday Maddon, a connoisseur of fine wine and Rock 'n' Roll music, greeted his players when they arrived the clubhouse this afternoon for Game 1 of the ALCS by cranking the tunes.

The Rolling Stones, in fact. ``Start Me Up,'' to be even more precise.

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Maddon on the emergence of 23-year-old rookie slugger Evan Longoria: ``I mean , when you get a young man as talented as he is coming into the major leagues for the first time and performing at the level that he has and making the All-Star team, beyond all of his skill level, it's about how he carries himself. And when you talk to him how he approaches the day, and he feels like he belongs here.

``Often times it takes you more time to get a young player to feel that way. He came kind of equipped with that. I think he knew he belongs here from the moment he signed. He just needed a little bit of time. But from the moment he's arrived, he's never indicated in any way that he doubted himself.

``There's times he's had some problems this year. There's times he went through some struggles, particularly early on. He was hitting at a very low number and they were pitching him very well, and he was struggling, but he worked his way through it because he knew he belonged here, and I really believe in that.''

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Can we say one thing about Tropicana Field? Yuk. There that's our last word on the matter. Oh, and another thing: It has this sloping Teflon roof that gives it a lopsided appearance, which can be annoying. It begged the question, though: What were the designers thinking? You want to know why the catwalks have come into play here? Because they didn't position the diamond where it should be: in the outfield, where the roof's height is at it's lowest. When balls are sprayed into the air, they run out of airspace because of the downward angle of the sloping roof.

So why not fix the problem by simply relocating home plate out to center field, where fly balls will find more airspace in which to travel?

It might even take the catwalks out of play.