ST. PETERSBURG - It's only March 26, so for 28 teams, spring training lasts another week. For the Devil Rays and Yankees, though, spring is done.
The Rays play one more exhibition game after returning from Japan, but Thursday, more or less, was the end of their Grapefruit League season.
"It's been a very good spring training, a very unique spring training in the sense that we came in earlier than every team in baseball," general manager Chuck LaMar said. "We're leaving earlier than most. ... From an overall standpoint, I thought Lou and his staff did a fabulous job."
Manager Lou Piniella and his staff had a short time to put together a 25-man roster, a regular lineup and a five-man starting rotation. They did it all in 18 spring games.
"We're ready to go," Piniella said. "We're healthy. We've played good baseball this spring. We look forward to a good baseball team. I thought coming into spring training that we would have a good baseball team, and I still feel that way."
True, it's only exhibition games, games often full of prospects and players well past their primes, but the Rays had probably their best spring. After beating the Blue Jays 7-1 on Thursday, the Rays are 10-8, guaranteeing their first finish above .500.
"We came in wanting to play .500 ball and that's basically what we did," Piniella said. "Let's just hope it all translates to a winning April."
HIGHS AND LOWS: Piniella said spring training offered no real surprises, but no disappointments, either. He praised Damian Rolls, who batted over .400 most of the spring before dipping to his current .333; Jose Cruz, who led the Rays with four homers; and the pitching prospects. Piniella liked what he saw from Doug Waechter, Chad Gaudin and Jorge Sosa and, even though they did not survive the final cut, Dewon Brazelton and Jesus Colome.
"We've seen improvement in our young pitchers," Piniella said. "It's a good sign."
READY TO GO: Opening-day starter Victor Zambrano made his final spring start and said he was ready for Tuesday's game against the Yankees. He gave up one run on five hits with two walks and two strikeouts in five innings.
"I'm ready; I have been ready," Zambrano said. "I'm grateful for the opportunity of (pitching on opening day) and I feel good that this will be a good team. It wasn't a priority of mine to pitch on opening day. It doesn't matter if I pitch the first day or the fifth day. I just want to be ready and do my best when I do pitch."
Zambrano started last season second in the rotation but was so ineffective he was sent to Triple-A Durham a month into the season. After a three-week stay in Durham, Zambrano returned to lead the team in victories (12), starts (28), innings (1881/3) and strikeouts (132).
He does not expect the same hiccup this season.
"With every year you pitch, you get more experience, and that makes a difference," Zambrano said. "This is the best I have (ever) felt."
GAME DETAILS: In the past week, Piniella harped on the Rays' lack of offense and how Aubrey Huff, who led the team with 34 homers in 2003, had not homered this spring. Huff and his teammates responded against the Blue Jays. Huff and Carl Crawford homered in the first inning, and Rey Sanchez drove in two.
Meantime, Danys Baez, Gaudin, Trever Miller and Lance Carter allowed one hit over the final four innings.
NO DEAL: The Rays released veterans Deivi Cruz and Fernando Tatis on Wednesday, and it's likely they will turn up with some major-league team in the coming days. Why, then, didn't the Rays trade a veteran or two during camp? The shortened spring, because of the trip to Japan, made that scenario nearly impossible for LaMar. Why would a team trade for a veteran such as Cruz or Tatis knowing the Rays would have to release them more than a week before most teams broke camp?
"From a decisionmaking standpoint, from a GM's point of view," LaMar said, "it has been interesting trying to make moves with the other teams knowing you have to set your roster and get out of town."
It was bad timing for the Rays, who probably could have made a deal a week from now.
"I thought one of them was going to sneak in there and make the club," LaMar said. "I thought it was an outstanding group of nonroster players, and some of them are going to surface in the major leagues with other clubs."
MISCELLANY: Thursday's crowd of 5,252 at Progress Energy Park gave the Rays a spring home attendance mark of 43,916 for nine games. They drew 50,224 in 14 games last season. The average crowd this season was 4,879 compared with 3,587 last season and 3,772 in 2002. ... Reliever Todd Jones, released on Wednesday, signed a minor-league contract with the Reds.
