Go ahead, question: Feel-good Rays can answer

It's something special when a team that never wins suddenly wins like crazy. You saw it in Detroit in 2006, and in Colorado last fall. You might be seeing it in Milwaukee right now.

But nothing matches what has happened with the Rays, who had every right to soak in the attention they received while sweeping the Red Sox last week, and every reason to enjoy the fuss being made over them this week in the big city.

"Oh, it feels different," said Carl Crawford, a Ray since the (106-loss) 2002 season. "We're in first place."

It was funny to listen to first-year Ray Cliff Floyd talk about how New York fans used to let the Devil Rays know they were "at the bottom of the ocean." But there are just enough guys around like Crawford, guys who remember how bad it was and can appreciate what a difference this is.

How bad was it?

"It was a feeling that when you came into (Yankee) Stadium, you knew you were outmatched," said original Devil Ray John Flaherty, now a Yankees broadcaster. "You had to do everything perfect to win. You didn't believe you were going to win.

"Usually, we didn't."

Even when they did, it didn't really matter. Sure, they could be a thorn in the Yankees' side, but how much fun is that?

This is fun, and you can hear it in Crawford's voice, and in the voice of pitcher James Shields, drafted by Tampa Bay during the (92-loss) 2000 season and brought to the big leagues during the (101-loss) season of 2006.

You hear it from B.J. Upton, too.

"It's definitely different from years past," he said. "At the same time, it's kind of what we expected from ourselves."

Upton remembers a spring training talk from Maddon, one where the manager mentioned that people thought the Rays could be good in another couple of years.

"Joe said it didn't have to be a couple of years," Upton said.

Some of the Rays players were young enough to believe him. Maybe they did expect this from themselves.

The people who have been around from the start are more overwhelmed.

PR man extraordinaire Rick Vaughn talks of going to see the downtown St. Petersburg fireworks on the Fourth of July, and being stunned to see so many people wearing Rays blue.

"I couldn't get over it," he said. "It was like being at a game."

Kalas, who hosts the pregame shows and does in-game reports, counted Rays shirts while walking around Manhattan on Tuesday.

"I saw at least 12 people with Rays stuff," he said. "That's probably 10 more than I'd seen in the last 10 years combined."

Let's not get carried away. The Bronx didn't have a Yankee-Red Sox feel Tuesday night. There's no real rivalry here yet. Maybe there never will be.

What this was was an important game in July, a Yankees-Rays game that really counted for both teams, one that only mattered more to the Yankees because they are the team trying to catch up.

"A lot of guys in that room aren't used to necessarily chasing," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. "It doesn't matter who it is (on top). When you're looking up, it's not a good feeling."

Sorry, Joe. In this case, it sure does matter which team it is. And for the rest of us, the neutrals in the crowd, seeing this Tampa Bay team up on top is a very nice feeling indeed.