Tampa Bay won twice last night — on the field and in the stands. After years of watching Red Sox fans turn Tropicana Field into their own personal pep rally, I was particularly gratified to be in the midst of a decidedly Rays partisan crowd.
Oh, there were Sox backers, for sure, but they were decidedly less loud — and often deliciously drowned out — by the Rays faithful, many of them newly converted and appropriately zealous. On the handful of occasions that a “Let’s Go Red Sox” cheer started to kindle, a hometown counter-chant quickly doused it out. Rays fans were particularly enthusiastic in heaping boos on Manny Ramirez, the Boston star who’s been bullying low-level team functionaries of late.
This article appears in Jul 2-8, 2008.
