In 'Damn Yankees', the play turned movie turned back into play, everyman Joe Hardy has had enough.
The Yankees win the world series every year and his Washington team always finishes last.
He pines for a champion, a turnabout from those Damn Yankees.
He eventually sells his soul to the devil for one shot at immortality.
Turned into a young star for the season, he eventually catches the final out in the championship game and disappears behind the stands as he ages.
The devil has come to claim what is his.

The Tampa Rays are devils no more.
They are the ones doing the dispatching, with a name change.
The Rays history is as much Damn Yankees as 'Groundhog Day'.
No matter what they do, every season turns out the same.

They have reached 70 wins once in their 10 years of existence.
They have lost at least 90 games every single year.
That 70 win season was the only one in which they did not finish in last place.

You would think the constant basement ending would have garnered them enough top first round picks that they would have made some kind of move by now.

The worst trade the organization made occurred before the team ever played a game.
They wisely drafted 22 year old outfielder Bobby Abreu from Houston in the expansion draft and promptly traded him to Philadelphia for shortstop Kevin Stocker.
Abreu of course has been a career .300 hitter with .408 on base percentage, 221 career homers and 984 runs batted in.

Things have not improved.

The 2000 season brought some promise for Devil Ray fans.
The club went out and spent some money.
They put together what they thought would be a new murderer's row.
That line up included:
Jose Canseco, Fred McGriff, Vinny Castilla, Greg Vaughn.
The pitching staff included a fading Dwight Gooden.
It didn't work and the Rays were forced to find a way out of all those contracts that they had piled up.

They went in another direction.
Trying to do it the right way.
Build through the draft.

A perfect example of their luck in this area stops at Josh Hamilton.
In 1999 they selected Josh Hamilton with the #1 pick.
Picked him over other possibilities like Barry Zito, Josh Beckett, Brett Myers and Ben Sheets.
He could run, hit and throw.
Would he be a star pitcher or star hitter ?
He could do it all.
He did do it all, including cocaine and heroine.
He failed multiple drug tests and was suspended for much of 2004,2005 and 2006.
Finally the Rays let him go.
He settled in Cincinnati last year.
Made the team out of spring training and spent the season battling for National rookie of the year.
And so it has gone.

Last year the Rays payroll was a touch over $33 million.
Just slightly more than the Yankees paid Alex Rodriguez.

But all of a sudden some stars are emerging and they will be paid.
Big contracts this off season for pitchers Scott Kazmir and Jamey Shields.
Big money for comeback player of the year Carlos Pena who came back from the dead with a 46 homer, 121 RBI season.
Young talent like 25 year old Carl Crawford, 22 year old B.J. Upton, 23 year old Dioner Navarro.
Maybe 25 year old Rocco Baldelli can finally stay healthy.

There's talent here.
Perhaps even a new stadium on the way.
Now if they can just do something about the other teams in the A.L. East.
The Blue Jays, Yankees and the Damn Red Sox.