http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=jp-rays050108&prov=yhoo&type=lgns Rays won’t play waiting game in AL East 光芒队迫不及待杀出美联东区 By Jeff Passan Troy Percival tried to explain the success of the Tampa Bay Rays, and he kept talking, like he needed to reinforce the whole believability of the thing, because the Rays have been baseball’s real-life Charlie Brown, only with a rap sheet, and now they’re headed to Boston this weekend with first place in the American League East on the line, the thought of which finally prompted him to pause, before finishing his soliloquy with this: “And we haven’t got Kazmir yet.” Troy Percival试着解释目前坦帕湾光芒队的成功，他说个不停，彷佛这样能增强他所言 的可信度一般。因为光芒队一直都是棒球版的查理布朗(史努比角色、是倒楣的、讨人喜 爱的输家)。虽然过往的成绩不尽理想，但本周末他们将要前往波士顿试图争取美联东区 的王位。而这个想法中止了Percival的独白:"我们还缺了王牌投手Kazmir呢"。 Two lockers over from Percival’s, after the Rays’ 4-2 victory to take a series from Baltimore, Scott Kazmir pulled on a dress shirt and readied for the trip to Boston. He rejoined the Rays earlier this week after missing the first month with a strain in his pitching elbow and was stunned at what he saw. Success is to the Rays as taste is to tofu, and for them to sit atop the titan of baseball divisions percentage points ahead of the defending world champions – and three games up on the $200 million Yankees – in May. Well, it made Kazmir a little self-conscious. “I just want to stay out of the way,” he said. 在光芒队以四比二击败金莺队并且拿下系列赛胜利之後，离Percival的置物柜仅有两格之 遥的Kazmir换上了衬衫并且已经准备好前往波士顿了。这礼拜稍早这位王牌投手在手肘扭 伤的伤势复原，并让他错过了第一个月的球季後重新归队，而他对他所看到的情况相当震 惊。 赢球对光芒队来说嚐起来就像豆腐一样，而对他们而言，能在美联东区这个火药库称王， 领先卫冕冠军波士顿红袜和团队总薪资超过两亿美金的纽约洋基--虽然才五月，这个事实 让Kazmir有了一些些自觉。 他说"我只是想排除路上的所有障碍。" The left-handed Kazmir is one of baseball’s best young starters, an unquestioned No. 1, and for the Rays to be 16-12 without him epitomizes the surprise of their start. They were supposed to be good. The unspoken part of that forecast was the assignment of time: in a few months, maybe, or in a year, or by the beginning of the next decade. But now? This soon? Tampa Bay’s culture change has been years in the making, and it underwent its most drastic overhaul this offseason and spring. The Rays traded troubled outfielder Elijah Dukes, his propensity for allegedly smoking weed before games and the death threat toward his ex-wife and children to Washington. They unloaded talented outfielder Delmon Young to Minnesota for talented pitcher Matt Garza, who shut down the Orioles on Thursday. And they hammered out an unprecedented contract for third baseman Evan Longoria, preparing to guarantee him $19 million over six years and up to $44 million over nine before he played a day in the major leagues. 左投手Kazmir是目前联盟当中最好的年轻先发投手之一，无庸置疑的光芒队王牌，而光芒 队在没有他的情况下，开季惊奇地打出十六胜十二败的战绩，目前看起来他们状况极佳。 但预测中没被提到的部份是时机，大家都认为光芒队可能几个月或几年之後会是一支强队 ，但大家没想到的是这麽快就发生了?就是现在? 坦帕湾的球队文化在过去几年当中已经逐渐改变了，尤其是季末和春训的大动作补强和整 修。光芒队把涉入赛前据传使用菸草而且威胁前妻的麻烦人物--外野手Elijah Dukes送到 华盛顿国民队，并且把尚未发挥潜力的外野手Delmon Young送到明尼苏达双城队以换取有 天份的投手Matt Garza，而他周四完封了金莺队。随後他们和还未打过一天大联盟的三垒 手Evan Longoria签下了史无前例的合约--六年一千九百万美金，加上选择权，光芒队可 以只用四千四百万的代价换得Longoria九年的服务。 For years, the Rays have parlayed high draft picks into deep caches of talent, and the process has been like growing asparagus in a garden: it took three years to really develop, but when it did, the harvest was plentiful and satisfying. “I’ve known it was going to be the case since I got drafted,” Longoria said. “I was glad to be coming here, and it’s why I was comfortable signing. It’s not as much about the talent we’ve got but the direction we’ re going. That’s what’s exciting.” 过去几年，光芒队都和高顺位选秀谈合约并且储藏天份，这个过程就像在花园里所生长的 芦笋，虽然要等待三年的时间才能收割，但真的等到收获时的滋味却是那麽丰富和满足。 "自从我被选中之後我已经知道情况大概会如何"Longoria说，"我很高兴能来到光芒队，而 这也是我为何能轻松地签下合约的原因，不是因为我们队上拥有多少天份而是因为我们正 在进行的方向，这真令人振奋。" Up and down the Rays’ roster there’s promise. Longoria is a power-hitting, good-fielding third baseman, and the type of person Rays management thinks can turn into the AL version of David Wright. Carl Crawford is a demon in left field, B.J. Upton a burgeoning star in center and even Dioner Navarro is a potential big bat behind the plate. No one worried about the Rays’ hitting. Their pitching, ever-troubled, was considered a weakness, and yet with Kazmir coming off the disabled list to start Sunday against Boston, the Rays need to make a roster move and are genuinely conflicted on whether to take second-year starter Andy Sonnanstine out of the rotation or risk losing fifth starter Jason Hammel by designating him for assignment. Safe is Edwin Jackson, who finally is coming through with the promise he showed as a 20-year-old with the Dodgers. “These are good decisions that we’ve never had to make in the past,” Rays manager Joe Maddon said. 回顾一下光芒队的阵容，这个阵容充满了前景。Longoria是个守备佳，大炮管的三垒手。 光芒队的管理阶层认为他将来能够成为美联版的David Wright。还有左外野的魔鬼--Carl Crawford，崛起迅速的明星中外野手B.J. Upton，还有可能长成大棒子的捕手Dioner Navarro。 没人会担心光芒队的打击阵容，但他们的投手阵容一向被视为是他们的弱点，在Kazmir从 伤兵名单复出并且在周末先发对上红袜队之前，光芒队需要做出阵容调整。而真正困扰他 们的是要把第二年的先发投手Andy Sonnanstine移出轮值还是冒着失去第五号先发投手 Jason Hammel的风险将他DFA。而比较可靠的是终於实现他二十岁被道奇队签下时的期望 的Edwin Jackson。 "这些好决策是我们过去从来不用去下令执行的"光芒队总教练Joe Maddon说。 Never have the Rays had the luxury of a pitching plethora. They don’t want to mess with their bullpen, and for good reason: three more scoreless innings Thursday dropped its earned-run average to a major-league-best 2.44. Percival, the 38-year-old who was retired at this time last year, has allowed three baserunners and no runs in 10 innings. His setup man, Dan Wheeler, pitched two perfect innings Thursday and has a 1.20 ERA. On and on it goes, down to J.P. Howell and Scott Dohmann, two Kansas City castoffs who have been innings-eating stalwarts. And to think that last season the Rays trotted out the worst bullpen since the Eisenhower administration, a 6.16 ERA that might as well have been 6.66 for all the hell it brought them. 光芒队从未有投手过多的烦恼，他们也不想搞砸了他们的牛棚。一个好的原因是在周四以 前他们只需要再三局无失分就能把牛棚防御率降到联盟最佳的2.44。去年的这个时候宣布 退休的三十八岁终结者Percival，在十局的工作中没有失掉任何分数而且只让三名打者上 过垒。光芒的第八局投手Dan Wheeler，在周四投出了完美的两个半局使他的防御率降为 1.20，被堪萨斯皇家队丢弃的两个投手J.P. Howell和Scott Dohmann则是稳定的吃下後援 局数。 想到上季光芒队写下了自从艾森豪(美国第三十四任总统)任期以来最难堪的牛棚防御率纪 录--6.16，也许就像666这个数字(代表魔鬼)所带给他们的那样难堪。 “We’re coming out on a daily basis and we believe we can win that game,” Maddon said. “Regardless of who we’re playing, who’s pitching against us, we believe we can win that game, and that matters.” Last weekend, the Rays swept Boston, Dohmann vulturing wins in the first two games and erstwhile ace James Shields outdueling Josh Beckett in the finisher. It was something of a coming-out party, the capper on a six-game winning streak, and it alerted everyone what the Rays have told themselves since the spring: it’s not going to be three months, or a year, or a few years. It’s now. Maddon说"我们照着每天的行程按表操课并且相信今年我们会有一番作为。" "不管我们会 对上谁，也不管谁将会先发对上我们，我们相信我们能够赢得比赛，这就是重点。" 上周末，光芒队横扫了红袜队。Dohmann在前两场比赛渴求胜利，而前任的王牌James Shields在最後一场的系列赛技压了Josh Beckett。那就像是初入社交场合的派对一样， 一波六连胜为所有人带来了警告，光芒队从春训就告诉自己:成为赢家不用等到三个月， 或一年甚至几年之後，就是现在。 They’re past Dukes and all his law-enforcement travails – at least for the most part, as reliever Al Reyes brought a little Devil back to the Rays when he got slugged in the face and tased while celebrating his birthday just a little too hard. They’re not succumbing to adversity, the Kazmir injury a great example, and perhaps the strained shoulder Upton sustained Thursday – Maddon said it was less severe than a previous one that kept him out for three games. Most of all, they’re adopting the attitude of winners. It’s a chicken-and-egg debate in baseball, whether winning creates the chemistry that players so often cite as imperative or chemistry leads to winning. Whatever it is, the Rays comport themselves like successes, laughing and smiling and joking. 所有Dukes和他的法律事件所引起的阵痛都已成过去，至少是其中的大部分。後援投手 Al Reyes带回给了光芒队一点争议--当他在庆生时脸部遭到重击，光芒队不会对逆境屈服 ，Kazmir的受伤就是个最好的例子，也许在周四肩膀扭伤的Upton持续出赛也是。教练说 这次的伤势比上次让他缺赛三场的轻微。 最重要的是，他们正在适应如何去当个赢家，就像是棒球里的先有鸡还是先有蛋的争论， 到底是胜利创造了球员能够时常负起责任的化学效应，还是先产生化学效应才有胜利?不 管真相究竟为何，光芒队的球员藉着胜利、欢笑和开玩笑来让自己更舒服。 “You think we need you?” Percival said, glancing at Kazmir. “I really feel welcome,” Kazmir said. “Sorry,” Percival said. “They had a dinner planned and didn’t invite any of the relievers.” “You know why we did that?” Kazmir said. “The starters got left out opening day.” “That was get-to-know-your-‘pen day,” Percival said. “Oh, OK,” Kazmir said. “Let’s get to know our starters then.” They looked at each other and laughed. It’s good to be a Ray. And that wasn’ t the punch line. Percival看了一下Kazmir，说道"你觉得我们需要你吗?" Kazmir说"我觉得很受欢迎阿。" Percival说"不好意思，他们办的晚餐没有邀请任何的後援投手。" "你知道为什麽我们要这麽做吗?"Kazmir说"先发投手在开幕战那天就被遗忘了。" Percival说"那是要认识大家的"牛棚日"" "喔，好"Kazmir说 "那我们现在来认识我们的先发投手吧。" 他们看了一下彼此然後笑了出来，当个光芒队的成员真好，而且这还不是最妙的一句话。 P.S:後面的美式笑话还真是有够难翻，知道的大大欢迎指正一下吧! -- http://www.wretch.cc/blog/randyorton 无聊碎碎念 --

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