TAMPA BAY RAYS STILL LOOKING FOR MAGIC

Last year's Tampa Bay Rays were the Cinderellas of Major League Baseball as they reversed a decade long tradition of being bottom-feeders in the American League East. They wore the glass slipper all the way through the AL Championship en route to the World Series before the clock struck 12:00 in the form of the Philadelphia Phillies.

This year's version of the Rays was celebrated for three straight night's at Tropicana Field as they opened their home season vs. the Evil Empire (a.k.a. New York Yankees). One night it's the raising of the AL title banner, another night it's the handing out of World Series rings, all 37,000 fans getting a replica ring, and more, and more.

With some off-season tinkering of their roster, baseball pundits joined the Rays' faithful in projecting this team to be as good or better than last year's Rays. Right now, there is no joy in Mudville. Tampa Bay is 16-20 and have a meager 4-7 mark against the teams who occupy last place in their divisions.

Could a hangover last from fall of '08 all the way into spring of '09? Can an organization that went from "worst to first" and provided a feel-good story for all of baseball slip back into their old form so quickly...and with essentially the same team? There is no doubting the old adage that says, "baseball is a marathon, not a sprint." With just about 25% of the season in the books there is still plenty of time for the Rays to re-kindle the fire, find their mojo, or do whatever it was they did to play like a bona-fide champion last year.

Seeing the Rays struggle in the first quarter of the season makes you better appreciate the great teams throughout all of sports who built dynasties, sustained a high level of success over time, and were able to handle the notoriety, pressure and expectations that was thrust upon them because of that success.