How will the Rays use their not-so-secret weapon?

Saturday, August 23, 2008 | Feedback | Print Entry

All of the Durham Bulls are scoreboard watching these days, David Price said over the phone on Friday afternoon. Their big-league affiliate, the Tampa Bay Rays, are making an historic run at the playoffs, and in the parks where the Bulls play, the big-league scores are posted.

And if that information isn't up to date, one of the Bulls will check on the Internet, or Price will watch the Rays on his computer, through the magic of MLB.TV. He exchanges text-messages with Cliff Floyd and others, and recently chatted with Scott Kazmir on the phone. Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon, Price mused, is living up to what he said in spring training.

"He said then that it was a completely different team," Price said. "It's fun to watch. It's something that everybody here wants to be a part of."  
 

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  • Buster Olney Buster Olney

    Buster Olney is a senior writer at ESPN The Magazine. He began covering baseball in 1989, as the Nashville Banner's beat reporter assigned to the Triple-A Nashville Sounds. Later, he covered the San Diego Padres (1993-94), the Baltimore Orioles ('95-96), the New York Mets ('97) and the Yankees ('98-2001). Olney joined ESPN The Magazine in 2003, after six years at The New York Times, and he's the author of the Times' best-seller "The Last Night of the Yankee Dynasty," a book about the Paul O'Neill-Tino Martinez Yankees dynasty of 1996-01.

    He grew up in central Vermont collecting baseball cards and listening to Red Sox, Expos, Phillies and Pirates radio broadcasts, and was a rabid fan of the Los Angeles Dodgers. He graduated from Vanderbilt University the same year as hoops legend Will Perdue, and ranks among the all-time leading scorers in pickup basketball at Memorial Gym. He claims to have witnessed the Commodores' winning football season in 1982 (although anthropologists have not yet confirmed this).

    Olney also contributes to ESPN.com, ESPN Radio, ESPNEWS, "SportsCenter" and "Baseball Tonight."

    Follow Buster on Twitter: @Buster_ESPN

    Ask Buster a question: Buster's Mailbag

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