FanHouse TampaBayRays

BOSTON -- We are barely into a 54-round, bare-knuckle cage match, in which at least one participant will be knocked out, and it looks like a doozy.

The Tampa Bay Rays and Boston Red Sox opened the season with a three-game series that was nearly suffocating in its relentless intensity and drama.

"It's mentally draining when you've got to stay as high intensity as we do against the clubs in our division," Tampa Bay's Evan Longoria said after the Rays took Thursday's rubber game. "It's always nerve-wracking here getting the last three [outs]."

From guest writer Mike Westfall of Progressive Boink:

This is my first spring living in Florida, and accepting the Rays as my new home team would be a lot easier if the local news didn't report so rosily about it. I'm used to the gloom and doom of Philadelphia, so I'm still trying to figure out whether they mean it in a sarcastic, "Aw, that's so cute," way or not, because it sounds like some of them really, genuinely think that this could be the Rays' year for - you know what? I don't even know what for. It's like the sports reporters are live from Bizarro World.

And the more I think about it, that would explain the Rays' excellent spring performance a lot, by actually treating March like it counts.

The boys from the Bay get ready for RAYPRIL®, after the jump.