Filed:March 23rd, 2009

Micah Hoffpauir (left), with Henry Blanco and Koyie Hill (Cubbie Nation/File)

No, I'm not going to pile on.

Officially there are now just 14 days left until the 2009 MLB season opens. Who will be this year's Tampa Bay Rays?

Last year's Rays went from celler dweller to World Series runners-up. So who will be this year's Rays?

Being a 44-year Cubs fan, can't remember anything before age 5, of course we all hope this will be the year.

And why not? Lilly, Dempster, Harden and Zambrano all return. Gone is oft-injured closer Kerry Wood. Hopefully Kevin Gregg will suffice.

After 100 years, we've gotta be close. But enough about my hopes and dreams.

Coming off of a 4-3 victory yesterday over the Tigers, Alfredo Aceves and the Yankees will look to make it 10 spring training wins in a row (whoopty doo...).

Writing today from the comfort of his own electric chair, Josh Illes is the creator of the new blog The Pickup Artist. I call it The Pickup Artist because I plan on analyzing interesting in-season transactions throughout the baseball year.

But I also have a somewhat snarkier side to me, and many times I rant for no reason at all about not being able to understand a word that Eric Young is saying. Ok, so I may just rant about that once. I’m only kidding of course. I love E.Y.!

This has been discussed several times before during this offseason, including on this blog, and if you ask me this is a tough call. But let's look at what someone else had to say. Tyler Hissey over at Dugout Central posted this article today and he thinks the Yanks would be better off letting Jeter walk after his contract runs out in 2010.

After reading a recent blog post by Greg over at Sliding Into Home, contrasting recent quotes by Randy Johnson and Jason Giambi, we feel the need to get something off our chest.

All you need to know about our bone of contention is that Yankee fans have happy memories of Jason Giambi's ringless time in Pinstripes, but rue the day that Randy Johnson toed the rubber at the "House That Ruth Built."

On June 4, 1974, the Cleveland Indians held "Ten Cent Beer Night."

The club intended to offer as much eight-ounce Stroh's beer as fans could drink—and for only 10 cents a pop.

Now some background from before the Indians played the Texas Rangers that night.

Six days earlier there was a bench-clearing brawl between the two teams at Arlington Stadium in Texas.

Dear fans of the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees,

Keep praying.

Pray that the Rays are not for real, but I'm here to tell you they are.

The Rays finished with 97 wins last year, and will many will be quick to say they will regress from that number, it's not likely to happen.  Not with their young stars in the making.

The Rays lineup this year:

C - Dioner Navarro.  A 25-year-old All-Star in 2008 is likely entering his prime.  Sorry Yankee fans, you're stuck worrying whether or not Posada can still play the position.

Tampa Bay finished 13th in the majors in runs scored with 774 last year.  They are looking to improve on those numbers with the additions of some hitters (Burrell and Joyce), the healing of some stars (Upton and Crawford), and the maturation of a stud (Longoria). 

I’m going to take a look at the Rays lineup to see what each player is looking to contribute to this year’s offense.

O.K. Padre fans, here's your chance to let everyone know which venue you enjoyed more to when attending a Padre game. I know that the Padres are moved for good, but there are several things missing from the Petco Park Experience in contrast to attending a game at the Murph (It will always be the Murph to me)

In the Friars unbridled rush to get into a new stadium, much of what made the Padres home field advantage so tough to overcome was left behind.

So its Petco vs the Murph, who will win?