Tropicana Field was alive Tuesday night, an atmosphere Rays manager Joe Maddon said "may have exceeded anything else that I've witnessed here. It was electric.''
But how much of that had to do with a large percentage of blue-clad Cubs fans, who seemed to make up at least half, and maybe more, than the crowd of 31,607, cheerling for their team in its first appearance at the Trop.
"To be honest with you,'' Rays rookie 3B Evan Longoria said, "it was a little bit hostile.
"The Cubs had a lot of fans here. It was probably about 50-50, and you don't see that too often at a home ballpark. Their fans, they came out good."
Maddon said, "The Cub fans were pretty impressive, but our fans did a great job of responding to it I thought. I was really pleased with our group. It's as it should be here. It was "The Pit" tonight and we able to come out on top. When you play in a dome like this and you get that kind of response, it's deafening. I've been in that situation before and it's great to have it here finally.''
Veteran closer Troy Percival said: "There were a ton of Cubs fans out there, but our Rays fans were awesome. And the Cubs fans that we had, it was a good baseball atmosphere out there. Everybody was watching a good ballgame and enjoying a good ballgame. I don't think anybody went home disappointed.''
Joe Maddon, Johnny Damon and Evan Longoria are only some of the Rays you'll meet through our new video interview series. Don't see your favorite player yet? Check back often, as we'll add to the series as the season progresses.
