UPDATE, 10:13: Tickets for the Rays' first two playoff games sold out during Tuesday's Internet pre-sale.

Principal owner Stuart Sternberg said he was not surprised at the brisk pace of sales.

"It's postseason baseball,'' he said. "Postseason is few and far between. So I never expected anything otherwise. We had a good sense there was going to be a lot of demand for the tickets. ... It's the nature of the Internet and things happen very quickly. ... I wouldn't be excited that it sold out quickly, I would have been ridiculously disappointed had it not. So this was very much our expectation. This is postseason baseball. I can't even think about running this business if it wouldn't have happened.''

Sternberg said the Rays would not reconsider removing the tarps covering the top portions of the upper deck for the first or second round.

He also reiterated that they are saving a "very limited number" of tickets for fans who make deposits on 2009 season tickets. "Good seats can still be had,'' he said.

If the Rays win the AL East, they will put on sale in a similar fashion tickets for a potential third home game in the first round (which would be Game 5 of the series).

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Team president Matt Silverman said sales during today's Internet pre-sale were so strong that only a very limited number of tickets to the first two division series games may be left wth the public Internet sale begins at 9 a.m. Wednesday.

The Rays held the pre-sale on Tuesday for fans who registered on their web site, raysbaseball.com, and were selected in a random drawing. They are also holding back what Silverman said were "a limited number" of tickets for fans who make deposits on 2009 season tickets.

The dates, opponent and game times won't be known for several days. If the Rays win the AL East, they most likely will open at home against the Central Division champs, either the Twins or White Sox, with Game 1 at Tropicana Field either Oct. 1 or Oct 2, and Game 2 on Oct. 3. If they end up as the wild-card, they would open on the road and play Game 3 at home on Oct. 5 and a potential Game 4 on Oct. 6.