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CHICAGO — Pamela and Carlos Peña were enjoying a meal in a tony downtown Japanese steakhouse the other night when the beep of her phone changed the entire mood. The smile quickly came off her lips, and tears soon welled in her eyes.
It was a miss-you text message from Julianna Zobrist, the wife of Ben, one of many Rays the Peñas still keep in touch with, and another emotional reminder of what they left behind as they get adjusted to life in Chicago with the Cubs.
"It's not the first time that's happened," Carlos said Wednesday morning in the Wrigley Field clubhouse. "Every single time we get a little melancholy. So it's natural, I guess. And that's not a bad thing; I think it's a great thing."
Whereas Matt Garza, the other high-profile former Ray now working here, looks at his move as business ("It's just baseball," he said), for Peña it's clearly personal.
The four seasons he spent with the Rays meant so much, he said, it's as if the nine years before that, including big-league time with the Rangers, A's, Tigers and Red Sox, never happened.
"It seems like I have only played for one other team," said Peña, 32. "I've only played with the Rays; that's the way it feels."
Peña said he is over the what-if of wondering if there was a way for the Rays to re-sign him before he took a one-year, $10 million deal with the Cubs — enough so that he texted good-luck-on-the-season messages to both Rays executive vice president Andrew Friedman and manager Joe Maddon — but he hasn't, and can't, let go of the memories and good feelings.
"I miss it," Peña said. "I miss it. Because it was so special to me, and it's a place I'm always going to carry with me wherever I go. With all the great things that I learned there and all the things I experienced there that have equipped me in certain ways to be a better baseball player and even a better person, why wouldn't I take all that with me so I could apply it to the present moment?"
What Peña would really like is for him and Garza to help re-create the magic of the 2008 Rays on the North Side of Chicago, where the Cubs haven't been in a World Series since 1945 and, as you may have heard, haven't won one since 1908.
"I'm happy in this place," Peña said, "and also the opportunity we have here to do something just as significant — probably even more so because of the history — that what we did in Tampa is really appealing to me."
With the Rays due in Chicago on Wednesday night for their series with the White Sox, Peña was plotting ways to meet up with some of his old buddies. Garza, who has kept in touch casually with a few since his early January trade, was making no such plans, having gotten over the emotional ties "a long time ago."
"I talk to them once in a while, but I've got to make new friends, guys that I've got to be a team with," said Garza, 27. "They're still going to be buddies, you run into them, cross paths, say hello, hey, how you guys doing. But at the same time I've got to make myself comfortable here."
Neither has gotten off to a blazing start, Peña hitting .200 with no homers and four RBIs in four games before a right thumb sprain forced him to miss the past two, Garza debuting with a career-most 12 hits (all singles) allowed and a career-best 12 strikeouts in a no-decision, with his next start Saturday in Milwaukee.
But, both say, they like their new gigs.
"It's been easy for us," Peña said. "Coming from a place like Tampa, you'd think you could only go downhill from there. But we've been fortunate to go from a good place to another good place."
Marc Topkin can be reached at topkin@sptimes.com.
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