Hey everyone...

Jose hit the longest home run in the history of Tropicana Field on Saturday
- 472 feet! The ball hit the C-ring catwalk (105 feet high) over the
restaurant in center field. The best part is how Jose said he didn't get
all of that ball. Wow. It's good to see him coming around though. In
Jose's words, "I think I'm finding my rhythm."

Apparently Jose jokingly put on some catchers gear during BP the other
day. Hey, if the Rays switch to the NL next year, he might need it! That
story and the latest Jose news are below...

If anyone out there lives in the L.A. area and is planning on going to any
of the Devil Rays - Angels games later this week, send an email to Ro at
Rrangaraj@.... He wants to get a groups of Jose fans
together to watch the game, and maybe hold up some signs for Jose...

I'll be in touch,
Mark

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From the St. Petersburg Times:
For Flaherty, bigger bat means a higher average
Jose Canseco's continued attempts to get the catcher to use the heavier bat
pay off with a .389 average and 8 RBI through the first nine games.
By John Romano
April 18, 2000

BALTIMORE -- In trying to persuade John Flaherty to change his approach at
the plate, Jose Canseco did not have to hit the Devil Rays catcher over the
head with a stick.

He just needed to hand him a new one.

Coming off a career year, Flaherty made the radical decision to switch to
Canseco's heavier bats on Opening Day. Two weeks later, Flaherty is hitting
.389 with eight RBI in nine games.

"You wouldn't think it was the best decision coming off the year I had last
year. Bubba (Trammell) said to me, "What are you doing? You've got to be
kidding,' " Flaherty said. "But I felt so bad in spring training this year,
I felt like I had nothing to lose. I couldn't hit any worse than I had
been."

Throughout last season, Canseco nagged Flaherty about making the switch. He
told him warning-track fly balls and doubles off the walls would become
home runs with a bigger bat.

Considering he had hit .278 with a career-high 71 RBI in 1999, Flaherty was
not of a mind to tinker. His opinion changed when he struggled to make
solid contact in a month of spring games.

A notoriously slow starter (he is a career .218 hitter in April), Flaherty
was worried about wasting the early months of 2000. He finally had enough
when the Rays held a workout at Tropicana Field on April 1 to test the new
turf. Flaherty was feeling out of synch at the plate and Canseco was
standing nearby the batting cage. He asked to borrow one of Canseco's bats.

Two days later, he used it on Opening Day against Twins pitcher Brad Radke.
His first at-bat was a washout, but Flaherty began feeling comfortable in
his next turn against Radke.

"I fouled off some pitches and started getting adjusted to it," Flaherty
said. "He threw me a slider down and away and I just flicked my bat at it
and it went into rightfield for a double. I was standing there on second
base thinking, "Okay, this might not be a bad idea.' "

Flaherty said he has not made the switch with power in mind. While the
heavier bat does make the ball jump off the bat, Flaherty said the bigger
difference is in his approach.

The heavier bat made him focus more on the quickness of his hands because
he was concerned about getting around fast enough on pitches. He had been
getting too defensive while waiting on pitches and is now turning on the ball.

"You have to get it in the hitting zone faster. You have to use your hands
more and it makes you more aggressive," Canseco said. "He's got a heavier
piece of wood, that means more mass, more damage. It took me a year to
convince him of that."

Flaherty had been using a 34-inch, 32-ounce bat, which is typical in the
majors. Now he has a 35-inch, 33.5-ounce model. The difference may not
sound extreme, but Flaherty said it is easily noticeable for someone who
makes a living with a bat in his hands.

Canseco said he does not even know why he had the 33.5-ounce bat around. He
uses a 36-inch, 35-ounce bat, but the manufacturer had shipped about a
dozen of the 33.5-ounce models.

Flaherty only has one of Canseco's bats remaining. He has put in an order
for more and will borrow one of Fred McGriff's bats if necessary in the
next few days.

He also is using Canseco's 35-ounce bats in batting practice to exaggerate
the sensation of moving the bat through the strike zone at a quicker pace.

"I'm not up there thinking I'm going to hit more home runs," Flaherty said.
"For me, it's a way to force myself to use my hands and get around on the
ball. I don't have to take this big, wild swing to drive the ball. If I
stay aggressive, it's going to jump off the bat the way it is."

==========
From the St. Petersburg Times:
Rays swept on way home
Pitching lacks experience, hitting lacks impact and Tampa Bay loses to
Orioles 8-4.
By John Romano
April 21, 2000

BALTIMORE -- The cleanup hitter has not had an extra-base hit in two weeks.
The man with all the muscles has fewer home runs than the leadoff hitter.
The team that was supposed to slug its way into contention is 12th in the
league in runs scored.

Tampa Bay's pitching staff can at least point to inexperience and injuries
as the cause for its slow start. The Devil Rays offense has no such excuse.

The Rays lost to the Orioles 8-4 Thursday, suffering their second series
sweep this season.

Any momentum the Rays had after winning two of three in Detroit was wiped
out by two rainouts and two sluggish losses.

"We (stink)," Jose Canseco said. "I had some pitches I should have hit
today. It's frustrating. Usually, if I don't strike out, I'm going to hit
the ball hard somewhere. Now, I either pop it up or ground out. I don't
know what to tell you."

The Rays are hitting .292 as a team, but with very little impact. They
strike out too much and do not walk enough. They have four players capable
of hitting 30 home runs, yet have 25 percent fewer homers than their
opponents. And they resemble the Olympic walking team on the bases.

"I hope we start hitting soon. I hope we start now," Canseco said. "It's
been hard to find hits, hard to score runs. Maybe we're all trying too hard
or pressing, I don't know."

History says they will start hitting. Among them, Canseco, Vinny Castilla,
Fred McGriff and Greg Vaughn have averaged roughly a home run every 16
at-bats in their careers. This season, that average is roughly every 26
at-bats.

The question is how long do the Rays have to wait. The season is still very
young, but Tampa Bay is fast losing ground.

The Rays are 61/2 games behind the Yankees in the American League East.
Last season, they did not fall that far behind until May 28.

"I don't think we've hit on all cylinders yet, as far as those guys are
concerned," manager Larry Rothschild said. "They'll have a couple of good
days, but it's not been consecutive with all of them in the lineup."

Lately, leadoff hitter Gerald Williams is the only one flashing power. He
hit three home runs and drove in eight runs on this five-game road trip.
Canseco, Castilla, McGriff and Vaughn combined for two home runs and 11 RBI
in the swing through Detroit and Baltimore.

"They're proven major-league hitters and they'll hit their stride,"
Rothschild said. "It might not be all four on a given day, but it might be
two or three of them."

One or two would be an improvement. The hitters in the middle of
Baltimore's order -- B.J. Surhoff, Albert Belle, Harold Baines and Cal
Ripken -- scored four runs and drove in four runs on Thursday. The Rays'
foursome scored zero runs and drove in one run.

It was up to Williams to keep the Rays close on Thursday after Baltimore
jumped on starting pitcher Ryan Rupe for three runs in the first, forcing
the Rays to play catch-up all afternoon.

Rupe may have been Tampa Bay's most consistent pitcher as a rookie last
season, but he has shown little evidence of that talent this year. Rupe has
given up six or more runs in each of his past three starts.

"I'm always positive. This is a hard game and things don't come easy," Rupe
said. "Right now, the ball is just not bouncing the way I wish it would."

Williams finally made the game interesting in the seventh with a two-run
homer that closed the gap to 6-4.

It all went awry in the bottom of the inning when Rupe and two relievers
combined to give up two runs with a hit batsmen, a single, two intentional
walks, two passed balls and a wild pitch.

"I thought when we got back to two runs we had a shot," Rothschild said.
"That inning becomes the important inning to shut a team down. If you do it
quickly, then the momentum stays on your side and that's where you really
have a chance. But it just didn't happen that way."

==========
From the Tampa Bay Tribune:

Canseco behind the dish:Jose Canseco, who normally doesn't put on a glove
of any kind, was playing catch with Dave Martinez and Vinny Castilla before
Thursday's game when he started to imitate a catcher, squatting in a
catcher's stance, then throwing as if trying to nail a runner at second.

First base coach Jose Cardenal saw Canseco and couldn't resist picking up a
catcher's mask and mitt and walking them over to the Rays' DH.

Canseco put on the glove and mask, then squatted and nearly lost his
balance. After a couple of throws, Canseco took off the mask and smiled.

``You can always use a good catcher,'' Cardenal said.

C John Flaherty saw Canseco's work and dug in the needle: ``Trying to play
a real man's position?''

To which Canseco replied: ``I might show you up.''

==========
From the St. Petersburg Times:

A NEW LOOK: With an eye on Greg Vaughn's speed (not to mention
Jose Canseco's and Fred McGriff's cold bats) manager Larry Rothschild
moved Vaughn from No. 5 to No. 3 in the lineup and dropped McGriff and
Canseco a spot.

Canseco, who has been slowed by a quadriceps injury, has hit into
a team-leading three double-plays from the No. 3 spot.

"We've hit fairly well, we just haven't produced runs," Rothschild said.
"That's the name of the game, producing runs."

Rothschild said he will see how the lineup works before deciding whether
to keep it.

==========
From the St. Petersbiurg Times:

BIG BANG: Troy Glaus on Friday set the record for the longest home run at
Tropicana Field. He lost the record Saturday.

Jose Canseco hit a blast that bounced off the C-ring above the Batter's Eye
restaurant in centerfield in the fifth inning. The homer was estimated at
472 feet, or 2 feet longer than the drive Glaus hit to leftfield.

Canseco, who has been struggling at the plate, said he did not get all of
the Ramon Ortiz fastball.

"I didn't get it solid," Canseco said. "I thought it would carry but not
that much."

Canseco hit .222 in his previous 27 at-bats.

"I think I'm getting there," he said. "I think I'm finding my rhythm."

==========
From the St. Petersburg Times:
Hit show makes for juicy ending
By Hubert Mizell
April 23, 2000

ST. PETERSBURG -- Larry Rothschild has a tightly wound feeling. Tampa Bay's
manager suspects that baseballs are juiced.

Maybe it figures, this being Tropicana Field. Tell me we aren't talking
citrus canker. Hey, do you know what you get when you squeeze Tampa Bay's
pitching staff? Lemon juice.

Don't pucker.

D-Rays promos scream the "Hit Show" theme. There'd better be a long-ball
bundle. Saturday became a horror of inefficient pitching and knot-head
defense, but along comes "Hit Show" electricity to cook up a rare happy ending.

For every run Tampa Bay pitchers surrendered, the "Hit Show" had a matcher.
As advertised. Fred McGriff ripped two home runs. Jose Canseco nearly hit
one through the roof....

...Are baseballs also juiced?

Who's scripting the orders for Costa Rica, where commissioner Bud Selig
gets his hardballs built? The tighter they're stitched, the rock-harder a
baseball becomes, the farther it can fly.

Rothschild has visual, painful evidence. He has spent too much of an
agonizing April watching baseballs fly extreme distances and also
frequently ricochet off the Trop's well-elevated but ugly and infamous
catwalks.

"For two seasons, it happened maybe once a month," he said. "Now it's a
near-nightly occurence." Larry's dead right. In all of 1998-99, he saw 14
batted balls go clanging into cat country. Up in the rings. In just eight
games this season, there've already been five.

On a pace for 50!

"Maybe they should put dimples on them (baseballs)," said the boss Ray.
"They keep coming off bats like golf balls." Canseco, in the fifth inning,
made like Tiger Woods with a driver.

Mr. Big Arms put his wood on a Ramon Ortiz pitch, a crowd of 22,042
immediately rising to gush. If it'd been an outdoor ballpark, this one would
have merited tracking by air traffic control.

However, keeping it in house, the well-biceped homer went bumping off the
Trop's so-called C-ring, a catwalk 110 feet above the centerfield warning
track. Get out the crooked tape measure.

D-Rays longball scientists, who can be catty, estimated the Canseco crunch
would've gone 472 feet. Longest smack, if we can trust science, in
Tropicana Field history.

Nobody detected an ounce of juice dripping from Jose's baseball as it came
back to fake-grass earth, down from that C-ring. Rothschild was happy this
time, because his guys were better at dialing long distance.

Larry's idea, though, about juiced spheres, had another large, pulpy glass
of evidence.

==========
From the Sporting News:
4/23

The middle of the team's lineup is certainly imposing, but the four players
have not been able to click. Manager Larry Rothschild used Jose Canseco,
Fred McGriff, Greg Vaughn and Vinny Castilla No. 3 through No. 6 in the
order for the first 15 games, but he then made a switch. Vaughn was moved
from fifth to third to give the Devil Rays more speed, and McGriff and
Canseco were dropped a spot.

Canseco has been slowed by a sore quadriceps muscle, and he hit into a
team-high three double plays in the first 15 games. Vaughn's speed has been
a surprise this season. McGriff, the lone lefthander of the four, has
really struggled. He has hit only one home run since a grand slam on
opening day, and went 14 consecutive games without an extra-base hit.

After missing the first seven games with an injury, Castilla has
rediscovered his timing. Early in his return, Castilla saw a lot of
breaking balls and was moving his head in crucial moments during his swing.
He has since corrected the problem. Through 16 games, the middle four hit a
combined eight home runs. Leadoff man Gerald Williams had four alone. . .

=============
Mark Petrillo
mark@...
Canseconet.com - The Jose Canseco Site