Perhaps it is appropriate that those wonderful Tampa Bay Rays play in Florida, The Sunshine State, because within the often stuffy universe of Major League Baseball, they are certainly a breath of fresh air.

I remember several years back, as the Rays were beginning to really assemble their squad, making trades like Victor Zambrano for Scott Kazmir, and shrewdly drafting the likes of BJ Upton and Evan Longoria.

Back then Bill Gilbert soberly declaring "the Rays will never be a successful franchise." I think for the most part he was thinking economically, but he was also making a case that Tampa would never be able to compete against division mates like the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox.

And, there is truth in the fact that those two wealthy and powerful teams are always able to assemble the parts to field a competitive team in most years.

But, in baseball--as in most disciplines--there are usually a number of ways to success, or as the saying goes, "many ways to skin a cat."

I personally thought the Rays with drafting from within , trading their "stars," or at least established players like Zambrano and Mark Hendrickson (who netted them Dioner Navarro) certainly could build a winning team on the field.

For though money surely factors into building a winner, there are success storeis like the Twins and Athletics that show smart drafting and trading can also build a contender.

So can playing the basics, and well the Rays have all of it: speed, defense, power, pitching, and that scary Grant Balfour, whom I would never want to face in the best Nike Laloosh sense of the word.

In many ways, the Rays remind me a lot of the Athletics of the early 70's, with their confidence and depth, and wizardly manager, Dick Williams. They were an underdog, especially their first World Series against the Mets, themselves a Cinderella team at one point.

Oakland, understimated at first were young enough and good enough and deep enough to win three straight World Series. And, remember, they won that first won without Reggie Jackson, who sat out the fall classic because of a broken leg.

Well, under the cool, calm, and collected Joe Madden, the Rays have learned to play not just as a team, but with growing confidence that is amazing. For remember, until this season, Tampa had never finished above .500.

And, in case you have not looked, right now they are one round removed from their first World Series appearance. Not that getting there, and past the tough Red Sox won't be easy. But, it is a great match-up, as anyone who witnessed any of their intense games over this 2008 season knows, and, well, whether Bill likes it or not, this is certainly success.

As for those fans, Tampa has come a ways since the days of "the heckler," the guy whose penetrating voice irritated listerners, fans, and occasionally the players he was trying to get. Of course sometimes, like when he got on Erubiel Durazo, and Durazo had a red-hot series well, the results may not have gone according to Hoyle.

But, the heckler is gone, and so are those terribly inept Rays, a team that when Cathy and I were in Seattle many years back, we saw take on the Mariners. "Watch carefully, I noted, as the Rays are a really bad" back then in 2001, and sure enough, they fell behind 2-0 in the first inning, largely thanks to a pair of walks, and fell to Seattle, 8-4.

I do like to think, "If you compete, they will come," and though those days of the heckler, and the Devil Rays are indeed gone, Tampa finished 26th in attendence this season, just ahead of Oakland, with 1.7 million fans.

But, the times are a changing, and The Rays--along with Florida and a changing demographic--have created some buzz, and better yet, have a squad that shows some competitive promise for several years to come.

And, maybe that won't result in the success of those Athletics of the 70's, or the miracle Mets, but, I will tell, despite what Bill Gilbert suggests, these Rays are here to stay.

I am certainly rooting for them, anyway.