What is the trouble with Tampa?

Born in 1998, the Tampa Devil Rays consistently finished last in the AL East, with one exception - 2004, when manager Lou Piniella coaxed an emerging lineup of Carl Crawford, Rocco Baldelli and Aubrey Huff - into 4th. The city rejoiced. 

In 2008, the franchise owners deleted the word "Devil" from the team's name, succumbing to backwoods Florida stupidity and satisfying Jesus. For the next six years, this evangelical juju worked. The newly blessed Rays reached the postseason four times, even making the World Series (where they were torched 4-to-1 by an even more cursed team - the Phillies.)

In 2014, the spark died. Tampa started losing again. They have done so ever since. The neatest way to sum up Rays history is to ponder the team's three retired jerseys - Wade Boggs, Don Zimmer and Jackie Robinson. Of this Holy Trinity, only Boggs ever swung a bat in a Tampa uniform, and that came at ages 40 and 41.

Throughout Tampa history, one other consistent theme has emerged: Pure, hate-filled jealousy of the Yankees. Rays management resents the local Yankee presence - spring training, radio broadcasts, sightings of Derek Jeter - the whole Pinstriped traditions. When the Yankees come to town, every night is the Army-Navy game - every meeting is that pressure point in the confrontation where the mouthy little pug takes a roundhouse swing at the bouncer.

Last night, Tampa connected. 

Listen: I don't blame the people of Tampa for hating the Yankees, or - for that matter - life itself. Everybody famous from Tampa came there from somewhere else. (Salvador Dali? Dale Chihuli? The retired jerseys?) They play in one of the last monstrosities of a bad historical experiment - domed baseball parks. Their blaring sound effects offend the thinking fan. Last night, some fog-horn voiced asshole - did he have a megaphone - never once stopped shouting below the YES mics, driving me to turn down the sound. (I would have listened to The Master, except I can never sync the two feeds; the radio part is always 30 seconds ahead.) 

This season, we are now 4-3 against the Rays. If the 2017 Yankees are true contenders, and not just a mirage, we need to beat the Rays like a filthy rug.

Last night, we lost a completely winnable game.

I am not going to scream about how we did this, or why Gary Sanchez didn't pinch hit in the ninth. (Frankly, I think it was cool to show confidence in Austin Romine.) Next up is Tanaka. It's a long season. All is groovy. No cause for alarm. 

But we will learn who we are by how we play Tampa. And last night, we didn't play them very well.