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Roger Mooney

Roger Mooney covers the Tampa Bay Rays for The Tampa Tribune, TBO.com and News Channel 8. He has covered the Rays since their first season in 1998, including 11 years for the Bradenton Herald. Roger has also covered Florida, South Florida and Florida State football, the Bucs and the Lightning.

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Maddon interested in process more than wins this spring

Posted Mar 3, 2010 by Roger Mooney

Updated Mar 3, 2010 at 06:09 PM

By ROGER MOONEY

SARASOTA – Manager Joe Maddon spent some time before Wednesday’s Grapefruit League opener against the Orioles at a windy Ed Smith Stadium talking about how the Rays won/loss record this spring is not his top priority.

“I’m so much more focused on the process right now,” Maddon said. “We’ll win our share of games. I’m not worried about that.”

Which is why Maddon wasn’t too upset after the Rays gave up 14 hits, including six home runs, in a 12-2 loss.

“You can gain some momentum (from winning), I think, possibly, but more than anything, it’s how you go about your business,” he said. “Good at-bats, the things that we set out to do, we want to work on. Going from first to third is a big priority in this camp. And I want to see us get after that. Holding runners well, pitcher’s defense, I want to see us do that well. And there’s certain guys I want to see us work good at-bats, see more pitchers per at-bats. I want to see that regardless of whether they get a hit or not.”

Justin Ruggiano went from first to third on Reid Brignac’s RBI single in the fifth inning. James Shields had Adam Jones picked off first base in the first inning until first baseman Ryan Shealy dropped the ball. Shortstop Tim Beckham started one double play. Second baseman Ben Zobrist started another after fielding a ball that first bounced off Matt Garza.

“I liked all these little things,” Maddon said after the game.

About the won/loss record, Maddon didn’t realize the Rays went 18-8-2 in the spring of 2008 until it was mentioned before the game.

“We came out, we played well. It did carry over,” Maddon said. “But there’s a lot of times you’ll see teams do that and they just stink. I don’t think there’s any real tie to a great spring training and a great season. I think you can build the right attitude in camp. I’m more concerned about that.”