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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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The first team meeting of the year

Posted Feb 24, 2010 by Roger Mooney

Updated Feb 24, 2010 at 11:51 AM

Under a cover of clouds, Joe Maddon gathered the troops behind second base on a practice field at the Charlotte Sports Park this morning.

All of them: pitchers, catchers, infielders, outfielders, DHs. All of them.

The first full squad workout of 2010.

Maddon addressed the group. So did team president Matt Silverman, VP of PR Rick Vaughn and director of team travel Jeff Ziegler. As per tradition, Ziegler finished with a joke. It got laughs.

Five years ago, on a different practice field at a different complex in a different town, Maddon stood in front of his new team and told them the goal was to reach the playoffs.

Playoffs?

Some Rays rolled their eyes. Some though the skip had too much wine the night before.

Three years later, after two last place finishes, the Rays reached the playoffs.

Good bet Maddon talked about the same goals this morning.