Filed Under » Tampa Bay Rays

While the Red Sox's late-season slide down the standings has thrown Boston into a panic, the team who is in hot pursuit — the Tampa Bay Rays — has only annoyed the residents of Tampa-St. Petersburg with their continued relevance.

"People here don't like sports too much," said general manager Andrew Friedman. "As evidence, see the attendance of any local sports team through all of history. So it's annoying to people when a team sticks around long after it's welcome."

After losing Carl Crawford and others from last year's team, the Rays were expected to finish far behind the Yankees and Red Sox in the A.L. East.

"It's the most excited I've been for a Rays season in years," said season ticket-holder Dave Randall, who owns a 2-game season ticket package. "They were going to stink and Tampa wouldn't be pressured by the national media and baseball fans in other cities to, you know, like, pay attention to the team and stuff. But now all of that is ruined."

Trailing the Red Sox by just two games, Tampa closes its season with a 6-game homestand.

"So annoying," said Devin Skinner, who lives across the street from Tropicana Field. "Let me guess, they expect us to go to these games, right? And there are how many? Six? No, thank you. Six baseball games in six days sounds incredibly boring."

Less than two weeks after stepping away from baseball, former major league slugger Manny Ramirez is already pushing 700 pounds.

"He is an incredibly lazy man," said his wife, Juliana. "He hasn't gotten out of bed more than once or twice since the day he quit and he keeps having food delivered directly to the bedroom. There is a huge pile of empty takeout containers and pizza boxes all over him. He is using empty lo mein containers as a bed pan … when he even uses a bed pan."

Juliana says she is only guessing that her husbands weight is 675 pounds, as he broke the bed yesterday and, according to the manufacturer's website, the bed is made to hold no more than 670 pounds.

"That was yesterday and he's getting fatter by the day," she said. "Even if he does get the motivation to move, I don't think he'll fit out of the doorway anymore. We'll have to get a crane and take him out our big bay window."

And Ramirez, who frequently jogged after balls in the outfield and didn't run out ground balls, is showing no signs of becoming more active in his retirement. This morning he had several flatscreen televisions installed on the ceiling above his bed so he didn't have to strain to bend his neck and place it on a pillow to see his TV on the wall.