The New York Yankees' ownership is based in Tampa; the Tampa Bay Devil Rays' ownership is based in New York. The Yankees have no limit to their spending, the Devil Rays have virtually no spending and they're immediately at their limit. The Yankees have no prospects in their system to help them as Yankees, or in trades for established stars; the Devil Rays are loaded with prospects in their system, but won't trade them for established stars and won't bring them up to help the big club. The Yankees' Sean Henn pitches all his major league games against Tampa, and loses them all; last year, Kevin Brown pitched, what, his first four games against Tampa and won them all. The Yankees play in one of the most historic sports sites in the world, a place with lots of charm and character; the Devil Rays play in an antiseptic dome in The Sunshine State, a "ballpark" with all the character of a mausoleum in a city (that would be St. Petersburg) with absolutely no sports history -- unless you count shuffleboard, or the baseball game Jack Kerouac invented and no doubt played when he lived his last days there. There's more history in the Yankee Stadium sprinkler system than in St. Pete. With the exception of adding the "NY" to the home jerseys, the Yankees haven't changed their general uniform design in eight decades; the Devil Rays haven't existed for a decade and have changed their general uniform design about eight times. (OK, five when you count not one, but two alternate jerseys. Seven if you count two spring training tops.)Labels: Jack Kerouac, jerseys, opposites, payroll, Rays, salaries, uniforms, Yankees