Here's a boost for the economy

Forget foreclosures and impact fees for a bit. It's baseball season. And we have a winning home team -- what joy!

As Roger Mooney noted in his blog, the Tampa Bay Rays ended the first half of the season Sunday with the best record in baseball, not to mention the best record in team history after 81 games. And that was before they started this winning series with the Boston Red Sox (more on that in Sunday's column).

Reporter John Lembo tapped into the growing excitement again today with his 1A story on the merchandizing of the Rays, as well as his notes on attendance:

"The locals are starting to take notice -- in their (the Rays') past 12 home games, an average of 28,026 fans have attended the Trop, as compared to the average of 17,671 fans who attended the Rays' first 32 home games," Lembo wrote.

It's amazing what a winning team can do for the economy...

Joan