"Carl Crawford's return to Tropicana Field had all things you look for in a Really Big Story.

There was the former hero coming back to the place where he made his name and once was adored, but now is a centerpiece for the enemy. Not just any enemy, either: The Boston Red Sox, half of the Axis of Evil in the American League East.

Perfect.

So there we were at the Trop, gathered to record it all Tuesday night.

That is, until I ruined it by asking Rays manager Joe Maddon how he felt about Act 1 of Craw-pa-looza.

"Honestly, I hate to disappoint but it really is not that big of a deal to us. When I saw him in spring training I told him, 'Congratulations, I'm really happy for you.' I meant it (then) and I still mean it, but he's now a member of the Red Sox. We saw him in spring training and we saw him in Fenway Park," Maddon said.

"We have a bunch of guys with 'Rays' on the front of their jerseys and that's the group I'm concerned with."

Then Crawford chimed in a few minutes later with, "I don't really do all that reminiscing stuff."

As if on cue, the Rays went out and changed the story. James Shields was magnificent, throwing his fourth complete game and third shutout of the season as the Rays cruised 4-0.

And Crawford? Not so good. He was greeted with what Maddon called "a smattering of negativity, which I thought was inappropriate" — even though the negativity later gave way to cheers and even a short standing ovation.

Of course, fans were even happier when Crawford finished 0-for-3 and had a real good view of the ball the Rays' new left fielder de jour, Justin Ruggiano, hit into the left-field seats for the first run of the game. The game ended with Crawford on deck as the Sox went 1-2-3 in the ninth."