"The two hits were solid, and the couple of plays in leftfield smooth.

But most impressive of the good things Manny Ramirez did in Monday's exhibition, a 6-5 loss to the Pirates, was break from third base on a wild pitch and race home, sliding across the plate with the Rays' first run.

Even better was his Manny Being Manny explanation of his hustle:

"The game says 'Play Ball,' so I just go and play."

Amid all the new and young players vying for attention in Rays camp, it's hard to ignore Ramirez's efforts thus far in terms of work ethic, attitude and performance, with his dash home the latest example.

"We talk about baserunning like almost 100 percent of the time during practice in the morning, so I liked what he did right there," manager Joe Maddon said. "He's alert. He's buying into everything we're trying to do here. I liked it a lot."

The Rays signed Ramirez to be their primary DH but plan to put him in leftfield six or seven times this spring to prepare him for the possibility of some occasional regular-season work.

Ramirez said he was "kinda nervous" about playing the field, "but if I keep going out there, I'm going to keep getting used to it and feel more comfortable and maybe play better."

With a hard single over shortstop and an RBI single to the right of center, Ramirez is now 3-for-4 this spring."