Designated hitter Cliff Floyd says the Rays have come together as a family.

The Providence Journal / Bob Breidenbach

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — From the moment the Tampa Bay Rays gathered for spring training, manager Joe Maddon greeted his players with a somewhat bizarre rallying cry.

The slogan — 9 = 8 — is still going strong. In fact, players and team personnel wore it on T-shirts yesterday in the Rays’ clubhouse at Tropicana Field.

The 9 = 8 idea is nine players playing nine innings together can become one of the eight teams in the playoff hunt. Back in March, that didn’t seem possible for a team that finished 30 games out of first place in 2007 and 36 out in 2006.

“In spring training, you didn’t know what it meant,” said DH Cliff Floyd. “When he said it, we tried to figure out what it means. We all figured it out and we came together as a team and as a family. That’s it in a nutshell.”

The Rays haven’t stopped bonding all season. For the playoffs, Maddon and several players have cut their hair into Mohawks, and for the first time in franchise history, the Tampa-St. Pete area has flocked to Rays games. Games One and Two of the ALCS against the Red Sox are sold out (about 35,000), and the majority of the fans will not be cheering for Boston.

The worst-to-first theme is a nice one for baseball, but anyone who has watched the Rays knows they have talent. After selecting high in the amateur draft for several years, the Rays have elite home-grown talent such as Carl Crawford, B.J. Upton, Evan Longoria and Cumberland’s Rocco Baldelli and a deep pitching staff.

“We’re looking forward to it,” said the 24-year-old Upton, one of baseball’s rising stars. “We’ve never gone this far, but we think we’re good enough to play with anyone. We know the Red Sox really well and they know us. It should be a great series. I’m glad we’re starting at home.”

Shields ready to go

It was no surprise yesterday when Maddon announced that James Shields will be Tampa’s ALCS Game One starter tomorrow night against the Red Sox.

“You can probably ask any pitcher in here and they’ll say they want to be in that situation,” Shields said. “I’m excited. I like to take on these challenges. We’ll see how it goes, but I’m pretty excited to pitch in this series.”

The 26-year-old right-hander finished the regular season with a 14-8 record and a 3.56 ERA, while holding opponents to a .254 average. Most Red Sox fans will remember what Shields did back in June at Fenway Park — hitting Coco Crisp with a pitch. A bench-clearing brawl ensued, and another chapter in the rivalry was written.

“I guess it was meant to be,” Shields said of the ALCS matchup. “The Red Sox are a good team and they played well against Anaheim. We’re looking forward to the game on Friday. … We’re living in the moment.”

Shields said he’s not concerned about the past; he’s only looking forward to a victory and a possible trip to the World Series.

“I feel alive and ready to go,” he said. “It’s time for business.”

He said he also knows the Red Sox are a dangerous offensive team, especially in the postseason.

He’s 2-4 with a 5.23 ERA in eight career starts against Boston. Both of his victories came this season. He went 2-2 with a 5.85 ERA in four outings against the Sox.

Lowell will be missed

The Red Sox will be without veteran third baseman Mike Lowell for the ALCS because of a hip injury. Even though the Rays respect the type of person and player he is, they don’t seem too disappointed that Boston will be without him.

“They’re going to miss their third baseman,” said Maddon. “I have so much respect for him. Just the way he plays, he’s so under control. I always talk about guys who are caught in the moment, and he exemplifies that, and they are going to miss him.

“But,” added Maddon, “it always seems when you lose somebody like that, whoever takes their place really [picks] up that guy. You have to be careful of those guys, because they’re usually the ones who jump up and bite you.”

In Lowell’s absence, Kevin Youkilis will shift to third base and Mark Kotsay will play first.

Shields agrees the Red Sox will miss Lowell, but the right-hander also knows the Red Sox are deep enough to make up for the loss.

“It doesn’t matter,” said Shields. “They’ve got guys on the bench who can get the job done. It does hurt them a little bit because Lowell is one of their big guys. Like us, we’ve had guys get hurt all season long, and our bench has done a great job of playing well.”

Rays have fans now

Tropicana Field used to be known — at least to Red Sox fans — as Fenway Park South.

Any time the Sox visited Tampa, thousands of fans would make the trek south to watch Boston play the Rays, and most of the time there were more Red Sox fans than Rays fans in attendance. Once the Rays began to win and stayed atop the A.L. East standings for the second half of the season, Tampa finally had its own fans come out.

“We weren’t too happy about it,” said Shields. “We let the fans know that we weren’t too happy about it, but [the fans] came out to play the second half. The fans have been great the last couple of months or so. This is The Pit. This is our home field, and no one likes coming here to play, and we took advantage of that this year.”

kmcnamar@projo.com