As my gift to our readers and to all the children of the world, I proudly offer the All-Time Greatest Devil Rays Virtual Advent Calendar (completely updated for 2009)….

Every day up till Christmas we will reveal another of the Top 25 Greatest Devil Rays Of All-Time*, and on Christmas Morning, we will unveil the Greatest Devil Ray Of All — The Devil Ray Baby Jesus….

The 6th Greatest Devil Ray Ever is….

Melvin Emmanuel “BJ” Upton (2004, 2006-present)

(Last year’s rank: 10th)

• First player to ever steal three bases in one World Series game (2008, Game 3)
• 7 postseason homers in 2008 tied the AL record, (6 of his 7 HR were hit with games either tied or within one run)
• 4 HR in 2008 ALCS tied the LCS record
• 11 RBI in 2008 ALCS tied the LCS record (David Ortiz, 2004)
• Hit the heroic walk-off sac fly in the 11th inning of Game 2 of the 2008 ALCS
• The First Devil Ray with a 20 HR/20 SB season (2007)
• Finished 2nd in the AL in Stolen Bases in 2008 and 3rd in the AL in 2009
• In 2008, also finished in the top 10 in the AL in BB (4th), OBP (7th) and AB/HR ratio (9th, 19.8)
• In 2007 finished in the top 10 in the AL in Outfield Assists (2nd, 11), Adjusted OPS+ (9th), OPS (10th, .894)In the Top 10 Devil Rays single-season leaders for Walks (2nd, 97 in 2008) OBP (6th, .386 in 2007); and 8th, .383 in 2008) Batting AVG (6th, .300 in 2007) SLG (6th, .508 in 2007), Steals (7th, 44 in 2008, and 8th, 42 in 2009), Doubles (tied 8th, 37); OPS (9th, .894 in 2007)
• In the Top 10 Devil Rays career leaders for Steals (2nd, 123), Runs (3rd, 289), OBP (4th, .352), Doubles (4th, 108), Extra-Base Hits (5th, 166), Games Played (6th, 513), Walks (tied-3rd, 247), RBI (7th, 226), SLG (7th, .410), OPS (7th, .762), Hits (7th, 506), AVG (8th, .266), HR (9th, 49)
• 16 hits at That Old Dump In The Bronx in 2007 have been bettered by only 7 visiting players there in the last 50 years
• From May 3-9 2007, was leading the AL in hitting, the deepest into the season any Devil Ray has led the league in hitting
• On September 17 2007 in Anaheim became the 3rd Devil Ray to steal home (joining Carl Crawford and Aubery Huff)

There have only been 6 Devil Rays greater than BJ Upton. There are only 6 more days until Christmas. Tune in tomorrow as we reveal the 6th Greatest Devil Ray Ever.

Previously on All-Time Greatest Devil Rays Advent Calendar 2009….

(Click on thumbnail to see larger pics and previous posts)

*Rankings based on player’s entire Devil Ray careers through 2009 and regardless of position. Special thanks to Robotto Clemente for tweaking last year’s formula and crunching the numbers.