Blog Posts For Tag: Rays

Tuesday night the American League won the All Star game for the twelfth time in a row, defeating the National League 4-3. The best players from both leagues squared off in a rather short contest (2 hours and 30 minutes) instead of a marathon like last season (which went 15 innings).

Now that this annual contest is over and the American League again has home field advantage in the World Series the real season begins, with teams looking for a pennant and players looking for individual honors. There will be two MVPs, two Cy Young winners, and two Gold Glove first basemen. There will be two of everything because MLB, unlike the NFL and NBA do not announce an all MLB team.

This team has the third best batting average in the league. This team has the second best on base percentage and slugging percentage in the league. This team has scored the most runs and has stolen the most bases in the league. This team averages more than a run more than their opponents. This team is leading the division with an absurd win-loss record, right? Wrong. This team is hovering around .500 and is in fourth place in the American League East. This is team is the Tampa Bay Rays.

I knew things were going to be bad. I knew the faltering economy was reverberating throughout every facet of American life, but I did not expect to see the MLB offseason to begin with such a whimper. It picked up around Christmas (more proof that having a budget around the holidays is simply futile) and now while the entire baseball world starts looking towards the World Baseball Classic (has anybody seen the roster for the Canadian team, with the utmost sincerity, wow), I am going to take time and reflect on the top ten free signings of this offseason.

How much effect could a player who hit .250, 33 homeruns, and drove in 86 RBI have on the game of baseball. These are not numbers that even make this player a top ten free agent, even keeping in mind the slim pickings this offseason. Still, Pat Burrell’s departure from Philadelphia to Tampa for $16 million over two seasons has caused a ripple effect up and down the East Coast.

The sports world may be in bowl mold- the Super Bowl, the Sugar Bowl, the Rose Bowl, the Fiesta Bowl, The Orange Bowl, the Pacific Life Holiday Bowl-, but the MLB season is coming up much quicker than most fans realize. There are already grumblings of pitchers and catchers reporting for spring training. There is even a glorious global exhibition with the World Baseball Classic (WBC). Half of the top free agents are gone and teams are starting to scurry to pick up the role players that will make the difference between 80 and 90 wins with just a few more hits.

While the young Rays were trying to go from worst to first in just a season, the worst team ever in Major League Baseball was trying to start finish a new era they began after the turn of the century. The Phillies have had just one losing season since 2001 after collecting the most losses over the course of the 19th and 20th century.

This century has proved to be a time to start anew for teams like the Boston Red Sox and the Chicago White Sox. Phillies were sure that their time was next, but the postponement of the potential series-ending game on Monday after a storm system that seemed to be sent by the gods came to stop Philadelphia from celebrating at Citizens Bank Ballpark.

Surely it must have seemed like some omnipotent force that would not allow the Phillies to defeat the Rays was delivering the storms. For 50 hours Phillies sports fanatics must had time to truly contemplate the consequences of their potential victory. Would the Earth split open and the end of days descend? Did some McCain supporter conjure the front as a misguided attempt to aid the beleaguered Republican? Was it Obama’s witchcraft? Or was it simply a classic Philadelphia move to make the worst of a possible great sports memory?

In the end the front passed and the Phillies took the field for three innings, scoring two more runs and allowing one more to clinch their first World Series title since Mike Schmidt and the 1980 Phillies and bring home the first major sports title since the 1983 Philadelphia 76ers.

In a series that found Philadelphia toothless with runners in scoring position (they posted a .201 average through the five games), the two runs came off singles to center by Jayson Werth in the sixth inning and Pedro Feliz in the seventh to score two runners who were actually in scoring position. Brad Lidge close the game out for his 48th save of the season in 48 tries.

The Rays could only manage to score on a solo shot by Rocco Baldelli in the seventh. Philadelphia starting pitcher Cole Hamels won the MVP for his 2-0 record and 2.77 ERA. This was a truly memorable World Series that will be remembered by baseball historians who will hopefully gloss over the fact that the series had low ratings (as is the case in any World Series without a New York or Boston team).

Hopefully the city of Brotherly Love will loosen up and show its teams across the board some slack. The Philadelphia Eagles may be able to play with the fear of frozen beer bottles being thrown at them. The 76ers will be able to play without having every loss questioned after the signing of Elton Brand. This series could usher in a new era of sports etiquette for Philadelphia…or it could make fans wonder what is freakin’ wrong with the rest of their teams.

Saturday: Phillies 5 – Rays 4

Saturday was a night of extremes. The game started at 10:06, the latest start time ever for a World Series game, and the Phillies sent Jamie Moyer to the mound, the second oldest player to ever start a World Series game at the age of 45. Moyer allowed three runs in 6 1/3 innings, but left with a no decision as the game took a couple of crazy turns.

B.J. Upton stole three bases and proved that sometimes speed alone can score runs, taking home after a throwing error allowed him to jog to the plate after stealing third base. In the end it was a lucky infield nubber to down the third base line that won the game, letting Eric Bruntlett score as Evan Longoria made a desperate attempt to bare hand the floundering hit and catch him at home.

Here is the lucky winning hit

Sunday: Phillies 10 – Rays 2

Sunday ended the steak of three close games. The Tampa Bay Rays has escaped three games without facing the true power of the Phillies lineup. This time, in game four, Philadelphia finally broke out of its funk and let loose on all freakin’ cylinders. Ryan Howard proved that he is the big, bad bat that terrorized the National League for the past three seasons, smashing two home runs and driving in five of Philadelphia’s 10 runs. Even Joe Blanton, the starting pitcher, hit one out (with the help of the same luck that won game three I’m sure).

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Here is Balton’s solo shot, you open your eyes now Joe

The Tampa Bay Rays are now against the wall with a 3 games to 1 deficit and a surging Phillies team. If the Phillies can end this series on Wednesday in Tampa, then finally the beleaguered sports fans in Philadelphia can celebrate instead of throwing beer bottles and beating up Santa Claus. Cole Hamels takes the mound with confidence (he is 4-0 with a 1.55 ERA in the postseason) and Scott Kazmir is the great hope for the Rays (though he will have to pitch better than his 4.15 playoff ERA to do so).

Here is an ode to the painful existence of Philadelphia sports fanatics

The Philadelphia Phillies won Tuesday night despite leaving 11 runners on base. On Tuesday the Phillies got the win though. On Wednesday night the Phillies again left 11 runners on base, this time they lost. Meanwhile the Tampa Bay Rays scored four runs on plays that produced an out in addition to a point.

The Rays evened up the World Series at a game a piece and James “Big Game” Shields proved true to his nickname, allowing zero runs in five and two-thirds innings, despite allowing seven hits and walking two. This series has been a weird one so far, but sometimes weird is better, especially for a series that people expected to be one of the least watched in history.

Now here are some funny videos that can make everybody smile, whether you are a Phillies fan, Rays fan, or even the mourning Cubs fans.

A much needed social commentary

Fun with retro video games, reliving history with history

Those issues would be putting the ball in play. The weakness every American League team was expecting to be the Tampa Bay Rays downfall on the way to the post season, in the divisional round, and in the ALCS has finally made an appearance in the first game of the World Series.

The Rays managed just five hits in the entire game and none of those hits came after the fifth inning when they needed them to come back from the 3-2 deficit. The Philadelphia Phillies were no picture perfect team themselves. The team stranded 11 base runners and Ryan Howard went 0 for 4 with three strikeouts. The game wipes out the home field advantage the Rays were counting on. The team has had problems on the road this season and now are playing in an evenly split series.

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The World Series is the culmination of excellence for an entire season. The best teams with the best hitting, the best hitting, and the best fielding bring each season to a close in dramatic fashion. The Rays and the Phillies bring that this season, and though not many baseball fans though they would have an interest in seeing teams from Tampa and Philadelphia playing.

Most thought the Chicago Cubs would pick this season to give a story book ending to their century of bad luck. The team was as talented and as balanced as many of the great teams in history, but in the end the rest of the Los Angeles Dodgers’ batting lineup caught up with Manny Ramirez and swept the Cubbies. This broke plenty of people’s hearts, but inspired a hilarious SNL moment (the best comedy has its roots in tragedy, right).

Over in the American League everybody was sure that the Tampa Bay Rays playoff tickets would just be a fad. The team was less than compelling at the plate, relying on a couple of home run hitters to give their great pitching a thin lead all season long. The Chicago White Sox, the Boston Red Sox or the Los Angeles Angels (the team with the best record in baseball) were supposed to stop the Cinderella season.

Instead, the Rays found a groove and destroyed the White Sox and set the major league record for home runs in the ALCS while taking out the Red Sox (who were trying to become the first team to repeat as champions since the New York Yankees in the late ‘90s).

At the end of this season of great storylines and greater surprises World Series tickets have landed in Philadelphia and Tampa. In celebration of the unexpected and the unappreciated, we are celebrating the top ten catches (sometimes truly unbelievable, with good reason) from every league that uses a ball and a leather glove. Enjoy, be amazed, and trick yourself into believing you could actually make some these plays with breaking something in the process.
 

Ten of the Best Catches in Baseball

The Tampa Bay Rays have been pounding on postseason pitching with stifling swings of the bats. They have already set a record with 13 homeruns in the ALCS. Carlos Pena has been on fire with three home runs in the last three games and Evan Longoria is continuing his stellar rookie season with six postseason homeruns. The team showed it could score with scattered shots in the Wild Card series with the White Sox and is now flexing its muscles with long shots. This may be the most compete offensive team left in the playoffs.

The pitching has been pretty good this postseason as well. For the most par the bullpen has shown that they can hold any lead (despite last night’s breakdown) and the starters have done a solid job. To avoid extending the series against this dangerous Red Sox team the Rays need James Shields to deliver a gem. A win would set up an interesting World Series between two teams that share a struggling history, but more on that later (if the Rays can close this series).

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