2008 ALCS: Red Sox vs Rays

Red Sox at Rays - Fri., Oct. 10 8:00 PM - TBS
Red Sox at Rays - Sat., Oct. 11 7:30 PM - TBS
Rays at Red Sox - Mon., Oct. 13 4:00 PM - TBS
Rays at Red Sox - Tue., Oct. 14 7:30 PM - TBS
Rays at Red Sox - Thu., Oct. 16 7:30 PM - TBS
Red Sox at Rays - Sat., Oct. 18 4:00 PM - TBS
Red Sox at Rays - Sun., Oct. 19 7:30 PM - TBS

red sox in 6, i hope&pray

Rays in 6. I can only accept an Evil Empire Jr win if they go on to lose WS on a Manny HR.

Red Sox in 6 and it's gonna rock bells.

Sox in 7. Gonna be a brutal series.

Yes Sox in 6 sounds about right.

Tough one. I'll say Rays in 7.

rays in 7

Rays in six

Homefield advantage = Rays in 6.

Over/under on number of brushbacks, brawls, and "incidents" this series?

Sox in 5

"I've got my boy David Ortiz and (Mike) Lowell and all those guys," Ramirez said. "I'm pulling for them."

"That was a good trade," Ramirez said. "I think it was the right move. (Bay) can run, play the outfield. He's got six tools. I've got five."

^hero

sox 5

still got mad <3 4 manny

What's the 6th tool? Pavement saw?

sanity

But then a joking Manny Ramirez asks about a fortune of another sort: "You think I'm going to get a full share [of playoff money] from Boston?"

"joking"

Craig (New York, NY): With Lowell out, what do the Sox do at the corners? Youk at 1st and Lowrie at 3rd, with Cora at short? Kotsay take over 1st and move Youk to 3rd?

Rob Neyer: Francona seems to be amazingly flexible, so we'll probably see both of those options and maybe one or two more. By the way, have you ever seen a first baseman with more range than Kotsay showed last night? I think that was the most impressive thing I've ever seen a first baseman do.

I bet if you put Carlos Gomez at first base he'd have a lot of range.

but would miss the ball often.

I'm kind of scared about a Manny vs. BOS Series. I don't think I can spend an entire four-to-seven game series completely drunk, I've got midterms coming up.

Sox in 6.

That's right, Mark!

rays in 5 controversy

sox in 6 and i hope i'm wrong.

^i almost said exactly that btw

A tale of two home fields:

Tropicana Field:
TAM at home: 57-24
TAM vs. BOS at home: 8-1

Fenway Park:
BOS at home: 56-25
BOS vs. TAM at home: 7-2

Home field advantage is going to play a huge role in the outcome of this series, and this is why it was HUGE that the Rays held off the Sox all season long.

Rays in 7!

http://www.adamriff.com/images/postseason_cs.jpg

Hey fuck you!

lol

I didn't originate that; Bam has a bigger budget than Tampa, and Rays don't have a boner for killing bin Laden.

Is that last flourish gonna be a continuing meme, or is it only today?

maybe he will kill bin laden w/his boner

SEX BOMB

01 Sonic Youth Feat. Edwin Jackson - I Killed Bin Laden with My Big Fuckin' Dick.mp3

http://i35.tinypic.com/243f7f5.jpg

this doesnt make sense from the alcs matchup perspective but philly is totally the grumpy old man team

also obv the national league sux

I was shown that after observing that the Phillies ARE like Biden: "qualified" assholes.

philly is way too negative to be biden - biden is an upbeat boston style asshole all the way

but Phillies = Citizens Bank
Joe = Bank of America nee MBNA

however Manny does have more foreign policy exp than Palin.

mccain is always losing/crashing his plane but keeps coming back for more

so the mets are john edwards

haha yes!

no, Mets are more like Gore

clinton/gore is yankees

Giuliani = Yankees

Fuck them both

"Hughes/Kennedy will get us to the playoffs" = "I don't need to campaign in Florida."

Twins = Huckabee
Cubs = HillRod

tigers = mitt romney

Fernando Romney

Mets = Gary Hart

Cubs = Larry Craig

Red Sox at Rays - Fri., Oct. 10 8:00 PM - TBS
Red Sox at Rays - Sat., Oct. 11 7:30 PM - TBS

^^This is rong, btw. Tonight AND tomorrow start at 8:37 EST, which blows blows blows.

MLB site currently has 8:07 for tomorrow.

Huh. NYTimes disagrees.

The Boston Red Sox will add relief pitcher Mike Timlin to their roster for the American League Championship Series and drop reserve infielder Gil Velazquez, manager Terry Francona said Thursday afternoon.

The Rays added right-handed pitcher Edwin Jackson to their roster. Outfielder Eric Hinske has been dropped.

The Boston Red Sox will add designated gasoline slinger Mike Timlin to their roster for the American League Championship Series and drop reserve infielder Gil Velazquez, manager Terry Francona said Thursday afternoon.

no Hinske!? his career line against the sox ain't that bad. relatively speaking.

Makes sense -- he's like the 3rd option off the bench (behind whoever's not starting @ DH or RF), won't see any PT as a starter (w/ Crawford & Floyd healthy), and having an innings-eater in the bullpen for blowouts is always nice to have.

If Mike Timlin sees action in non-blowouts, though...

LOL Mammagamma

Whew, lucky break there.

ATTN DICE-K:

http://i38.tinypic.com/ipd442.png

There goes the no-no, and maybe also the win.

JAM AFTER JAM AFTER JAM
JAM AFTER JAM AFTER JAM

sox rocking endless boogie in the dugout

i should hope so

"The Sox can manufacture runs now that Manny's gone!"

UGH UGH UGH

Massive game for Daisuke.

CAN WE HAVE A G*DDAMN DAY GAME PLEASE

but yeah wai to go dicer

I slept from about the 6th to the 9th -- how the fuck did this go 3-1/2 hrs?

Joe Sheehan (9:13:33 PM PT): Caray, last: "[The Red Sox] made the most of their scoring chances tonight..."

Kill me now.

At least Ron Darling has a pulse -- a TBS graphic brought up a post-season 2-out RBI stat, with Ellsbury having 6. After Buck & Chip gloss over it, Ron THANKFULLY notes that 3 of those RBIs came on that catchable pop-up.

The conviction that Buck & Chip have in their woefully misinformed or RONG opinions just irks the shit out of me. And yes, every time Chip brought up that run-manufacturing canard, I yelled at the TV. Yes, Chip, Pedroia stole 20 of 21 bases AFTER Manny left you nepotistic fuck.

I feel asleep in the 7th, approx 3:30am in London. No way can I catch tonight's game, I'd be dead tomorrow. Fuck this shit. Even if I were in America - what if I had a six-year-old kid who wanted to watch the most important games of the whole season? I'm not letting him stay up til midnight five nights out of the week, that's for damn sure.

But no, no - it's really important for MLB to keep pulling in 1/3 of the audience that a regular-season NFL game gets, rather than 1/4, so as to ensure its fanbase eventually grows old and dies and nobody cares about it any more. For fuck's sake. I think even NFL football is better at scheduling day games.

^^^truth bomb^^^

I fell asleep after the first last night!

Tracer, aka granddad, there hasn't been a World Series day game since 1984, which means an entire generation of kids since that time have not been watching the most important games of the year and yet baseball is still popular and is rolling in cash. It's 2008, that genie isn't going back in the bottle no matter how much you might want it to, and besides, we all know that the real problem isn't the start time, it's the length of the games.

http://deadspin.com/5062190/tampa-bay-rays-still-have-a-bit-of-youthful-arrogance

http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/deadspin/2008/10/redsox.JPG

FINISH ONE HITTER

rays manager desperately holding back the puke

srsly check him out

Upcoming Sager Pouting Beckett report please

dude didnt u hear abt becketts new swag

The cheeks do appear a little puffier tonight.

PEDDI CRAKK

When you get games down to two hours lemme know. Otherwise start games at 7:05 THX BYE

I AM GOING TO BED

(at 2:14 GMT) (OK fine, BST)

ll thins complaining from europe is kinda beside the point

JASON BAY BEST PLAYER

PEDDI CRAKK

it's finally spreading!!!!

: O

chip SHUT THE FUCK UP about them not hitting home runs w/out Manny you dumb stupid FUCK god

A more DYNAMIC lineup

Questionable decision by Rays (8 p.m. ET)
Like most teams, the Rays play a number of videos to stir up their fans, but one seems a little questionable: it features Hulk Hogan shouting for the fans to get fired up. Maybe it's just me, but a big league baseball team really ought to avoid using a notorious steroid abuser in official club promotions.

--Jim Caple

writers should have their keyboards broken

OK Now I've Seen Everything (TM)

Buck knows precisely what is being said during every conversation.

Weren't Hogan and Brian Knobbs the only Rays fans like 5 years ago? Give the man some slack, jesus.

i recommend everybody watch at least one red sox playoff game at a mediocre house party full of 20-year-old northeastern kids

^suggest ban

every shot of rays crowd right now is all raccoon-eyed disinterested hags

nice!

I am a great guesser I mean prognosticator:

Also something to consider, regarding the nip-and-tuck nature of the Rays / Red Sox season series (which Tampa Bay won 10-8) — new roster addition Edwin Jackson actually started FOUR of the eighteen games, and earned three losses (thanks to a sparking 5.48 ERA, and a whopping 37 baserunners in 23 innings). I imagine Jackson’s presence on the roster will only be noticed during damage-control situations. The same, I hope, goes for the newest old Sox face on the roster, Mike Timlin, the proud bearer of two THREE extra-inning losses to these Rays.

ia, so glad i did not watch this entire game

FREE THE MAYOR

FREE BYRD

"We're not frustrated," Timlin said. "You come down to somebody else's place and you split, we're still looking pretty good."

when Timlin came in, I noticed my cable popup said I was watching "Dumb and Dumber".

hey HOW BOUT THAT SPEEDY COLUMBIA AMERICAN STUDIES MAJOR

Sheehan:

There were 34,904 tickets sold to last night's ALCS Game Two in Tampa Bay, and you just know that somewhere among that throng, someone was seeing their first baseball game.... That person is ruined. They can't go back, because nothing will ever match that first experience. It's the baseball equivalent of losing your virginity to twin cheerleaders. From Sweden.

Is that how you became gay?

I talked to Haruki Murakami yesterday, and he is rooting for the Rays.

We got a game tonight!

4:37 start means batters havin' fun with shadows.

Perrotto last night on BP:

Francona is leaning toward starting left-handed hitting utility infielder Alex Cora at shortstop Monday against Rays right-hander Matt Garza instead of switch-hitting rookie Jed Lowrie, who is 0-for-6 in the series and hit .222/.308/.344 in 212 regular-season plate appearances against righties and .338/.409/.525 in 94 plate appearances against left-handers. Cora’s regular-season numbers were .266/.378/.363 in 149 plate appearances against right-handers and .286/.333/.286 in 30 plate appearances against lefties.

–Rays manager Joe Maddon plans to get two extra right-handed bats into the lineup Monday against Red Sox left-hander Jon Lester as Rocco Baldelli will start in right field in place of Gabe Gross and Willy Aybar will be the designated hitter instead of Cliff Floyd. During the regular season, Baldelli hit .292/.382/.500 in 55 plate appearances against lefties while Aybar batted .266/.350/.444 in 140 plate appearances versus southpaws.

after josh beckett's first start in the series, he went from 8th all time to 19th in of postseason era. no data on where he ended up after the other night's debacle. of course i hasten to add that he was pitching to the score but boston wasn't hitting to the score, so he remains the Greatest Postseason Pitcher of All Time.

lol 5-pitch 1st for Lester against anxious Rays.

they must be ASCAIRT again, right Big Papi?

xpost I think it was actually 4 pitches!

Right now he might be the best pitcher in baseball at this time.

Against who you called the best left fielder in the league!

Right now. At this time. Who is pitching at the moment. On the mound. Currently.

care to revise that?

One thing we forget is that they won their division.

They think they can play with anyone.

asdofhasdfjasdlkdfyhadfsf

Don't think for a minute that this game (which is in the 3rd inning) is over.

upton is stunting so hard

v inspiring 2 me

Do you have a torn labrum in your shoulder?

it's paul byrd time :-O

paul byrd tyme maybe

lol @ IRL friend that was wondering where TBA would get their offense

Folks that need to be demoted in Boston's lineup: Ellsbury (to lower 3rd / bench), Ortiz (to 6th), Varitek (to Designated Fielder) (maybe)

haha except they pull varitek for a defensive replacement every game

before this game when they were introducing boston's lineup i thought "what the fuck is this?... well i guess they are in the alcs. and they are boston... i guess they'll be alright". right after that upton hr i immediately thought "man this team is really kind of fucked aren't they?"

crisp is a better hitter than ellsbury from both sides probably so it's kind of annoying to see him on the bench or at the bottom of the order while ellsbury gets the leadoff spot

why can't my internet handle even 400k streaming video argggh

it's funny how quickly the net nerdrags have moved on from Billy Beane to Theo Epstein and now to Andrew Friedman.

if there's something more frustrating than watching lester give up jacks to the rays it's watching it on awful stop-start video that just won't 'stream' (and the intermittent audio stammering through is from the tbs feed).

(I've switched to the weei audio feed)

dear mod: "moved on" != "written about"

tho it is pretty shocking that folks aren't writing about Billy Beane when his team's not in the postseason

I'm stunned actually

hey a CHUCK LAMAR shoutout

thanks for the #1 picks homie

Have been busy all night with no chance to watch this -- sort of glad about that from the looks of things

fuck you baseball

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v212/etienne_saint

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v212/etienne_saint/atumor.jpg

Longoria is kind of fucking awesome

Hey look it's another home run

ace: beckett lester matsuzaka

i'm more confident in lester to bounce back in his next start than beckett though

edwin jackson with an 8 run cushion.

*nailbiter.gif*

trying to think of what the columns will look like now:

Josh Beckett isn't it.

Jon Lester isn't it.

Curt Schilling, he of the blog concerned more with politics than with baseball, certainly isn't it.

So who is it?

That's right.

Daisuke Matsuzaka, the once-maligned free-agent acquisition.

Consider:

In this, his sophomore year on these shores, he finished second to Cliff Lee in winning percentage.

His batting average against was a lowly .211.

He made a stingy 100 pitches per start while averaging well over 5 innings per game.

Grit informed every pitch he threw, as he challenged hitter after hitter with a dazzling array of pitches, so dazzling that he himself occasionally fell into command trouble.

But when you're an ace, command trouble sometimes comes with the territory.

Nolan Ryan.

Randy Johnson.

Carlos Zambrano?

Do those names mean anything to you?

Thought so.

Dice-K is the true ace of this rotation, the most dependable member of a group that is going to need to rely on him more than ever if Boston wants to come back to win this series against the suddenly-tough Tampa Bay Rays.

Time for one of the best pitchers in the game to take his legend to the next level.

omar did you write that?? pitch perfect!

If nothing else you have mastered the two-word "let me pause here for effect" paragraph.

Did Plaschke move to the east coast?

that shit writes ITSELF

Are people REALLY that shocked at TB beating the Sox?

You shd wait for folks to get over the shock of the Yankees not being in the playoffs before you have them deal w/ the Rays leading the series.

<3 omar

BALDELLI

mitochondrial headlines

hey guys did you hear? the Red Sox went from overwhelming favorites to underpowered has-beens! whoda thunk it?

tonight let it be sonnastine amirite

Wow -- I didn't realize that my three stooges are hitless in the ALCS so far! AWESOME!

Tonight, let it be a save-situation game. Preferably for the home team.

More Baldelli Bros please

There's a bro? HAY MAURA

He would be on the wrong side of 11

http://www.projo.com/redsox/content/sp_bb_dante_baldelli_14_10-14-08_VOBU1SI_v11.3d4db99.html

ROCCO BICHETTE

Fuckin' guineas amirite?

DON'T GO THERE CHIEF

That's gotta be some peanut allergy.

jake (boston): with the collapse of beckett, lester, and buchholz this year do you see the Red Sox making a play for CC in 09 to pair him with Dice-K?

Joe Sheehan: Collapse? Of Lester? Good god, man.

I do think the Sox will be in on Sabathia. They have a lot of money to spend, and what they really need--a catcher--isn't out there.

The Red Sox need a stopper.

It used to be Pedro Martinez.

He's long gone.

Then it was Curt Schilling.

He might as well be retired.

Daisuke Matsuzaka?

Inconsistent.

Lester?

His last playoff start has proved he's not ace material.

Let's not even talk about Beckett.

Who does that leave?

No one in Boston, that's for certain. It's time to finally look outside the farm system for our next Number One. And where do the Red Sox look?

The X marking the spot on the map is located a thousand miles to the west.

Milwaukee.

CC Sabathia.

300 pounds of prime ace wrapped in a clutch bun. You don't have to look any further than that.

Time to stop being stingy. Open up the wallet, Theo.

This team needs to ride this CC back to the top of the American League where it belongs.

dear god. it's too real.

hahaha

300 pounds of prime ace wrapped in a clutch bun.

hahaha holy shit

Yeah, omar, you can write that NOW.

But can you do it in the clutch, when it really matters?

That remains to be seen.

But you know what has already been seen?

This is a team game.

Tell me, what would you rather have? A lineup of one Shasta and 8 gabbnebs, or 9 polyphonics?

I know what my answer would be.

I would probably go with 8 gabbnebs among those choices.

Boston manager Terry Francona is giving the slumping Jacoby Ellsbury the night off and playing Coco Crisp in center field for the Red Sox. J.D. Drew, meanwhile, will take over for Ellsbury in the leadoff spot.

Drew hit only .172 (5 for 29 in eight games) at leadoff this season. But he walked 10 times and had a .385 on base percentage.

Drew isn't much of a base stealing threat at the top of the order. Then again, nobody runs off Andy Sonnanstine, tonight's starting pitcher for the Rays. Opponents stole a total of one base in four attempts against the Tampa Bay righty this season.

"That doesn't lead you to think we're going to run all over this guy,'' Francona said.

--Jerry Crasnick

Does Sonnanstine have some insane pick-off move or something? Only 4 attempts (on a right handed pitcher?!?!) seems crazy.

Yes, and I think he works real fast too.

9 attempts in 2007 w/ 8 CS!!!?!? That's brutal.

time to fire up the phillies/rays 2008 world series thread?

<3 pena & longoria!

speaking of brutal, i think wakefield may have just pitched the season away

xposts

Jesus. I could crush that knuckle ball.

knucklelol

I would be surprised to see CC in Boston, to be honest. Seems like he's more of a smaller market kind of guy. He's said as much in interviews in the past couple of weeks.

Meanwhile, I really hope the Rays win this slo-pitch softball game tonight.

i'd think he'd want to stay in the NL since he seems to enjoy hitting

Supposedly he's talking to SF about a home town discount (ZITO LOL).

that would be amazing, but I dont think the giants will do it. plus they need bats like a cave. that was horrific. sorry.

Home field advantage is going to play a huge role in the outcome of this series, and this is why it was HUGE that the Rays held off the Sox all season long.

― ▒▒▓▓████▓▓▒▒▓▓████▓▓▒▒▓▓████▓▓▒▒▓▓████▓▓▒▒▓▓████▓▓▒▒ (Steve Shasta), Tuesday, October 7, 2008 6:52 PM (1 week ago)

: )

is there a mercy rule?

wow, first obama, now this. what's next? extraterrestrial life? I dont know if I can handle all of this at once.

http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/0al90DpcAZ7FO/610x.jpg

NOW the Sox have Tampa Bay where they want them.

hey guys, i was watching the election. what did i miss?

this
http://i208.photobucket.com/albums/bb195/THIS_IS_JI/Cap35-2.jpg

haha David - that is the sort of thing my dad used to say when wade boggs got two strikes against him

http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/articles/2008/10/15/this_time_hard_to_find_a_ray_of_hope/

Fenway was so quiet you could hear a dynasty drop.

A DYNASTY!!! LOLnessy.

The wordplay slays.

Little doubt they'd be better off if they were sittin' by the dock of Tampa Bay.

wow, first obama, now this. what's next? extraterrestrial life?

Guy Maddin's My Winnipeg to win Best Picture Oscar.

I'd really like to know if the '69 Mets (and '90 Reds? '87 Twins?) got this much "OMG, KIDS NOT WILTING UNDER PRESSURE" TV astonishment.

Twins did not IIRC, but they weren't that young either. Marlins 2003 version def. got this though.

so, the epiphany that experience doesn't matter much hits Chip Caray when?

It probably already hit him, but you'll never hear him say it.

well after he figures out that the post-Manny Red Sox didn't turn into the Whitey Herzog Cardinals

Pro-Ray / anti-Sox fans: rooting for a hometown celebration, or rooting for the series to end on Thursday?

since I'm not in Tampa and the Sox came back from 1-3 last year (which I had utterly forgotten), FINISH IT

Rooting for the series to end on Sunday with a Rays win (more pro-Rays, pro-long series, and anti-Beckett/Papelbon than anti-Sox).

i'm sort of rooting for the sox to lose for some reason - i don't know why! they're my team! i think it's the late nights..

they'll be HUNGRY next year (and might get a catcher who can hit)

Joe Sheehan in his BP chat suggested the Sox should make a play for Victor Martinez -- doubt he'd be available, and definitely doubt Shapiro would sell V-Mart low, but if he's out there DO THAT RIGHT NOW THEO.

I actually suggested that the Mets trade for him in 2008... let me see if I can find the post.

3rd post: midseason 2008 trading and rumor mill

http://i208.photobucket.com/albums/bb195/THIS_IS_JI/Cap35-2.jpg

"what did you say about my suit? say it again!"

fuck haters this guy's fashion rules^^

never

this guy's suit isn't a patch on any of lindsey nelson's LCD-esque suits.

http://i36.tinypic.com/2w59i5s.jpg

pistachio sherbert

unfortuantely, everything he says suggests the wardrobe is consigned to him at the home.

Those of you who are only now being introduced to the greatness of the Sager wardrobe, I really pity you. He is one of the many reasons that Inside the NBA is such a treat.

NEVER

Joe (Tampa): Come on Klaw, you keep posting these absurb trade proposals but don't have an opinion on the Shields - Kaz switch??

Keith Law: I've answered that in a few places ... I don't like Kazmir in Fenway, I think Shields' home/road splits are overblown, and I think whoever did the umpiring assignments for MLB should be fired for assigning Cousins to a Tampa series.

get madder g80 ITT clowning craig sager

thankig u eman i'll just look at all the pics of dope outfits on that thread

lovin sager's bedazzled tie 2nite btw

that baron davis video doesnt work anymore :(

loooooooooooooooooooooooooool rip sox

rip dice-k the ace

It's a TWO RUN lead! Wait until it's > 4 before getting out the party favors.

OK go ahead :(

But hey THE TAMPA BAY DEVIL RAYS are in the WORLD SERIES (give or take 6 innings)!!!!!!!!!!

:D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D

WOW. "Women beat their men, and men beat on the Sox," apparently.

My TV is in storage so I'm listening to the MLB radio feed of the Tampa Bay broadcast, and they just said that the Rays have hit 19 post-season HR's, which is one less than the record of 20, hit by my boy Barry Bonds and Rich Aurilla. Question: Aurilla? Really? Was he juicin'? Or did Bonds hit like 15 of those?

Maybe next year.

The old familiar refrain returns once again to the empty greenery of old Fenway. The future uncertain. The past unimportant. The present too painful to contemplate.

Red Sox Nation is in a state of crisis.

But this crisis could have been averted.

Oh, we can say hindsight is 20-20, but it's clear now that this particular Boston team is full of holes.

A weak rotation.

Young players incapable of delivering in the clutch.

Washed-up veterans.

But more than that, the soul of this team has evaporated. Or maybe it was ripped out. Look over there and you'll see a hole.

Where?

That's right.

Left field.

A hole about six feet tall, shifting awkwardly around on the grass, disappearing into the Green Monster wall, a hole being a hole.

Manny.

Sure, Jason Bay has played his part in trying to make us forget a future Hall-of-Famer, but it's a little like watching Josh Beckett trying to play the role of ace in place of the Pedro-shaped spot on the mound. Only one thing you can say to that.

Nice try, but not good enough.

Open up that checkbook, Tito. Bring Manny home, where he belongs.

We'll welcome him with open arms.

^^stuck the landing

It will go down as one of the dumbest moves a team has made in a long time....it's The Curse of Maneulito.

ps: like some of the players on the team, but in general, I can't stand the sox or boston on the whole.

sager's disappointingly normalish tonight

i miss #24 hugely but he wouldn't have been able to score 10 runs a game or whatever in this series to keep them in it.

the fenway crowd actually looks really cheerful right now. odd.

PAPI!!!

curious

does kazmir ever make it to the 7th or 8th inning?

He went 7 tonight, didnt he?

6

Listening to the game on ESPN radio:
Miller says something like "This is the first time the Rays have hit 10 homeruns over 3 consecutive games!" [in a wow! ain't that amazing? tone]
Morgan dimisses it immediately, chuckling [in an 'O come on, Joe' tone] "Lots of teams haven't done that!"
I look it up and of course EVERY OTHER TEAM HAS DONE IT!!!

firejoemorgan.com, etc.

this is regrettable

uh-oh......they're playing 90's rave music at the yaaaaad.

TIE GAME

Coco was epic there.

JAM AFTER JAM AFTER JAM

YESSSSSSSSSSSS

HOLY FUCK!

YEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSS !!!!!!!!!

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN YOUR 2009 AL CHAMPIONS THE BOSTON RED SOX

LOL at those who left in the seventh.

JD Drew cuts such a nineteen-forties figure when he hits the ball.

lol

JD Drew: "Seven runs, we knew we could make that up."

EXPERIENCE >>>>>>>>>>>>> EXUBERANCE

Every time

Every time?

wau

longoria half-assed that throw -- he had plenty of time to get on stride

man i tuned into this just in time!

Why the fuck did Madden leave Wheeler in there for the entire inning? What a clown ... I am taking away the MOY right now

Red Sox at Rays - Sat., Oct. 18 4:00 PM - TBS

8:07 now

well hey now

man i tuned into this just in time!

― The Cursed Return of the Dastardly Thermo Thinwall, Friday, October 17, 2008 4:23 AM (9 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

did you click over from sportscenter like me? just in time for ole glass jaw drew to ruin things

i turned on the radio (yes, that primitive device you may recall, like a tv but with no picture) just as Ortiz mashed that home run.

holy shit!

man i tuned into this just in time!

― The Cursed Return of the Dastardly Thermo Thinwall, Thursday, October 16, 2008 6:23 PM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

me too! <3 <3 <3 best drive home from work in a long time.

loooooooooooooooooooooooooool rip sox

― ♪☺♫☻ (gr8080), Thursday, October 16, 2008 2:12 PM (7 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

this is a v v uncharacteristic post for me. i'm ALWAYS the optimistic "baseball is never over till the last out" kind of fan-- so glad i was wrong here

Red Sox at Rays - Sat., Oct. 18 4:00 PM - TBS

8:07 now

fuckyou fuckyou fuckyou fuckyou!!! my dad is coming to LONDON tonight and we had plans to watch this tomorrow ~>:(

Aw man that sucks! You should just keep him on U.S. time until Sunday.

Aggggh why did I stop watching this? Oh yeah because the Sox looked like a bunch of zombies playing in front of another horrible Fenway playoff crowd and I didn't want to watch the Rays clinch on our field. I will never, ever understand baseball.

That being said, START LESTER ON SATURDAY!!!

rays pls do not make me have to root for the phils in the WS

That being said, START LESTER ON SATURDAY!!!

Nah, we need Lester for game 7, DON'T YOU SEE?

Cue Dr. Morbius' "I fell asleep in the 7th" comment in 3, 2, 1, ...

somehow i watched this whole thing - i guess i didnt turn it off cause it was a clinching game - i certainly didnt believe the sox were coming back

Actually I took my nap from the 5th til the 8th! Missed Ortiz's HR but saw Drew's and the rest.

Lester is the right call for Sat but Tito won't do it, and it may be their undoing.

Lol @ nap

i gave up during the 6th >:(

wait til you're watching your 38th postseason.

http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1929/B10120PHA1929.htm

Looks like a BATTLE OF THE BULLPENS

i seem to have submitted my latest column a little too early~!@

let's remember if the Sox do pull this off, there's a silver lining.

I am the only person to have picked the Rays and the Phils to advance so when the Rays clinch, I will be teh winner even if Phils win da WS. B-)

―(Steve Shasta), Thursday, October 16, 2008 5:53 PM

For the record, I picked the Rays in 6.

I also picked your Mets to choke harder than last year, which I'm pretty sure happened? I can't remember anymore...

I'm pretty sure they choked harder last year.

Shasta is officially duller than Buck Martinez.

Guys a friend of mine was telling me the Rays looked skittish and tight yesterday and are about to choke and supported his position by liberally quoting MIKE FRANCESCA.

i seem to have submitted my latest column a little too early~!@

― omar little, Friday, October 17, 2008 1:05 PM

http://images.encarta.msn.com/xrefmedia/sharemed/targets/images/pho/t029/t029206a.jpg

Sheehan:

Just behind "where was Trever Miller?" is this question: where was Fernando Perez? Maddon doesn't typically take Gross out for defense, but three critical plays in the game all happened in right field, and Gross didn't make any of them. Would Perez have dove for Pedroia's single, made a strong throw on Kotsay, gotten back faster to snag Drew's line drive? I'm not sure. I know he has more speed than Gross does, which certainly couldn't have hurt his chances. Set aside the seventh-inning play; Gross' awful throw in the eighth allowed the tying run to score on a play that should have been close, and his terrible jump on Drew's single let the winning run in. You can't tell the story of this game without judging his defense.

"Maddon doesn't typically take Gross out for defense"

^^^ ding ding ding so shut the fuck up Joe. Coulda, woulda, shoulda.

Sheehan's bit on the Papelbon use was even more bizarre. You put Papelbon in because not getting down even further is your season right there! There is NO higher leverage situation.

Sheehan criticizes managers for bringing in their closers too late in almost every one of his postseason columns for the past five years, which makes that Papelbon bit even more WTF.

Especially since he was losing his shit over the Rays not playing lefty/righty matchups with David Ortiz with a six run lead! So pitching to Ortiz leading a 7-1 game is a crucial matchup that's worthy of using the best arm in the pen, but pitching to Upton down 0-5 in the same inning isn't??

He was also wrong about starting Kazmir in place of Shields (you want that off day after Kazmir!)

so which beckett shows up tomorrow?

(my money is on the shitty one)

He was also wrong about starting Kazmir in place of Shields (you want that off day after Kazmir!)

In his defense (probably the only place he can be defended in that piece), the majority of folks I heard bloviating about this were saying the same thing.

I'm hoping Schilling ruins AND fixes Beckett's ankle sheath before his Game 6 start.

folks i'll have to miss tonight's game b/c free babysitting has been offered and therefore a date with my wife is in order. let's hope they force a game seven.

BLOOPERS

What the fuck, if I wanted Dick Clark I'd go to Forest Lawn and dig him up!

I'm starting to have serious doubts about the Welch's juice girl's ability to come through in this kind of situation.

WHAT THE SHIT TBS

STEVE HARVEY IS SOME BULLSHIT

I wish I was watching this too, but man do I love a good fiasco. The MLB.com hot corner thing's working fwiw.

http://forums.tbs.com/jive/tbs/forum.jspa?forumID=81 on some next level shit

oh BJ

hahahaha

FinallyFast.com!!!!

Finally an update
Posted: Oct 18, 2008 8:24 PM
Click to reply to this thread

Twenty minutes later and you finally put a scroll on? Stop having gay *** *** in the control room and fix this ****...

success

0-1

Worse than the Heidi game? YOU MAKE THE CALL.

lol karma

fuck u mlb

holy fuck you guys now i'm never gonna know how that ep of steve harvey ends? anybody hook me up w/a torrent please tia :)

ts: pleasant saturday afternoon game vs 8:07pm when anyone in their right mind is either eating dinner, getting laid, going to a party or preparing to do one or all three of these things

present company excluded of course

"You haven't missed much."

THIS IS POSTSEASON BASEBALL ON TBS

xxp - cedric dies

YOUK

xp - noooooooooooo! not cedric!!

I'm up, watching this. Sounds like it was a good thing I thought the game started at 8:37.

"Remember when Pedro came into that game, and pitched 6 no-hit innings with curves and change-ups? That's what Beckett needs to do tonight."

It's the thought that counts!

so forgive me for not having cable - but what did tbs do exactly? did they not go to the game until some cruddy tv show was over?

Apparently something blew up in Atlanta HQ that prevented them from broadcasting the feed from Tampa. One report had it as a power outage in Atl. But they were able to pump out bloopers and Steve Harvey while they worked on it. It was several minutes before they even started running a "technical difficulties" crawl.

They were in the middle of the pregame show when the feed went down -- it was out from about 7:50 to 8:30 eastern.

ah. thx!

key words for your piece, omar: gutsy, gritty, grinder, gamer.

And that's just for the umpire!

take another commercial break, why don't you

steal a base, steal a taco!

i'm glad he saved that hr for the post season!

I'm glad he saved it for after Navarro got thrown out!

...trying to steal a taco.

TEK!

If I wasn't alone, whoever would have been with me would have heard me predict that homer. Ah, well.

EXPERIENCE got them the 2-out hits.

oh shut the fuck up buck

http://www.game7sports.com/images/game7logo2.gif

"People were in a little uproar because they thought we didn't put the game on. They were just screaming at us to put it on and try all the other stations -- Fox, TNT," Fusco said.

Finally, Fusco said the staff had to use a PA system to explain the technical problems to the capacity crowd of 700.

Some customers yelled for them to at least put the game on the radio, but the bar didn't have one.

"People watched 'Steve Harvey' until it came on," Fusco said.

Gutsy.

Gritty.

Grinder.

Gamer.

Any of these four words could have described Josh Beckett's masterful Game 6 performance tonight, but to Red Sox Nation, another "G" word would suffice.

Godsend.

Facing a hostile capacity crowd in the intimidating, catwalk-encircled confines of Tropicana Field, Beckett faced his demons and shut them down just as effectively as he cooled the once-hot bats of Rays stars Evan Longoria and Carlos Pena, who looked more like Eva Longoria and Carla Pena as the Sox ace flummoxed them and the rest of the Tampa lineup with a dazzling array of curveballs and fastballs.

He didn't completely shut down BJ Upton, who saved his best for first in this crucial game, hitting an unimportant home run that gave the Rays a brief 1-0 lead. This may have underlined the key difference between this and the seasoned Sox squad.

Timing.

The clutch timing of Kevin Youkilis, whose second inning home run tied the game and rendered Upton's long ball useless.

The clutchier timing of Youkilis' groundout RBI in the third gave Boston its first and second to last lead of the night.

And the clutchiest timing of future Hall-of-Fame catcher Jason Varitek's (no, I don't think it's too early in his career to say that) lead-seizing home run in the top of the sixth, which was all that the Boston 'pen would need.

But in the end, it all came down to Josh Beckett once again.

Read this line.

5 innings. 4 hits. 1 walk. 3 strikeouts. Only 2 runs.

Only one word for that.

Great.

That was pretty much experience--in a bar, on my third Jack and coke, with my friends, and we're all watching Steve Harvey. I had this feeling of powerlessness, I kept on thinking "we should go to another bar" but obviously that was not the problem. Anyway, two things from tonight:

--fuck TBS

--lol @ Rays and their sad "fans"

xpost over another brilliant Omar Plaschke article

lmao @ clutchiest

i for one thoroughly enjoyed being ambushed by steve harvey

btw is there a more fitting metaphor for the way this series has turned than b.j. upton's majestic home run getting impeded by a creaky, old-ass catwalk

http://forums.tbs.com/jive/tbs/forum.jspa?forumID=81 on some next level shit

― govern yourself accordingly, Saturday, October 18, 2008 8:22 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark

Thread (Author)
Boycott frank tv (bmike)
Boycott Applebees (bmike)
TBS 5ucks high pitch Eric's balls (bmike)
Boycott Chevy (bmike)
Boycott iPhone (bmike)
Fock you tbs (bmike)
**** YOU TBS (bmike)
TBS: Very Dogshit. (GET_BENT_TBS)
I WILL KICK BUCK MARTINEZ IN HIS GUNT (GET_BENT_TBS)

*Stands, Applauds* at Omar.

I thought it was a mistake to not start Lester yesterday because if Beckett has nothing again and you lose 10-1 then it looks stupid to have saved your best pitcher for a Game 7 that doesn't happen. Of course now that Boston won they look like geniuses for having their best pitcher ready for Game 7.

*Stands, Applauds* at Omar.

― Doghouse O RLY (G00blar), Sunday, October 19, 2008 6:46 AM (2 hours ago) Bookmark

TBS: Very Dogshit. (GET_BENT_TBS)
I WILL KICK BUCK MARTINEZ IN HIS GUNT (GET_BENT_TBS)

haha i like this guy's style

i just assumed that it was time warner cable's fault, not tbs's

I wonder how many innings TBS will show tonight?

Srsly, I can't laugh at that stuff omar. As someone posting on Posnanski's blog on Friday put it, if the Sox win we are going to have to listen to a whole lotta shit.

CLUTCH MOMENTUM VETERAN INEXPERIENCED TIGHT

ESPN MLB front page:

Last Shot
The Rays, once up 3-1 in the ALCS, face an all-or-nothing Game 7.

The Red Sox, once down 3-1 in the ALCS, face... what?

IN HIS GUNT

plz drop 'gunt' into ur next piece, omar

Quite the preview on ESPN.com:

ason Varitek, Lester's batterymate, snapped an 0-for-14 slide with his tiebreaking, sixth-inning solo homer off James Shields on Saturday. Varitek is batting .143 (10-for-70) against Tampa Bay this season, including the playoffs, but his veteran leadership has been invaluable in during this latest comeback.

You just can't put a value on hitting .143 against a team you're facing in a do-or-die game! You have no idea how valuable he is until you see him in person!

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=gunt

And if Boston loses tonight, I'm looking forward to articles about how they would have won if Manny had been around to keep them loose when facing the younger, hungrier Rays.

xpost

http://i.tbs.com/v5cache/TBS/images/static/2007/top_tbslogo.gif

I had three pints and a big vietnamese dinner, then took an hour and half nap. Now I'm drinking coffee at 1am. Go Sox!

What's with Garza's ear?

oic

Earplugs to drown out the noise of the home crowd?

Those should come in handy when there's a pop-up

Earplugs to hold in the Jeezy & TI he listened to prior to gametime.

little dusty got all of that one

LASER SHOW

WE JUST SENT A MESSAGE TO THE RAYS! THE MESSAGE IS WE ARE TRYING TO WIN.

why sutcliffe why sutcliffe why sutcliffe why?????

Pena needs to remind his teammates that this game tonight is about baseball

Re-remind, that is

I wonder what Ortiz' undershirt says.

Hard to do when half of them were playing Guitar Hero at the time.

I gotta say that it sucks to be rooting against these Rays. I like 'em.

Ortiz t-shirt:

http://6164238100024761004-a-1802744773732722657-s-sites.googlegroups.com/site/dabombashirt/Home/Shirt.jpg?attredirects=0

Someone hire Buck Martinez next year please.

And please, Buck, hire Chip as a bench coach.

Earplugs for Chip amirite

why sutcliffe why sutcliffe why sutcliffe why?????

― Doghouse O RLY (G00blar), Monday, October 20, 2008 12:13 AM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Oh fuck, Sutcliffe's only on the mlb international feed. You guys don't get him!

He has been inflicted on international postseason audiences for years

(My coffee came at 22:30 - I may have jumped the GUNT)

you know what - fuck the Rays

that's right I said it

haha

btw I'm glad you guys are fighting the good fight against "intangibles" but being a good catcher isn't intangible, and it doesn't depend on a good BA

does Garza always look like such a maniac? if not his greenies are kickin in hardcore

beautiful throw by Bartlett holy shit

I think he's got a piece of wood in his mouth and is spitting it out splinter by splinter

crawfod's song is mia?!?

crawford

i guess so! that is pretty cool.

i fricking love Alex Cora, what a stop and throw to get him out

however if this game is close, late, and Casey is not batting for him i will hurl things, violently

more cowbell

ouch

Ortiz's line against every pitcher in the known universe is always only ___ for ___, but with ____ homers.

"Uncontrollable Urge" for Baldelli...
o_O

nice play by pedroia

WTF Cora.

That is NOT a seventh-game worthy at-bat, I'm sorry.

How many first strike pitches have we seen today? I understand the likes of Manny looking at first pitches in the strike zone, but it's not for everyone.

that's the second junk-swing double for the rays

FARK

beginning of the end?

WTF CORA

argh

are we on delay in the UK? cora's bork just happened

divine intervention please.

yeah you must be on delay tracer.

Was that Dick Vitale?

hahaha Dickie V!

just emailed mlb at the address given on channel five (uk) to complain about rick sutcliffe and got this:

I am currently out of the office covering the 2008 Post Season . If you need to speak to someone right away please contact Angie Pimentel at 212-931-7522 or angel✧✧✧.pimen✧✧✧@m✧✧.c✧✧. If this is transmission related, please contact Bob McNamara at 508-477-7524 or bob✧✧✧@aaatele✧✧✧.t✧. I will have access to email and can be reched via cell phone at 917-796-5182. Thank you!

************************
Catch all the excitement of the World Series on FOX.

There's Only One October!

zibarre.^

can be reched via cell phone can be reched via cell phone can be reched via cell phone can be reched via cell phone can be reched via cell phone can be reched via cell phone can be reched via cell phone can be reched via cell phone

WHEW

yeah, whew. still, this game is not healthy for me.

pedroia will do something now.

"It's hard to look at a guy and judge the size of his heart"
"That's the biggest muscle we've got, is it not?"

this game is unreal. garza ONE HIT thru 6???? WOW. My lower back is in pain from clenching my buttocks from all the tension on the field.

pedroia kind of resembles spuds mckenzie.

heh.

not through six yet

:)

dominican intervention please.

garza's pitched really well against the sox all season as far as i can remember

breathe papi.

double fuck

ugh

OH YEAH.

worst jump ever

papi has become useless at hitting anything that's not down and in. if this was MLB The Show it would be like eight ice-blue cold zones and one red-hot hot zone and it's like, why ever throw it there?

I do not think Five in the UK is on a delay. If it is then NASN has an identical delay by coincidence.

yeah basically he's relying on the pitcher to miss at this point.

good inning boys let's go get em

lester is a fucking golden god. what else do you want against these, your tampa bay rays? six innings, five hits, two runs. start hitting the damn ball, red sox.

lol they just read my email out live on channel five

Keep fucking up Red Sox!

lol at tracer's email!

Rays are being very aggressive. It's what's gotten them where they are and I appreciate that they're still running with that game plan, but sometimes it backfires. You simply cannot have a 1-2-3 inning with a one-run lead in a game like this.

and xposts re tracer on ortiz: and that's where the missing-manny factor really makes itself felt. used to be that getting both of those guys out was a major PROJECT. now there's bay with some holes, and papi with holes everywhere, so the pitcher can get by with a much narrower repertoire.

they unsurprisingly did not include my sutcliffe rant

that is sadly true, collardio

BRING ON THE BULLPEN

ok this is a start

kotsay chill

Wow. Maddon may have just sealed his fate.

i hate to say it but i was okay with literally anything short of a gidp out of kotsay there

kotsay is giving himself a boo boo.

jesus kotsay!

haha i hear you gya

not as impressive as the apocryphal time when jim rice broke his own bat on a check swing that didn't touch the ball, but still

c'mon tek

cmon tek

ughughugh

goddamn the bottom third of the sox lineup is brutal

why do i watch.

Garza is sporting an immensely massive pair tonight!

PINCH

HITTER

also you guys stfu about missing Manny

yay garza

eh, i bet sean casey strikes out there too

haha ok David R. i'm from the melodramatic school of fandom.

unless Manny can piss on Papi's wrist / older age and make it better

xpost

a quick google search finds bruce hurst and johnny pesky both testifying to the rice check swing thing - pesky says it happened twice, once in detroit and once "later"

if cora hits next inning i'll eat this blanket

Gotta love the intangibles of having your catcher strike out with RISP late in a one-run game.

at least i still have abiding faith in the tampa bullpen's ability to pitch themselves out of a lead here

just hold the goddamn line lester

haha i'm wearing a blanket over my head right now. xposts

o shi

welp

not so ha ha now

put it on teh board. oh YES.

"compared to joe dimaggio"

Garza's gonna go back out...

lester deserves betta

this is still a "quality start" for lester tho

exactly.

you really think lester is thinking about a quality start right now?

I don't remember ever seeing so many strikeouts on balls in the dirt which then require a play at first base in one series.

xpost obv not, but he's playing 1000% better than two thirds of the sox lineup.

hahaha gross in as a defensive sub

why is cora hitting???????

thats why

ok i'll take it!

cuz francona sees into the future

xxpost

no no no

what the shit START WITH YOUR BULLPEN DUDE

"hahaha gross in as a defensive sub"

Joe Sheehan just burst a blood vessel in his brane.

^^^conspiracy to get more ad time xpost

francona should bring dice-k in to pinch hit

"what the heck, it's only Alex Cora, I'll leave Garza in"

... I'm not even sure I'd disagree!

what's the sox bunting success percentage lately?

here we go

coco turning into the leon powe of the sox

uh boy....

no one I'd rather have up right now

fa

HUGE out.

the rays radio guys are wondering why the outfield isnt lined up to field a double from pedroia....

guess we know now...

the rays have been playing shallow for awhile (cf drew's game winner), even rick sutcliffe has noticed

por favor papi.

crisp looked safe to me

all you need is glove, people....

he would have been had he slid into the bag

He beat the throw, but he wasn't at the bag -- he was sliding to break up a DP. (xp)

Great call by the ump.

Price is going to start the 9th, from the looks of it ...?? I mean, who else will be left?

i'm surprised youkilis swung at that

price to face drew

EMBEDDED BOSOCK BRAD CHADFORD TO THE RESCUE :D

is it too much to ask drew to....you know....do that little thing he did last year?

has a check swing been called for a strike this entire postseason???

shhh! xpost

a base hit would do

SQUEEZE

TRIPLE STEAL

shoulda pulled the trigger on pitch one

guhhh

Evil.

:)

This is somewhat exciting.

there's one.

If he'd swung at pitch one he'd have been so far ahead. . .

wow

true

xpost

I need a de-fibrilator.

would have been nice for our man jd drew to get HIS BAT OFF HIS SHOULDER

(i know, i know)

How many first strike pitches have we seen today?

or first pitch strikes, even

i think this is one comeback too many

it doesn't look good

at least there's november 4th

winter meetings, right?

Dear Red Sox Nation:

While I would like Boston to win, I have no problem w/ Tampa Bay winning, and I'm not even sweating a Red Sox loss (which looks very probable right now). After all, they've won 2 World Series in the last 4 years, which is pretty great. Will I have my fandom revoked for such heresy, or is it cool if I just take this one in stride?

save it for tomorrow, Daver

My timing is impregnable.

do you pinch hit for varitek in what could be his last inning as a sox?

he went further than drew on that check swing

no excuses.

fix is in

bunt is dumb dumb dumb idea

Is a leadoff walk still as good as a home run? :)

yeah, it's gritty

these at-bats...

let's go.

Why in god's name would they think are going to bring Price out here?

yay!

Awesome.

congrats to rays

Congrats, Rays!

and to diamondboxx

yay!

sup

Tough one. I'll say Rays in 7.

― I'm the wire monkey, not the soft monkey (Rock Hardy), Tuesday, October 7, 2008 10:12 AM (1 week ago)

i'm disgusted with the batting today. boston collectively decided to take comp time on every first pitch.

rays deserved it.

vinny (tampa): Price would be the first pitcher to record a win and a save in the postseason without getting either in the regular season.

Rob Neyer: (11:32 PM ET ) Cool stat.

this price kid's pretty good

Nice reflexes by Iwamura there at the end.

awesome dogpile

thx, well although I do like the rays....I'm really just anti-sox since they got rid of manny. sorry.

AWESOME jacket, Sager

oh. well fuck you then.xpost

WAU at the job Price did ... and funny that on a superstar club with a huge payroll, the season came down to pinch hitter Jed Lowrie.

ha!

(joeks)

omar get going on that curse of manny column stat

and funny that on a superstar club with a huge payroll

OK let's stow that clown college shit in the car w/ Bozo and simply congratulate the Rays on DOING THE INCONCIEVABLE etc etc etc

seriously guys so stoked about the Rays!!!

yeah it is pretty awesome and phillies suck so

I'm sayin' though: The Curse of Manuelito is well under way....

god, can you imagine the south florida chicks just waiting for these guys right outside of the locker room tonight? have any of you ever been to south florida and seen the women?

Can they beat the Phils????

Easily! That Brett Myers mojo horseshit isn't going to carry over.

OK the one shitty thing about Tampa Bay: that FEEL ... THE HEAT! song

not the women, the Rays. can they beat phillie? seems like there's gonna be a lot of balls flying out of the park.

huge ratings coming up for the world series

OK the one shitty thing about Tampa Bay: that FEEL ... THE HEAT! song

― David R., Sunday, October 19, 2008 11:48 PM

forgetting the fauxhawks aren't u?

not the women, the Rays. can they beat phillie? seems like there's gonna be a lot of balls flying out of the park.

reply hazy -- try again later

xpost: fauxhawks are what won them the series!

best thing about Tampa: cool cat old Cuban dudes playing cards in the cigar district.

props to joseph sixpack for that Rays = Obama post. that shit was hot, and almost true at this point.

Isn't Philly like the 4th largest TV market? So the ratings won't be *that* bad ...

Surprised it's Garza and not Upton, but it's tough to argue. He pitched great.

garza <3s tupac

ffs Chip -- no need to wax Boston's pole w/ that "classy" slobber

"class act"

Garza would have been my pick too.

good job rays

not sure who i'll be rooting for in the WS if anyone

seriously?

I still love the fact there is a pool full of real devil rays in the outfield, I wanted TBS to cut to them at the end of each inning:

http://assets.espn.go.com/media/apphoto/c00eaf8f-e01c-4b3e-9076-8ae738bce9d3.jpg

how could anyone not from philadelphia (city of douchebags) root for the phillies? a team that still employs brett myers, the guy who publicly beat the shit out of his tiny ass wife -versus- lovable underdog rays - basically rooting for the phillies makes you nothing less than a turd of a human being

imho

yeah but on the other end the cowbells are really annoying

^^ deserves a Buck / McCarver broadcast team

i'm rooting for whoever's the first to hit a home run into the ray tank

Michael, that's not a devil ray insofar as there isn't an actual species of ray called "devil rays." The TB Devil Rays were named after a nickname for the manta, which that fellow in your pic certainly isn't.

Errr, there are actual devil rays, you moran.

Yeah, I think the Rays are the least hateable WS team since forever. They don't even have some kind of old Todd Jones-ish loser on the roster. And even the manager is great.

9 = 2

how could anyone not from philadelphia (city of douchebags) root for the phillies?

bears repeating. go rays.

BASEBALL

Gotta love the intangibles of having your catcher strike out with RISP late in a one-run game.

― NoTimeBeforeTime, Sunday, October 19, 2008 10:40 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark

One of your THREE catchers!

http://d.yimg.com/a/p/sp/getty/df/fullj.c729c527bf383230ec35a464f34226c0/c729c527bf383230ec35a464f34226c0-getty-83143926cp036_boston_red_so.jpg

http://img299.imageshack.us/img299/7316/untitled1dg2.jpg

yay Rays... tho really, I like Francona, can't quite work up total Sox hatred. Someone plz let me know how the Lupica-Fatcesa-Kay triad chokes back their "hehse sissies can't beat the greatest klutch team EVAH" meme.

Also TB, don't celebrate HRs in the dugout too much or the Phillbitches will be PO'd.

Oh fuck, Sutcliffe's only on the mlb international feed.

you traitors deserve no less.

ball-strike calls were pretty crappy last night btw.

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY

(that is all)

“There are two positions on the field where you can have a positive impact without hitting. Catcher and shortstop.”

Now, I don’t really want to delve into the logic of this statement, in large part because I fear that it will be like some inescapable language maze*** and I’ll end up wandering the dark forever. I’m assuming that Buck was simply repeating one of those baseball chestnuts about how catchers and shortstops (and ONLY catchers and shortstops) offer so much value as defenders and leaders and role models and good-will ambassadors and scrappers that they don’t even have to hit baseballs with bats in order to help the ballclub. They can beat you with their minds. And their power to turn invisible.

No, what struck me about it was how utterly confident Buck sounded saying this — he said it like he was simply reciting a fact he had picked up. The last president to not graduate from college was Harry Truman. … The theme songs from Diff’rent Strokes and Facts of LIfe were composed by Alan Thicke … The emperor penguin can grow to almost four feet tall … There are two positions on the field where you can have a positive impact without hitting — catcher and shortstop.

http://joeposnanski.com/JoeBlog/2008/10/20/big-game-garza-and-other-thoughts/

i can think of a third such position

pitcher

I'm sorry, I just wanted to see what 'literal, non-proportional text' meant.

no problemo

Between the past-junior's-bedtime starting times, the stunning mediocrity of the announcers (at the national level at least), and the barrage of ads devoted to male plumbing dysfunctions, it's a wonder that TV hasn't succeeded in killing baseball yet.

I'm kinda surprised Sheehan is the only guy I've read so far to mention this (I'm sure a Boston scribe or 2 musta)....

Price was the story in the late innings, and I don't want to take away from that. However, you can't write about this game and not at least acknowledge that the decision pitches to Drew and Kotsay were both outside. Not on the black or the corner or any place else; they were outside. Until and unless we get a strike zone that is 17 inches wide all the time, shaped like a rectangle all the time, and located in the same place all the time, baseball will always be a little less than it should be.

PLEASE SAVE US, QUESTEC

ump rubs up ball

http://fusionanomaly.net/sleeperwoodyallenholdingorb.jpg

but really, if I was a Sawx fan I'da kicked the TV.

I'm not a Braves or a Marlins fan, but it's embarrassing (for baseball) that the first thing most people remember about the 1997 NLCS is Eric Gregg's strike zone.

aha, Goldman:

The postseason strike zone has been all over the place, not that that is too different from the regular season. We really don't need any more travesties like games settled by an Eric Gregg "I have a bus to catch so every pitch is a strike" approach, not that I thought the Price pitch to Drew was THAT much of a travesty. I think we're on the way to some kind of robot umpire, but it will come slowly, haltingly, and with much gnashing of teeth.

Is he talking about the Price pitch to Drew where Drew's bat went around? I don't remember the strike zone being any more ridiculous than usual last night.

Make no mistake about it.

The Curse of Babe Ruth is gone.

Kaput.

Vamoose.

See ya.

That albatross was vanquished in the autumnal glow of Yankee Stadium in 2004, along with the Yankee mystique, which no longer matters.

Twenty-six 20th century World Series titles? Yesterday's news. Put away the history books, fellas. Welcome to the 21st century, guys. It's 2-0 Boston in this century.

Catching up won't be so easy.

Or will it?

Yesterday's defeat of Boston by the Tampa Bay Rays was like a warning shot across the bow. A team that at one time brushed off 3-1 and 3-0 postseason series deficits like they were mere annoyances couldn't close the deal after a 3-3 series tie.

One word for it.

Curse.

For the first time in a long time, Boston lost a series it should have won. And for the first time in a long time, Boston was without someone who would have given opposing pitchers fits, who would have protected David Ortiz in the lineup, who would have done more than Jason Bay could ever dream of doing.

Do I need to spell it out for you?

M-A-N-N-Y

The trade that shook Boston might have done more than that. It might have cost Boston the division title (imagine if he put up those eye-popping numbers in Boston instead of L.A.) and therefore cost Boston home-field advantage. And therefore the AL Championship.

Worse still, it might have unleashed a curse far worse than Ruth's. At least Ruth was a part-time utility player at the time of the trade and not the superstar first baseman he would become. Manny is a grade-A superstar, a team player, a bonafied clutch gritter.

And we betrayed him.

This curse might be unkillable.

Make your move, New York. Looks like the AL East is yours for the taking now.

Regarding the umpiring, it was kind of sickening to listen to the TBS people being all "OH NOES HOW WILL THE PITCHERS ADJUST" when Derryl Cousins got hurt in game 6. If it matters at all, something's fucked up!

That strike zone that Morbs is complaining about was de riguer in the MLB for how many decades? /GMaddux

can someone hook up a gif of garza spitting

convex tongued Garza

we all can't love what's de rigueur as thou so pash'nately dost

http://www.opelproductions.com/archives/misc_pics/071206-syd_barrett.jpg

The strike zone wasn't worse than usual last night. What DID make me want to have a TV to kick (unfortunately they were all suspended high above us) was the HP umpire calling Drew's check on strike three as a swing without an appeal to third. That was a very borderline "swing" from the side reply and totally smacks of the HP ump wanting to make a big call and insert himself into a dramatic moment.

just looked up eric gregg's entry on wikipedia, wherein I found:

On December 31, 1974, he married Ramona Camilo, with whom he had four children; his hobbies included viewing soap operas.

NEW YORK -- Game 7 of the AL Championship Series drew the most viewers ever for a baseball game on cable television.

Nearly 13.4 million people watched the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Boston Red Sox 3-1 on Sunday night on TBS, the network said Monday. That broke the mark set by the 1998 Chicago Cubs-St. Louis Cardinals game on ESPN in which Mark McGwire hit his 61st home run to tie the single-season record.

Game 7 earned a 7.9 rating, with the series averaging a 4.6. That's up 64 percent from last year's NLCS on TBS, the Colorado Rockies' sweep of the Arizona Diamondbacks in a series that lacked the large market and national appeal that the Red Sox bring.