So the 2008 World Series has finally come to a close. The last three innings were certainly tense and exciting, but at the end of the day the Phillies were just able to edge out the Rays 5-4, ending a Philadelphia drought of about twenty years of no major sports franchise winning a championship.
Although I absolutely hate the Phillies and hate that they beat a Florida team, I’ll try and be a bigger man and say:
Congratulations Phillies.
After a disappointing Game 4 loss, the Rays knew they had to make something happen in Game 5. Unfortunately, Kazmir did what Kazmir does and he managed to give up two runs in the first inning straight away to Shane Victorino (Kaz has given up 8 runs in the first inning this post season).
So the Rays were down 2-0 for a while until Peña and Longoria did what they’re supposed to do. The both of them had gone a combined 0-30-something this World Series, but this time they managed to get on base and Longoria batted in Peña. 2-1
It’s raining pretty hard at this point, the 6th inning, but BJ Upton manages a single anyway. After Cole Hamels takes three years to keep trying to pickoff BJ at first, Upton steals second with Peña up to bat and two outs. Then Peña does what he’s supposed to do and gets a single that knocks in Upton. 2-2.
At this point it’s been raining ridiculously hard for about an inning and a half. There’s this peculiar rule in baseball that some of the uninformed might not know. If the home team is up and 4.5 innings have been played (or the visiting squad and five innings), then a game is official and it can be called a win at that point. Bud Selig probably should have called the Phillies game before the sixth, but how would that look for the World Series to end on a rain delay cancellation? Instead he let the players soldier on and once the Rays tied it up, he called it, since no one can complain about one team getting the unfair advantage. The result: World Series history. No game has ever been suspended for a day due to rain, so the Rays and Phillies will finish what they began yesterday…TONIGHT! And interrupt House…damn…but also awesome cause the Rays are still in it.
Game 2 went precisely how I wanted it to, which leaves today’s matchup, Garza vs Moyer, particularly big and important. It’ll probably be the coldest, temperature-wise, game the Rays have ever played, for one. There’s also that alarming statistic about dome-teams having a hard time beating non-dome teams in the postseason that needs to be proved wrong.
The big important points for the Rays:
-Score early
-Help Garza manage the Phils and keep them off of base.
-If previous fails, hope Garza doesn’t give up a home run
-Stop letting the Phils get into scoring position. They may be 3-28 or some ridiculously low number like that, but this is baseball and they’ll start performing when you least expect or need it.
If they can manage that, I’ll be a happy camper watching the game from a bar somewhere in DC tonight.
We’ve reached the home stretch for the baseball season, so those of you who get bored of reading about baseball should only have a few more days left.
Game 1 did not go quite as well as I’d hoped, with the Rays losing to the Phillies 2-3 in a game that was well-pitched by both sides, just a little better by Hamels. Kazmir’s loss was sealed more or less early in the game after an Utley 2-run blast in the first and a Carlos Ruiz infield RBI that brought in Shane Victorino. He didn’t allow anything else, but the damage was done.
Which brings me to my next point: Kazmir in the post season is not as great as he is in the regular season. He’s given up too many homers and the Rays can’t necessarily deal with this against the Phillies. We’ll see what happens tonight!
Unrelated Note: I’m so pumped for the KOTOR MMO!!!
The Rays have finally gone and done it. In order to make the series more interesting, they let the Sox tie it up at three games a piece, but in Game 7, Matt Garza and the Rays showed the world that they were capable of going to the series and beating Boston in their 25th showdown this year.
It started out looking a bit rough for the Rays with a Dustin Pedroia homer that put the Sox up, but it started to turn around with an RBI double by Longoria, RBI single by Baldelli, and a homer by Willy Aybar, putting the Rays up 3-1. There was also that dicey moment where the relief squad kept the Rays safe in a bases loaded situation, all combining to bring the Rays their first world series berth ever.
Now it’s up to them to take down the hated Phillies in a matchup for the history books! No Florida team has ever lost in a post season they attended and no Florida team has ever lost in a World Series. Will Tampa Bay be able to keep it up?
How the Rays managed to lose a 7-0 lead to lose the game on Thursday against the Sox, I do not know. It’s really a shame that they couldn’t hold on for the pennant. Now it comes down to the game tonight (or the next game).
In better news, Longoria smashed another one out of the park. He’s unstoppable.
Well, they’ve done it for the first time since 1993. The Phils have won the NL pennant. Their victory came at the expense of sloppy play by Rafael Furcal and the Dodgers in general. In the end, it didn’t matter that Manny Ramirez was batting .500 coming into the last game. It didn’t matter that the Dodgers had Joe Torre manning their ball club. It just mattered that the Phils wanted it more, were a more solid team, and took it in five.
Speaking of a team that wants it, the Rays will have a chance to take the AL pennant tonight as they face off once again in Boston. Let’s all hope that Longoria belts in another few homers.
It’s been a wild few games in the League Championship Series as Tampa moves ahead 2-1 and the Phillies come back in a ridiculous game to bring their series to 3-1.
After suffering from a mini-slump, it seems that Evan Longoria is definitely back. He’s homered in both of the last two games helping to propel the Rays to a 9-8 win in Game 2 and a 9-1 win in Game 3. Why these games have turned into such slugfests despite the excellent pitching on both sides of the plate baffles me, but there’s no reason to complain about excellent TB performance. Game 4 will begin tonight at 2007.
Despite having a strong lead early in Game 4, the Dodgers managed to drop another to the Phillies to lose 5-7 by allowing four runs in the 8th. As the series begins to look more desperate for Torre and his Dodgers, we’ve just gotta hope that Manny keeps being Manny and propels this team ahead tomorrow night to avoid elimination. Good luck Dodgers!
I skipped a day, but we’re here: The League Championship Series. Even though we’ve already had two days of competition, the ALCS has only played one game while the Phillies and Dodgers are two into the NLCS.
Philadelphia finds itself two games ahead after winning 8-5 last night and 3-2 on Thursday. I must admit, this series has been a little less close than I expected it to be. We’ll see what happens on Sunday when the series moves to LA. Will the Dodgers be able to pull a win in sunny LA instead of cool Philadelphia? We’ll find out in a few days.
On a sadder note, Daisuke Matsuzaka pulled some of his road magic on the Rays last night as the Red Sox shut out the Rays 2-0. I’m really hoping this isn’t just Red Sox postseason magic and just some solid pitching that held them down. The Rays play again tonight and should hopefully win.
We’ve finally reached the resolution of the ALDS series with victories by both Boston and Tampa Bay. As me move toward the ALCS and NLCS, the ability to predict the outcome becomes way less possible.
Take the Phillies and Dodgers series: The Dodgers steamrolled the Cubs where no one expected them to to get them to this point against the Phillies. Philadephia, on the other hand, has solid pitching and defense and their lineup can hit the long ball all day long. L.A. has got Manny. The Phillies have Ryan Howard. The Dodgers have had an epic second half with a strong postseason manager. Philadelphia has had a solid team all year and wants to make it to the World Series for the first time since 1993. I have no idea what will happen, but I think it will be closer than the NLDS. Let’s go with the Dodgers (I hate the Phillies) in 6.
Tampa Bay and the Red Sox have had a bitter rivalry all year long. There was even a brawl at one point in the season between them. It seems like the edge might go to the Rays with their home field advantage and the fact that they edged out the Sox in their regular season schedule, but the Sox are dominant in the postseason and will give the Rays a run for their money. Rays in 7, to make it interesting. More realistically, let’s predict Rays in 5.