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.
You’ve probably heard the saying that hindsight is 20/20 on Monday morning, so just imagine how well I can call ‘em two days later on Wednesday. That’s right, it’s time for Wednesday Morning Quarterback, your weekly sports round-up.
The World Series and the onslaught of new video games has mostly prevented me from being able to stay on top of any other sport but baseball. Unfortunately, that leaves me mostly at a loss for content today.
Be sure to tune in for the last three innings of Game 5. If the Phils pull a win, the series is over. If the Rays manage to win, we’re still on. Go Rays! I’m not done with baseball yet.
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!!!
You’ve probably heard the saying that hindsight is 20/20 on Monday morning, so just imagine how well I can call ‘em two days later on Wednesday. That’s right, it’s time for Wednesday Morning Quarterback, your weekly sports round-up.
Listening to the Baseball Today podcast, it becomes very apparent that half of this World Series matchup doesn’t make sense. TV execs were hoping, nay, wishing for a Dodgers/Red Sox World Series. Torre vs. Francona. New Manny vs. Manny’s old team. Two huge market teams going at it for all the glory. Heck, they would have even settled for a Phillies/Red Sox series, with all those big names and big guns on both sides. Not to mention a Cubs appearance on their lucky 100th year of losing.
Instead they’ve got the Phils and the Rays. The losingest team in baseball (Philadelphia) against a team that has sucked every season of its existence until this year. Will ratings be low again for this World Series? It’s likely, what with the baseball audience mostly dwindling and since football season is in full swing. Will it be more exciting than the Sox? Most definitely. In fact, it’d be best if the series went the distance. A seven game series would do wonders for an event that has sorely lacked drama in recent history.
Speaking of drama…
Why does the BCS have Ohio State ranked above UF again? Two weeks of byes and all of a sudden we’ve forgotten how good UF is? A few games against mediocre teams and we forget how traditionally OSU is overrated? This should hopefully be resolved this weekend with the Kansas game.
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.
You’ve probably heard the saying that hindsight is 20/20 on Monday morning, so just imagine how well I can call ‘em two days later on Wednesday. That’s right, it’s time for Wednesday Morning Quarterback, your weekly sports round-up.
13-4. I don’t think anyone expected that at all. Tim Wakefield used to be dominant against the Rays. Now, in the past two games, he’s been hammered. Evan Longoria set himself a rookie record by smashing in five homeruns in the post season. The Rays are now 3-1 over the Red Sox. It’s only a matter of one game. Could be over as early as Thursday when Daisuke will try to stun the Rays again like he did in Game 1.
Tonight could be the end of the NLCS, when the Dodgers and Phillies go at it in their series. There’s tons of pressure on the Dodgers, but I think they can turn it around for a great upset. Torre’s done it before.