2008 ALCS Game 1: Boston at TB
Posted by SBG on Friday, October 10th, 2008 at 6:00 pm
The Rays have retired one number in their history (other than Jackie Robinson's 42): Wade Boggs. Wade Boggs! I mean, yeah, he's a Hall of Famer and all, but Jeebus, he played only 213 games in a Tampa Bay uniform. I mean, he had only 31 more at bats in Tropicana Field than he did in Tiger Stadium. True, he did get his 3,000th hit in a Devil Ray uniform (a home run no less, the only player to get number 3,000 with a round tripper -- and he kissed home plate!) and I think he lives down there, but seriously, are the Twins going to retire Dave Winfield's number? Or Paul Molitor? It's only slightly less preposterous for the Twins to retire Steve Carleton's number.
That's how bad the Tampa Bay franchise has been. They retired Wade Boggs's number. They are the only team to retire his number (he is a member of the Red Sox Hall of Fame).
That the Rays have put it all together and are within four wins of the World Series is not just the best story of the season. It might well be the best team story in a generation. I mean, the Worst-to-First 1991 World Series was grand, but the Twins were just four seasons removed from a World Series Championship with key parts of the 1987 team still in place. The Braves were a surprise, but they had some pretty good clubs in the 1980s, at least the first part of that decade. The Red Sox overcame a 3-0 deficit in the 2004 ALCS and won their first championship in 86 years. The White Sox snapped a 88 year drought the next year. But, it's not like the Red Sox hadn't been right at the doorstep for years. And it's not like the White Sox were strangers to at least adequate levels of play. I mean, they had been in contention for several of the previous seasons. But the Rays? Prior to this season, they'd averaged 97.2 losses a year for the entirety of their ten year existence. They lost 96 games last year. They play in the AL East with Boston and the New York Yankees. This is like the Timberwolves drafting KG and Marbury and then immediately going to the Western Conference Finals. (That didn't happen, of course.)
So screw the Red Sox and their 2007 World Championship. This series is all about the Rays. Go Rays!
Loading ...
James Shields is a good pitcher and all, but you should have to do a little more than he's done before they start calling you "Big Game James".
Man, how great would a Phillies/Rays World Series be? Considering all the potential HUGE market matchups of Chicago, Los Angeles, and Boston teams, it has to make Fox cringe to think of Philly or Tampa being in there. Christ, they'd probably rather have the Twins in there than Tampa (ok, maybe not). But I'm loving every second of it.
Screw Fox. Screw Joe Buck. Screw Tim McCarver. Screw Spanish from Old School. And screw Bon Jovi. GO RAYS!!!!!!
I'm still trying to find in the rule book where it says the strike zone changes as the game goes on.
I think its somewhere towards the back
WHEW!
Rays get three walks, but strand them all in the first. 0-0 after 1.
Dice-K looks like he is doing his thing. walk a bunch of people and not give up a run
After two innings, as Ray Scott used to say, "The score? There is no score."
And ditto after 3.
And 4.
dang, Dice-K has record 12 outs, 7 by strikeout
Dice-K might make it through six!
A walk, a blooper, and a sac fly give Boston a 1-0 lead at the half-way point.
Would Castro have caught that?
Was Khrushchev backing him up?
No-hitter through six..
Annnd leadoff single in the 7th breaks up that.
Youk doubles off Howell in the 8th, Pedroia scores. Runners on 2nd and 3rd--Balfour in for the Rays.
So Youkilis has to be in the MVP mix, right?
Balfour gets out of the jam. Rays send the top of their order to the plate in the bottom of the 8th.
By the way, nice game-log intro, Neutron.
(Who the hell is Neutron?)
I don't know what happened there. I wrote it!
LOL
And here I thought you'd discovered some new talent.
The Rays would be doing a lot better if they didn't keep blowing it. WTF?
Craig Sager's suits are a lot more palatable in a basketball arena.
I've noticed this too. Something about being outside just makes him look really ridiculous. Either that, or he's just taken it to the next level.
I'm not one to get too critical of individual events in single games, but it sure sounds like there was a fair amount of swinging on bad pitches in hitter's counts tonight by the Rays, which is a little frustrating.