On Thursday, I was all ready to write a post about how a Rays/Phillies World Series would actually be exciting, albeit a ratings nightmare. I held off though, partly because I'm extremely lazy, but also because I remembered what happened last year. By all accounts, the Rays should have already been preparing to face the newest addition to the Grown Ass Man Club, Cole Hamels in Game One of the World Series. Instead, the Boston Red Sox staged yet another improbable comeback in Game Five of the ALCS to stay alive. And moments ago, Jonathan Papelbon shut the door against Tampa Bay solidifying a 4-2 victory, forcing a Game Seven. Holy Crap!!
Hold on there kids...
Yes, I am an admitted Chicago White Sox fan. Yes, the Red Sox have the second highest payroll in the league. Yes, the Rays have reached the playoffs for the first time in franchise history. But can you even root for them at this point? They have some awesome young players who are great to watch, but considering the whole Manny cluster-F, it is kind of amazing that Boston is where they're at. As previously discussed on this very website, the home grown talent of the Red Sox is astounding and was once again on display tonight. Youkilis, Masterson, Papelbon were the three main factors of the game. Of course, you can't ignore what Josh Beckett did tonight either. I mean, no one knows how hurt he actually is. But he gutted it out ala Curt Schilling and we are one game away from a Red Sox/Phillies showdown.
When all is said and done, everyone will look back and wonder what the hell Joel Madden was thinking having Kazmir pitch before Shields. His reasoning seemed sound at the time, but YIKES! I'm sure FOX wasn't too keen on a Tampa Bay/Philly matchup, but I still maintain it would be a fun series to watch. Harkening back to my previous post about being a desensitized sports fan only proves my point. I am absolutely not shocked in the slightest the Boston is on the verge of stealing this series but I'm stoked to tune into TBS tomorrow (assuming they actually carry the friggin' game from start to finish this time). Can Garza close the door or will Lester rebound from his poor performance in Game Four? Oh yeah, there's football on all day tomorrow too! October rules!
3 comments:
I'm missing how it was a bad idea pitching Kazmir before Shields. It almost worked, except for the whole relievers giving up 8 runs in 8 outs thing...
I was in the works of writing a blog about how upset I was that no one talked about the awful, awful, fundamental errors of Gabe Gross, but immediately after I started I began vomiting violently out of disgust and quit.
Anyway, on Thursday Gabe Gross had a chance to wrap the inning up before Ortiz came on if he a) hustled and b) hustled for the ball hit by Pedroia. There's playing it safe, and there's playing lazy. Gross was lazy. It wouldn't have even taken a heroic dive, it just would have taken some extra effort.
Next inning, Gross had a legitimate shot at throwing out Mark Kotsay. It would have meant a great throw, yes, but it was very possible. What does Gabe do? Throw it into the ground, and it awkwardly hits the cutoff at first.
The Red Sox won this series Thursday night, the rest is just formality. And I hate them even more than I ever have to disprove your point about not being able to root for the Rays. Grrr.
My Phillies in 4 post will be up later tomorrow night.
Shields hadn't pitched in 8 days and just didn't look sharp at any point. He gave up two home runs and didn't make it out of the sixth inning. Although, after that comeback on Thursday, I don't know if it really mattered who was pitching for TB last night...
Ohhh, I thought you were making a statement about Kazmir's performance.
On a side note, if Scott Kazmir and Kazuo Matsui moved to Connecticut and got married, Kaz Kazmir would officially have the coolest name ever. Behind Ugueth Urbina and Boof Bonser of course, but still.
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