2:30- The first day of the rest of my life- The Rays' first ever playoff game! James Shields is going for Tampa in game one. He should be sharp, he pitched one shutout inning five days ago. Everyone has mohawks at this point, including the fans standing in line. For the record, I am picking the Rays to win this series in four games.
2:38- First pitch by Shields paints the outside corner for a strike. The cowbells are already deafening. The count is already 0 and 2.
2:47- Shields and Vazquez raced through the first, Shields on 10 pitches (8 strikes) and Vazquez on 8 (5 strikes). BJ Upton, 4th in the AL in walks, flew out first pitch swinging. After 1: CHI 0-0-0, TB 0-0-0
2:51- Tony Gwynn thought the Rays were done four different times this year, according to his personal testimony. Perhaps when your lifetime batting average is higher than the Rays' lifetime winning percentage, you make these assumptions. Marc Fein credits the RayHawk trend to Aki Iwamura, and after seeing the abundance of blue RayHawks, I think I'll opt for one too if they win this series. UPDATE: That was actually not Tony Gwynn's opinion, but rather Harold Reynolds. Since HR isn't a .338 career hitter, chalk that judgment up to pure stupidity.
2:57- Ryan Howard: "Everyone wants a piece of the pie. But there's not enough for everyone." Well duh that's because CC Sabathia and Prince Fielder are in the playoffs. 530 pounds right there. And RyHo's no dwarf himself.
3:00- Longoria, first pitch bomb to left. That's why he's my hero. Grandpa Floyd almost followed it up but it was ten feet foul. I know what Collin McDonald would say in this situation.... "SHOOOOOO hit it fair [jumbled criticism] brotha!" After 2: CHI 0-0-0, TB 1-2-0
3:08- Lysol break. The smell from roomie's 23 hits of Axe (23!!!) are still lingering and I'm not talkin' bout the Cranberries song. I think I'll go pee too.
3:11- 46 Across "It's found to left on a sink" 11 letters. HOTWATERTAP. Racing through this crossword. Shields gives up his first hit, and Pena is taken out for unknown reasons??? UPDATE: He hurt his eye doing something around the house. I'd love to hear the back story.
3:16- Shields did give up two cheap hits but he's pitching really well. He's fallen behind in the count only once. His command is really sharp today, he's painting the corners and he's using that curve pretty effectively. He also tossed in some sort of split-fingered pitch and as I say this Dewayne Wise scoops a fastball off the turf over the fence.
3:19- Harold Reynolds: "I mean,how often do you hear the phrase 'a bloop and a blast?'". First time in my life, Harold.
3:28- Austin McNabb: "Triples are sexy too." Especially when Aki, founder of the RayHawk, hits it. You know who else is sexy? Evan Longoria, because he just jacked another one. There's your lead, James Shields. Keep it. After 3: CHI 3-4-0, TB 4-5-0
3:38- "Ocho Cinco vows to kiss Cowboys star after touchdown." WHAT?? Which one? Witten? T.O.? Homo? Oh, he means the star at the fifty yard line. Hopefully Roy Williams pulls a George Teague on him.
3:48- Cliff Floyd had two almost-homers, but they were a tad foul. He ended up striking out both times. After 4: CHI 3-4-0, TB 4-5-0
4:10- Not much going on in the game so I decide to conduct some research on deadly animals. The ninth deadliest animal in the world: the cape buffalo, which attack via head-on charge. In herds. Sweet. Now something is happening, two on for Longoria. Homer number three?
4:15- Single through the hole, Longoria drives in another run. Pitching change. Re: Deadly Animals- "Not every elephant is as friendly as Dumbo. Elephants kill more than 500 people a year worldwide." Livescience.com just ripped my perception of elephants to shreds- they don't kill nobody in Jungle Book!
4:21- If the right field foul line shifted 20 feet, Cliff Floyd would have two jacks and a two-bagger. Alas, the Trop possesses standard dimensions, and Floyd is one whiff away from the golden sombrero. Someone ought to talk to the Trop architects. After 5: CHI 3-5-0, TB 6-9-0
4:38- Clayton Richard gave up a leadoff hit. After that minor transgression: 4 batters, 4 strikeouts. Shake 'em up, shake 'em up, shake 'em up, shake 'em. And then he just sat down Aki for five in a row. Speaking of gangsta rap, my roommate is karaoke rapping to his computer right now. Kind of throws of the acoustics of the room. My bet: Shields isn't coming back on the mound, and shutdown reliever Grant Balfour is going to come on and mow through the ChiSox. After 6: CHI 3-5-0, TB 6-9-0
4:44- Erroneous. Erroneous on both accounts. He is in a mighty fine groove, but he's now, halfway through his first batter, up to 89 pitches. Single by Konerko, let's see if the Sox get to him. If Shields gets in trouble, the Rays have an excellent bullpen, so my worries are minimal. He loaded the bases so stay tuned.
4:59- It's hard work being so right, so often. The Rays went to Balfour. With the bases juiced, two up, two strikeouts. Balfour to Orlando Cabrera: "SIT YOUR A** DOWN!" Brass balls, Grant. Brass balls.
5:02- This is the third time Harold Reynolds has called something "childish," or said that some action is something "they should have learned in Little League." Hey, Harold, when I was of Little League age, I learned not to touch women in the chest, and maybe if you learned that you'd still have your job with Baseball Tonight. After 7: CHI 3-6-0, TB 6-9-0
5:12- Harold likes to call J.P. Howell's curveball "The Devastator." Could just call it a hard curve or whatever. And Harold, if you're a lefty throwing a Devastator to a righty on the inside corner, the ball can't tail back over the plate. Whatever, he just Devastated the side. Rays relievers perfect so far.
5:32- Uh... I guess an inning happened? Okay, sure, the Rays did load the bases. But they loaded the bases for BJ Upton with two outs, and my mom could have told you he was going to strike out. After 8: CHI 3-6-0, TB 6-11-0
5:39- The atmosphere has been electric all game long in the Trop. The meteoric rise of Tampa Bay baseball is so good for the game, and finally exonerates Dick Vitale and his years of telling people to watch out for the Rays. Lovin' the Simpsons-themed sound effects as well. When AJ Pierzynski got thrown out standing up on a steal, the P.A. dude played a cut of Nelson Muntz's HA-HA. And when Paul Konerko tried to make three balls into a walk, and realized his mistake halfway down the line, "D'oh!" reverberated throughout the stadium. Dan Wheeler, hold 'em tiger.
5:48- And that's a wrap. Rays 6, White Sox 4. WP: Shields (1-0) LP: Vasquez (0-1) SV: Wheeler (1)
Showing posts with label Tampa Bay Rays. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tampa Bay Rays. Show all posts
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Carlos Freaking Pena!!!!!!!!
What an amazing game. Rays pulled it out in 21 innings I think, 7-4. The hero? Carlos Pena of course, who else? Every other regular starter is on the DL. I'm so proud of them, as if they were my own kids. Of course they probably could be, none of them are old enough to drink or drive or walk or anything. My guess? All the players spawned from Percival's extramarital affairs. Seriously, it's a bunch of rookies, Pena, Percival and Floyd who are like 45. "Cliff Floyd is such a G." Yeah, if G is for Grandpa.
Anyways, this game is noteworthy not only because the Rays extended their AL East lead to a robust 2.5 games (I've always wanted a pennant race to be decided by half a game, and see two teams go at it mono y mono for four and a half innings. Never works out that way), but also because this game was chalk full of nuggets. Unlike the NBA playoffs, which had no Nuggets. ZING.
*David Ortiz just entertained me in general. First of all with that beard he looks like some sort of hybrid between Greg Oden, Orlando Pace, and Deebo. Second of all, that bunt, when's the last time he sac bunted? And it kept Stuart Scott from singing "Big Poppa" on Sportscenter. But topping them both would be his 3-0, fake-bunt-Usain-Bolt-sprint-toward-the-dugout-take on the ball four pitch. Almost looked like a Heisman pose. Classic, I actually laughed.
*This game lasted over 5 hours. I started watching in the 6th inning. Within that time period, I: worked out, had an hour-long phone conversation, did homework, BLOGGED, used facebook, proposed two fantasy football trades, ate dinner, made my bed. Didn't miss a second of the game.
*Rick Sutcliffe might have won a Cy Young but he sure ain't winning any [whatever the award for being a good comedian is].
PBP: "If the game last night was their most important victory of the year, what is tonight?"
George Carlin of Baseball: "Well in 11 minutes it won't be called tonight."
Hahaha. Except the time was 11:39. Not the Pythagoras of the baseball world either, I suppose. Rick is to math what Emmitt Smith is to English.
*And while I'm thinking about it, Sutcliffe also uttered his spiel about CC's Cy Young chances: "I think you have to factor in what he did in both leagues. His overall numbers don't say Cy Young winner to me." I'm paraphrasing but not exxagerating. Wait a sec. If I remember correctly, Rick won a Cy Young after switching leagues midseason. Well I'm sure his OVERALL numbers were pretty good, lets check out what he did in Cleveland, before he got traded:
94.3 IP, 46:58 BB:SO Ratio, 1.66 WHIP, all good for a 4-5 record with a 5.15 ERA.
After he got traded to Chicago aka took his Gas-X, he did go 16-1 with a 2.69 ERA. Let's check CC:
122.3 IP, 34:123 BB:SO Ratio, 1.23 WHIP, good for a 6-8 record with a 3.83 ERA
Post-trade: 9-0, 1.42 ERA, 0.99 WHIP, 20:94 BB:SO ratio
Rick Sutcliffe saying CC doesn't deserve a Cy Young is like GWB telling Yale not to accept legacies. "That isn't....ain't...right." You tell 'em Emmitt.
*In addition to their great record, the Rays have a top-tier team in terms of coolest names. Rocco Baldelli? Rock on. Ben Zobrist? The Z is just magic I guess. Z as in Scott KaZZZZZmir or Matt GarZZZZZa. Akinori Iwamura, who is Japanese. Only like a C+ for Japanese standards though, not as good as Sasaki or Suzuki or Sushi or Chiropractor. I'm pretty sure they have a minor leaguer named Blitzkrieg too. BJ Upton.... I'm not gonna touch that one, not actually that cool. And the most unfortunate name, relief pitcher Grant Ball4 (I think it's actually spelled Balfour. Still, a cruelly ironic name for a pitcher.)
So I guess they don't have that great of a name game team. But Boof Bonser is a free agent, as is Benny Agbayani. There is hope.
Sorry for that long post. I've also been working on a sweet playlist, I'll post it tomorrow for the benefit of the four people who read this blog. Including my mom. Yes, I made my bed, mom.
Anyways, this game is noteworthy not only because the Rays extended their AL East lead to a robust 2.5 games (I've always wanted a pennant race to be decided by half a game, and see two teams go at it mono y mono for four and a half innings. Never works out that way), but also because this game was chalk full of nuggets. Unlike the NBA playoffs, which had no Nuggets. ZING.
*David Ortiz just entertained me in general. First of all with that beard he looks like some sort of hybrid between Greg Oden, Orlando Pace, and Deebo. Second of all, that bunt, when's the last time he sac bunted? And it kept Stuart Scott from singing "Big Poppa" on Sportscenter. But topping them both would be his 3-0, fake-bunt-Usain-Bolt-sprint-toward-the-dugout-take on the ball four pitch. Almost looked like a Heisman pose. Classic, I actually laughed.
*This game lasted over 5 hours. I started watching in the 6th inning. Within that time period, I: worked out, had an hour-long phone conversation, did homework, BLOGGED, used facebook, proposed two fantasy football trades, ate dinner, made my bed. Didn't miss a second of the game.
*Rick Sutcliffe might have won a Cy Young but he sure ain't winning any [whatever the award for being a good comedian is].
PBP: "If the game last night was their most important victory of the year, what is tonight?"
George Carlin of Baseball: "Well in 11 minutes it won't be called tonight."
Hahaha. Except the time was 11:39. Not the Pythagoras of the baseball world either, I suppose. Rick is to math what Emmitt Smith is to English.
*And while I'm thinking about it, Sutcliffe also uttered his spiel about CC's Cy Young chances: "I think you have to factor in what he did in both leagues. His overall numbers don't say Cy Young winner to me." I'm paraphrasing but not exxagerating. Wait a sec. If I remember correctly, Rick won a Cy Young after switching leagues midseason. Well I'm sure his OVERALL numbers were pretty good, lets check out what he did in Cleveland, before he got traded:
94.3 IP, 46:58 BB:SO Ratio, 1.66 WHIP, all good for a 4-5 record with a 5.15 ERA.
After he got traded to Chicago aka took his Gas-X, he did go 16-1 with a 2.69 ERA. Let's check CC:
122.3 IP, 34:123 BB:SO Ratio, 1.23 WHIP, good for a 6-8 record with a 3.83 ERA
Post-trade: 9-0, 1.42 ERA, 0.99 WHIP, 20:94 BB:SO ratio
Rick Sutcliffe saying CC doesn't deserve a Cy Young is like GWB telling Yale not to accept legacies. "That isn't....ain't...right." You tell 'em Emmitt.
*In addition to their great record, the Rays have a top-tier team in terms of coolest names. Rocco Baldelli? Rock on. Ben Zobrist? The Z is just magic I guess. Z as in Scott KaZZZZZmir or Matt GarZZZZZa. Akinori Iwamura, who is Japanese. Only like a C+ for Japanese standards though, not as good as Sasaki or Suzuki or Sushi or Chiropractor. I'm pretty sure they have a minor leaguer named Blitzkrieg too. BJ Upton.... I'm not gonna touch that one, not actually that cool. And the most unfortunate name, relief pitcher Grant Ball4 (I think it's actually spelled Balfour. Still, a cruelly ironic name for a pitcher.)
So I guess they don't have that great of a name game team. But Boof Bonser is a free agent, as is Benny Agbayani. There is hope.
Sorry for that long post. I've also been working on a sweet playlist, I'll post it tomorrow for the benefit of the four people who read this blog. Including my mom. Yes, I made my bed, mom.
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