We are at Austin City Limits all day today and tomorrow, so no “Hangover” today and tomorrow is up in the air at this point. Until we come back, we will leave you with our anthem.
The Rays lost (again), but our good friends to the north, the New York Roadkills put up a 19-spot on the Boston Pink Hats.
With Boston’s loss, the Tampa Bay Rays have done the impossible…The 2008 Tampa Bay Rays are the champions of the AL East.
First of all…congratulations to every member of the Tampa Bay Rays. From the lowest scout, all the way to Andrew Friedman, Matt Silverman, Gerry Hunsicker and Stuart Sternberg…congrats. You guys earned it.
And Thank You. From the bottom of our hearts. Thank you. To everybody. You guys did it! We are drinking champagne tonight. And we drink it in your honor. Thank You.
THE GOOD: Ben Zobrist. Is this guy’s blood being checked? Zorilla went deep twice yesterday, including a shot to straightaway center field that is a rare sight in Comerica Park.
THE BAD: Scott Kazmir. Has there ever been a more disappointing 12-8, 3.49 season? Only Kazmir can make Ramon Santiago look like Ben Zobrist. Santiago entered the game with 1 home run this season. For his career, he had hit 1 home run every 138 at bats. Kaz serves up 2 gopher balls to the most unlikely of batters. It is the equivalent to Jason Bartlett hitting 2 home runs in 1 game. Should never happen. And once again, Kazmir was repeatedly looking back down at the mound after pitches indicating that he was once again struggling with his landing foot…1:05 starts one day after playing a night game in Baltimore. Why? Senior citizen day. Seriously.
THE TELLING: According to Baseball Prospectus the odds of winning the AL East are now 98.0%, so let’s not panic…The Twins won again last night, completing a sweep of the White Sox and moving a half-game ahead of Chicago. At this point the ideal scenario for the Rays is to have the teams end up within a half-game of each other after Sunday. This would force the White Sox to make up a game on Monday against Detroit. If the Sox and Twins are tied after the makeup game, they will be forced to play a 1-game playoff on Tuesday. After the game, the winner will have to immediately travel to St. Pete to take on the Rays on either Wednesday or Thursday…The Angels won again, making the magic number for the Angels to clinch the best record 1.
DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA…
The Rays Confidence Graph will appear every Wednesday and is a look at how much confidence Rays fans have in the Tampa Bay Rays. The graph is designed to give us a look at how our emotional bias as Rays fans fluctuates through time. The “confidence” in the team is an inexact measure of how fans feel about the team’s current strength as well as how much confidence fans have in the franchise for the next 3-4 years. Notes on this weeks agida-level can be found after the graph..
Notes on the RI Confidence Graph…
It is time for one of our favorite annual features, the Anti-Pennant Race, the race for the worst record in baseball. The reward for the “winner” is the first pick in next year’s amateur draft. This year is extra special as it marks the first time the Tampa Bay Rays are not a contender. In fact, last season the Rays became the first team to ever be awarded with the top pick in consecutive seasons (until recently, the top pick alternated between leagues), winning the Anti-Pennant in 2006 and 2007.
In the first year of this feature (2006), David Price was the clear favorite to be the top pick. Last year, without an obvious favorite for the top pick of the 2008 draft, we decided to name this feature after the inaugural namesake.
Without further ado, we present the 3rd Annual David Price Sweepstakes and the race for the top pick in the 2008 draft!
Notes on the Anti-Pennant Race…
FIRST INNING
A look back…
Last night the Orioles, hit 3 batters and even slammed Aki Iwamura to the ground during a tag out between first and second base…Just “playing the game” or dirty baseball?
We actually didn’t have much of a problem with Ramon Hernandez taking out Iwamura. He did go right after Aki, but he had a chance to lay him out and did pull up a tad. On the other hand, go back and look at the second time Jason Bartlett was hit by a pitch. First, keep in mind that this is now the third time Bartlett has been hit by an Orioles pitcher since he hit his only home run of the season against the same O’s. The first one last night may not have been intentional, but the second one was as intentional as it gets. The catcher set up a foot outside and the pitch was 2 feet inside. We understand if the O’s are a little jealous of all the Rays success this season. Jealous of an owner that cares and a front office that gets it. While the O’s and their fans may have thought they would be the ones to someday dethrone the beasts of the East, it must kill them that it was the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Trever Miller retaliated in the bottom of the 8th, but don’t think this is over. O’s hitters might want to wear extra protection next spring…DIRTY AS IT GETS
SECOND INNING
Headlines…
Edwin Jackson came out last night and before he could even record an out the Orioles had 5 runs on the board…Is there still a chance he could start a game in the playoffs?
Earlier this week we actually projected Jackson as the 4th starter. It just seems that Joe Maddon has always preferred Jackson to Sonnanstine. And yet we still would not have been surprised if it was Sonnanstine. Now? We have to assume Sonny is the guy, but there is a catch. If both are on the post-season roster, Sonnanstine might be the better reliever. If only one is needed on the roster, then we now think it will be Sonnanstine making that game 4 start…NO
THIRD INNING
Headlines…
The Twins have moved within a half-game of the White Sox with 1 game remaining head-to-head. The winner of the division will face the Rays in the first round…Who should RAYSHEADS be rooting for…
The Rays went 3-3 against the Twins this season and 6-4 against the White Sox. In reality, both teams scare us. The White Sox have 2 tough lefties in their rotation and a veteran lineup. The Twins on the other hand have Nelson Liriano and the Twins never lose playoff games at the Metrodome. Also, if the Twins win the division, they will come in riding a wave of momentum that could carry over…CHICAGO WHITE SOX
FOURTH INNING
Headlines…
It is starting to look like Troy Percival will be kept off the post-season roster…What does this mean for the rest of the roster?
As for the playoff roster, it means Edwin Jackson, Andy Sonnanstine and David Price will all be on the roster. Unless of course Joe Maddon doesn’t think Price can be effective out of the ‘pen. Then Jason Hammel is the last guy in. As for closing in the playoffs, Maddon will go with a committee, playing individual matchups. And yet, it has been Dan Wheeler more often recently. Still, with Wheeler’s struggles, we expect to see other faces, with Grant Balfour being the first alternative…BULLPEN WILL BE FINE
FIFTH INNING
Headlines…
James Shields is scheduled to start on Sunday. At this point that game may have little meaning…Will he make that start?
Joe Maddon has a tough decision regarding the rotation. If Shields starts Sunday, he will not be available until game 2 on Friday. If Maddon is OK with that, look for Shields to start Sunday but only work 3-4 innings. The other option is to skip Shields on Sunday and save him for game 1 on Wednesday or Thursday. If that happens, Shields will be working on 7 or 8 days rest. Extra rest is not always a good thing. Sometimes pitchers come out too strong and overthrow after extra rest. But if Shields waits until game 2, who goes in game 1. If game 1 is on Thursday, Matt Garza could go on normal rest, or Scott Kazmir can go on 6 days rest. If the series opens on Wednesday, Kazmir would likely go on 5 days rest, with Garza waiting until game 3. Of course, Shields and Garza have been much better at home. So the ideal setup may be Garza-Shields-Kazmir-Sonnanstine. But that is only if the series starts on Thursday. Follow that?…YES
SIXTH INNING
A look outside the box…
With the Rays facing the Tigers…what other series should RAYSHEADS watch closely?
With the magic number at 1, the only question remaining is the Rays first round opponent. You can be sure we will be following both the Twins and the White Sox. Minnesota is at home against the Royals and the Sox are at home against Cleveland…ROYALS @ TWINS; INDIANS @ WHITE SOX
SEVENTH INNING
Over/Unders…
0.5 playoff games for Carl Crawford this post-season:
It looks like he is out for the first round, and there is no guarantee that there will even be a second round. And if there is, it could depend on how well Fernando Perez is playing. It doesn’t look good…UNDER
0.5 saves for Grant Balfour in the Detroit series:
This will be a good opportunity to give The Mad Australian a save opportunity or two heading into the post-season. If all the save ops go to Wheeler in this series, then we will know Wheeler is the guy in the post-season. But our gut says Maddon is looking for other options…OVER
3.5 wins in this series against the Tigers:
A sweep? If the Rays win all 4 games, they will finish with 100 wins. Not bad for a team that had never won 80 before. And if they win all 4 the Rays will go into the playoffs feeling well about themselves and it will give them a good shot at the best record in the AL. Of course, we are not sure that is too terribly important…UNDER
EIGHTH INNING
On deck…
Four games are left in the regular season…What are the big things to watch for in this series?
Who closes the game in the 9th inning and how much playing time does Fernando Perez and Eric Hinske receive. That will give us a hint as to what Joe Maddon will do in the playoffs…JOE MADDON’S SCORECARD
NINTH INNING
Putting out the fire…
Now that we have seen the Red Sox celebration…Should critics ease up a little bit on the Rays celebration?
Watch this VIDEO. And that is a team that has won 2 titles recently…YEAH
Natalie Portman and her boyfriend are splitsville…Thoughts?
Natalie, give us a call…ALL GOOD
Nobody seems to be worthy of who can throw out the first pitch in game 1 of the ALDS…Who is your choice?
A guy deeply entwined in the local sports scene. A guy that has won a championship. A guy that could probably give one hell of a motivational speech to the Rays prior to the game…JON GRUDEN
Her Rays is calling for Dewayne Staats to get a mohawk for charity…What is the downside?
Isn’t it obvious?…DEWAYNE STAATS WITH A MOHAWK
Drink of choice for the Tigers series?
Detroit is blue-collar America, so we gotta go import. We are in Texas this weekend for ACL, and close to Mexico…MODELO
Click on above images to be taken to full standings, boxscores or schedule…
THE GOOD: 3 more bases loaded walks. This is starting to get ridiculous. That is now 24 on the season which leads all baseball, to go with 4 hit batters in the same situation. The Rays now have a .376 OBP with the bases loaded, which also leads the majors. On the other hand, the White Sox (Rays likely first round opponent) lead the majors with 11 home runs with the bases loaded…Foiling the double-steal. The biggest play of the game may have been a flawlessly executed thwarting of the O’s attempted double-steal in the 5th. With 1 out and men on first and third, the O’s attempted a double-steal. Dioner Navarro’s throw went threw to second. Aki Iwamura, seeing the runner on 3rd break for home, cut off the throw and nailed the runner at home. It was perfect. A play practiced by every team from little league on and yet rarely do teams pull it off. That kept the Rays within 1 and killed a rally.
THE BAD: When the playoffs start, can the Rays risk a first inning performance like last night from Edwin Jackson? The Rays were lucky that they ran into a pitching staff as poor as the Orioles or they would not have overcome a first inning in which Nuke gave up 6 hits and 5 runs before an out was recorded. At least with Andy Sonnanstine, his bad outings are the type where he gets nit-picked to death. A run here. 2 runs there. In the playoffs, Joe Maddon will be able to recognize that early and get him out of there. On the other hand, Jackson’s bad outings are nuclear meltdowns. At this point we have to assume Sonnanstine will be the game 4 starter. Then again, if the Rays play their first game on October 1, they could bring the game 1 starter back in game 4 on normal rest.
THE TELLING: According to Baseball Prospectus, with the magic number now 1, the odds of winning the AL East is now 99.5%…The Minnesota Twins beat the Chicago White Sox for the second time in 2 days. They now trail the Central leaders by one-half game. They are 1 back in the loss column, so they need to win again tonight to have a realistic chance. The Rays will likely face the the winner of the Central division in the ALDS…The Angels came from behind in the 8th inning last night and the Rays still trail by 2 for the best record in the AL. The Rays do have the tie-breaker between the two clubs having won the season series.
DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA…
[UPDATE: 11:32] The Red Sox beat the Indians, but the Rays overcame a first inning that saw the O’s score 5 runs before an out, to get the win. With the victory, the Rays magic number to win the division is now 1. The Angels are currently losing in the 5th inning, 4-2. An Angels loss and the Rays be 1 game behind for the best record in the AL. The Rays won the season-series with the Angels 6-3.
As we get closer to the playoffs, the links are going to start coming fast and furious…On certain days we will provide a late afternoon “Happy Hour” to try and keep the pace…
DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA…
Now that the 2008 New York Yankees are officially Roadkill, Hank Steinbrenner wants everybody to know unfair baseball is.
“The biggest problem is the divisional setup in Major League Baseball,” Steinbrenner wrote. “I didn’t like it in the 1970s, and I hate it now. Baseball went to a multi-division setup to create more races, rivalries and excitement. But it isn’t fair…You see it this season, with plenty of people in the media pointing out that Joe Torre and the Dodgers are going to the playoffs while we’re not. This is by no means a knock on Torre — let me make that clear — but look at the division they’re in. If L.A. were in the AL East, it wouldn’t be in the playoff discussion. The AL East is never weak.”
Oh, where to start…
We have no idea how anybody can compare the records of two teams from different leagues. This is just idiocy. Outside of 18 interleague games, the Yankees and the Dodgers do not play the same teams. Who is to say the Dodgers wouldn’t win 110 games playing in the AL East? Or that the Yankees wouldn’t still suck if they played in the NL West?
And we are having trouble remembering the time Hank came to the defense of the Rays or the Jays or the Orioles 10 of the last 11 years when the Yankees and Red Sox, two of the biggest payrolls in baseball, were finishing 1-2 in the AL East.
Steinbrenner later pisses all over the championship won by the Cardinals in 2006.
“St. Louis winning the World Series — that was ridiculous,” Steinbrenner said. “The Cardinals won their division with 83 wins — two fewer than the Phillies, who missed the postseason…”People will say the Cardinals were the best team because they won the World Series. Well, no, they weren’t. They just got hot at the right time. They didn’t even belong in the playoffs. And neither does a team from the NL West this season.”
Apparently Steinbrenner has forgotten the Yankees 2000 World Series Championship squad that finished the regular season 87-74, 3 games behind Cleveland, who missed the postseason.
Regardless of how you feel about the divisional lineup in baseball or the unbalanced schedule, Steinbrenner should not be your voice of reason. This is the equivalent of somebody buying a $1 million Ferrari Enzo and then complaining about gas prices.
Luckily for Yankees fans, it is actually Hal Steinbrenner that runs the franchise. Hank just talks a lot.
Other things in baseball that are not fair:
Steinbrenner questions divisional setup [MLB]
