Oct 05
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THE GOOD: According to CoolStandings.com the Rays now have a 88.5% chance of winning the ALDS. The Red Sox have a 90.6% chance of winning their series. The Red Sox have the best chance to win the World Series at 27.7% and the Rays are second at 23.9%. The Dodgers are only 20.7% to win it all even though they have already advanced to the second round. No matter who wins the ALCS and NLCS, the AL team will be a heavy favorite.
THE BAD: Dome teams are 11-27 all-time in outdoor postseason games.
THE TELLING: Game time temperatures should be around 64 with a 50% chance of showers. The good news about the weather is that there is 15 mph wind blowing in from left field which could help negate the Sox power.
DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA…
- Carlos Pena is expected back in the lineup today. [Tampa Tribune]
- We brought this up before, but expect the White Sox to try and slow the Rays down today and tomorrow with a wet track. [St. Pete Times]
- Brittany Ghiroli takes a look at how the Rays speed is giving them an advantage over the White Sox. [MLB]
- The New York Times has a nice feature story on Fernando Perez. [New York Times]
- Rob Quinn breaks down 5 areas that are key to the Rays winning in Chicago. [The Examiner]
- Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune breaks down what the White Sox need to do to win 3 in a row. [Chicago Tribune]
- According to at least one oddsmaker in Vegas, the Rays are now the favorites to win the World Series at 2-1. Not bad considering it was 100-1 in Spring Training (thanks John).
- From the 4-letter that until recently thought blogging was akin to taking a dump in the middle of the street, ESPN now has celebrity “bloggers“. Of those, is Lil’ Wayne and his prediction for World Series champs? The Rays. (Thanks Rex) [ESPN]
- Marc Lancaster spoke with Cliff Floyd. [Tampa Tribune]
- John Romano says, don’t forget about Carl Crawford. [St. Pete Times]
- Tony Fabrizio takes a look back at the turning point in Matt Garza’s season when he and Dioner Navarro came to blows in the dugout. [Tampa Tribune]
- Brant James takes a look at the controlled chaos that is Ozzie Guillen. [St. Pete Times]
Oct 04
Akinori Iwamura, Evan Longoria, George Steinbrenner, Jeff Niemann, Joe Maddon, JP Howell, Mark Buerhle, Ozzie Guillen, Reid Brignac, Rocco Baldelli, Scott Kazmir, Stuart Sternberg, Wade Davis Cork Gaines
Click on above images to be taken to full standings, boxscores or schedule…
THE GOOD: Speed. The Rays have it and the White Sox don’t. Game 2 marked the first time ever that Carl Crawford, BJ Upton and Fernando Perez started together in the outfield. Add Rocco Baldelli at DH and all the speed came in handy. Upton hit a triple to left-center that not many people would have turned into a triple. Perez caught a ball in the right field bullpen that not many would have even considered running after. CC stole a base in the 8th without even a throw and would later score on a single. And Rocco would score all the way from first on a pop up just behind the second baseman. On the flip side, the White Sox had 6 hits in the game with a runner on base. Not once did a runner advance more than one base on any of those hits…Dr. Jekyll. Scott Kazmir after the first inning. Kid K managed to fight through his early struggles and keep the Sox and his pitch count in check, making it into the 6th inning. Kazmir needed only 55 pitches in innings 2-5…Aki Iwamura. He doesn’t hit a lot of home runs, but it seems like all of them give the Rays the lead.
THE BAD: Mr Hyde. Scott Kazmir in the first inning. It was Kazmir at his absolute worst. 37 pitches in the first inning…The Rays and Bucs start at the same time on Sunday. Not sure this has ever happened before, but the Bucs are going to be relegated to the Picture-In-Picture.
THE TELLING: WIth the second pitch of the game, Scott Kazmir hit Orlando Cabrera. After the fireworks between Cabrera and Grant Balfour the day before, it sure looked intentional. It hit Cabrera in the lower leg. Dioner Navarro had set up outside. Harold Reynolds was absolutely convinced that it was intentional and it looked intentional. BUT. We hope. We really, really hope Kazmir is not that dumb. Even if you think a message needs to be sent, you can’t send that message in the first inning of a playoff game with no outs when Cabrera has about an 80% chance of scoring and putting your team in a hole. So we are going to give Kaz the benefit of the doubt and assume that it was just the most errant of wild pitches in the first inning.
DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA…
- Here is video of Joe Maddon’s post-game press conference. [ESPN]
- Here is video of Rocco Baldelli and JP Howell after the game. [ESPN]
- The cameras at the USF game spotted Evan Longoria in the stands with some female companionship and referred to her as “an 0-4 day tomorrow” as in that is how Dirtbag would perform in game 2 after spending the night with her (Longoria went 1-4, so she must not have been that great). [Deadspin]
- Ozzie Guillen called game 2 “White Sox baseball” with “12 hits, we got two runs and those two runs were in the first inning. We got Kazmir on the ropes and we let him go. And we left [12] people on base. You’re not going to win many games like that.” [Chicago Tribune]
- More surprising than Akinori Iwamura’s go ahead home run? How about the Aki mohawk. Yes. Yes he did. [Bugs and Cranks]
- Stuart Sternberg appeared on 670 The Score, a Chicago radio station. Here is a link to the audio…There is not another single principal owner in baseball that is this accessible. Not even George Steinbrenner would do this in his hay day, and we love it. [670 The Score]
- Before the series we predicted that JP Howell would be put into a situation that could decide the fate of the series. Brittany Ghiroli breaks down this very scenario from game 2.
- The Twins writer over at Bugs and Cranks had to eat some crow after the Twinker Bells didn’t even show up for the ALDS. [Bugs and Cranks]
- October is when bullpens reign supreme…and Yes, the Rays’ bullpen is what sets the Rays apart. [Fox Sports]
- Baseball America has updated their list of the top 20 prospects of the International League. Three Rays make the list including Wade Davis (#3), Reid Brignac (#4) and Jeff Niemann (#16). [Baseball America]
- The Arena ranks which potential world series matchups would be the most attractive. Of the 16 potential matchups, the Rays come in 3, 7, 9 and 10. [The Arena]
- Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times says that losing the first 2 games is just par for the course for the White Sox. [Chicago Sun-Times]
- Mark Buerhle says the Rays remind him of the ’05 White Sox. [Chicago Sun-Times]
- Jason Beck says it will not be easy for the Rays to eliminate the White Sox in Chicago. [MLB]
