Oh it’s on
That’s what I’m talking about right there; the ALCS this year completely rocked. It went all the way to game 7, and was hotly contested right up until the final out that earned the Tampa Bay Rays — yes, the Tampa Bay Rays — their first American League pennant, and earned the Boston Red Sox a trip home to watch the World Series on TV. Or maybe to watch the Steve Harvey Show or half an hour of Barack Obama explaining how great socialism is.
The Rays led 3-1 coming into the eighth, and then a fielding error allowed a baserunner — which then rapidly developed into a two-out bases-loaded situation. And who saves the day? A goddamn september call-up. That was a ballsy move there, putting him in in that situation. But it paid off, and now the Tampa Bay Rays will play the Philadelphia Phillies in The Most Unexpected World Series Matchup Ever.
If it makes you Red Sox fans feel any better, though, the Red Sox outlasted Manny’s new team! I know it would have been kind of uncomfortable if the Red Sox sat out and Manny went to the World Series without them.
As a Sox fan, the only thing I can really say is they got beat by a better team. The Sox spent 162 games chasing the Rays, and came up a few games short–then they played seven more, and came up a game short again. It’s not really that surprising, despite all the “OMG RAYS WHERE DID THEY COME FROM?” crap that’s been being spewed on the ‘tubes for a few weeks.
There’s only so many times you can rely on J.D. Drew to come up big in the clutch before he burns you, and it’s hard to score a lot of runs when it seems like the only people coming up with men on base regularly are Coco Crisp and the Ghost of Jason Varitek. I love Tek to death, but holy crap sometimes I wonder if the Sox would be better off DHing for *him* and letting the pitcher hit. He’s got the most absurdly slow, from-the-shoulders swing and he’s been pulling his head off the ball for months now.
It also doesn’t help that Papi can’t hit anymore either. I hope his wrist heals to 100% in the offseason.
Comment by Dave | 20 October 2008
Yeah, I’m seeing a lot of second-guessing on the intertubes about ‘Tek. Should Francona have gone to a pinch hitter in the seventh? Or the ninth? Or maybe Francona should have used a different catcher altogether — he put three catchers on his roster, so he clearly knew there was a problem. But he stayed loyal to Varitek to the very end, and that may have cost the Red Sox a pennant.
That said, Varitek didn’t come up in the crucial eighth, when the Sox came as close as they ever did to closing the gap. So you can’t lay any of the blame for that on him. Frankly, you’re exactly right — the Rays were simply the better team. They weren’t better by much, though, which is why the series (and, in fact, the entire season) was so good.
Comment by Darien | 20 October 2008
The important thing is, the hated Bostonians lost. This keeps the forces of darkness at bay for another year.
Comment by Stephen | 21 October 2008