A sports blog by and for Midwest Sports Fans
Way back in February, USA Today’s 2011 MLB Preview Magazine published a lengthy piece by yours truly, whereupon I rendered my thoughts on who the most over and underrated players in the game were as we approached the new campaign.
Throughout 2011, I posted monthly updates on these “predictions,” so as to capriciously praise or condemn myself. Today, on the 1st of October with the playoffs upon us, I offer the final “results.”
This is the Divisional Series I am most looking forward to. Most likely, so should you. This match-up has all the makings of a classic, featuring two teams that have had good fortune shine upon them this season.
The Rays have a juggernaut of momentum going their way as they closed the season with five straight wins to bamboozle a stunned Boston Red Sox team and storm into the playoffs. They set a record by being the first team to make the playoffs after heading into the final month 9 games out. Tampa posted a 32-17 record after Aug. 8, showing that their surge is for real.
The Texas Rangers, on the other hand, led the AL West for the majority of the season and just concluded the best season in franchise history with 96 wins.
Just caught this video in today’s Hot Clicks and it is absolutely outstanding. I’m not a Red Sox fan or a hater, but I watched the whole thing and thoroughly enjoyed it.
What a great, great night of baseball. Wow.
The video below serves as proof that Red Sox and Braves fans weren’t the only ones who got hit in the nuts at the ballpark last night.
On Dan Johnson’s pinch hit home run in the 9th inning, which sent the Yankees-Rays game to extras, an uncoordinated and/or slow to react fan in the outfield took it in the worst possible spot.
Major League Baseball has a slogan: “Always Epic”. But America’s Pastime, certainly the final days of its regular season, are certainly not always this epic.
The Tampa Bay Rays won the AL East for the second time in three seasons last year, winning 96 games, one better than the New York Yankees.
The departure of several players to free agency, most notably Carl Crawford (Red Sox), Carlos Pena (Cubs), Rafael Soriano (Yankees), Joaquin Benoit (Tigers) and Matt Garza (Cubs), will make this season challenging for the Rays.
Will the Yankees or Red Sox reclaim the top spot in 2011?
Considering the incessant football hype during September, you may have overlooked the incredibly dramatic finish to another season in Major League Baseball.
As someone who does not follow football until November, I am thrilled for October baseball in 2010.
The next few weeks, as always, will offer great drama, upsets, and the crowning of a champion who began their quest way back in February on the ball fields of Arizona or Florida.
All my life I have been told just how important a first impression is. The first 30 seconds you are exposed to someone are vital.
In that time, a person forms an opinion about you based upon your appearance, body language, demeanor, mannerisms, and a veritable plethora of other factors, both conscious and unconscious. These initial impressions can be nearly impossible to reverse or undo, making these first encounters extremely important, as they set the tone for the all the relationships that follow.
First impressions also apply to the world of sports. An athlete being scouted can receive too much, or too little credit based on a five minute performance. For this reason, I am compelled to make this week’s player Chad Bradford. He is one of those players that almost never made it due to flaws in scouting. He also made me a fan after seeing only one pitch.
So this morning a couple of things go through my usually cavernous head.
First, I gloat over the fact that my week 1 college football picks (exclusive to MSF) went 4-0 on Saturday with Virginia Tech pending on Monday. Then I check the scores from late last night and I realize that LSU somehow failed to score a point in the entire second half against UNC’s JV defense and choked away the easiest of covers.
Needless to say, as a Duke fan (don’t tell anyone, I know most of you find that gross), I blame Roy Williams for this backdoor disgusting cover, and I now doubly hope that all the UNC suspensions are followed by probation and the death penalty. In fact, I root for Craig James to show up as a consultant for UNC now that he has helped administer the execution of both the SMU football program and the career of Mike Leach.
The second thing I realize is that this is the last Sunday for approximately 20 weeks that won’t entail about 12 straight hours of NFL football.
I’ve finally come to the realization that I am a so-called baseball apologist. I am absolutely willing to ignore the bad in baseball (Joe Morgan’s annoying crusades, honoring anti-Americans at “Civil Rights Weekend,” the overplayed yet somewhat true “big market dominance” in October, alleged steroid usage from a decade ago that bores fans and has no effect on this season, etc) and instead find the good that far outweighs the bad — especially when there is just so much bad in the other major sports, particularly the NFL.
I do have some recommendations for the Major League Baseball, however (move the Astros to the AL West or simply abolish divisional play, lengthen round one of the postseason to best of seven, return to a balanced schedule…), but overall, I think the game is as good as ever. Attendance and pure human interest back that up, as 2010 itself has seen an unprecedented amount of excitement and history in just five short weeks:
We had a no hitter, a perfect game, a 20 inning classic, and last Friday, a 47 year old threw a two hit shutout the same night a 20 year-old had six RBI in his big league debut. Not bad.
Let’s look at the top “storylines” of the first one-fifth of the season:
The Major League Baseball regular season is almost upon us, and between ESPN, TBS, Fox and elsewhere, you’re bound to find your favorite team on a television set near you.
Fox will broadcast their usual Saturday afternoon games, TBS will pick up on Sundays, and for the most part, you can expect ESPN to have games on Sunday and Monday evenings. (Mid-week, you might look for your local team networks and eventually, on Thursdays, the MLB Network will be back for their second season, though the schedule has yet to be released).
Even if you don’t bet on MLB odds, you have to be excited to watch the Phillies and Rays duke it out this week.
Each team has endured a bumpy road since they met in the 2008 World Series and, while the Rays are climbing toward the top of the AL East, the Phillies’ grasp on the NL East is tenuous. What will happen this week at Tropicana field?
Let’s make some MLB predictions.
Tuesday, June 23, 7:08 p.m. ET
Jamie Moyer (4-6, 6.35) vs David Price (1-1, 3.46)
MLB betting lines: Phillies +155, Rays -175
Is it swan song time for Jamie Moyer? It’s been an amazing run, but he may finally be out of gas, as his 6.35 ERA suggests. However, I have a feeling he helps bust the Phillies out of their six-game skid tonight. He has a somewhat useful 5.40 ERA on the road – good enough with the Phillies bats behind you – and he handled the Rays in the deciding game of the World Series. In fact, he held Evan Longoria and Carlos Pena hitless.
David Price is a special pitcher, so it’s understandable that sportsbooks favor the Rays. However, while many fans love his 30 strikeouts in 26 innings, it’s easy to forget his 18 walks during that time span. That’s simply too high for a major league pitcher, and the Phillies will punish him if he doesn’t hit the plate.
Pick: Phillies
Wednesday, June 24, 7:08 p.m. ET
Joe Blanton (4-3, 5.28) vs Matt Garza (4-5, 3.83)
MLB betting lines: Phillies +145, Rays -165
Time for Tampa to strike back. The Rays have to feel confident sending promising youngster Matt Garza to the hill against the Phillies. He’s quickly establishing himself as a big-game pitcher, having allowed just seven earned runs in 33.2 innings in five starts against the Yankees and Red Sox. Joe Blanton must have nightmares about Tropicana field, as he has a 7.64 ERA there. Carlos Pena has sweet dreams about facing Blanton, hitting .571 off the portly hurler. You have to give the edge to the Rays here.
Pick: Rays
Thursday June 25, 7:08 p.m. ET
Antonio Bastardo (2-2, 5.21) vs Andy Sonnanstine (5-7, 6.60)
MLB betting lines: Not posted yet
Oh, boy. Looks like the home run derby starts early this year. Andy Sonnanstine has been a special kind of bad in 2009 – the kind that usually earns you a ticket to Class-AAA. He’s allowed at least one homer in eight straight starts and 14 in total over that span. Is there any way he can handle a prolific power-hitting team like Philly?
Antonio Bastardo has taken his lumps (though I assume his jersey sales remain strong – what’s the price per head on those at Citizens Bank Park?), but only at home. He’s 2-0 with a 2.45 road ERA in his young career and is a good bet to survive on Thursday.
Pick: Phillies
(Stay up to date with latest news on the World Series schedule at http://www.worldseries.com.)
Game 5 of the World Series between the Tampa Bay Rays and Philadelphia Phillies was suspended due to rain in Philadelphia before the bottom half of the 6th inning began.
The game is currently scheduled to resume Tuesday night at 8:00 and according to Commissioner Bud Selig will not be moved to Tampa Bay under any circumstances. Furthermore, regardless of what day the game is ultimately played, it will begin at 8:00 ET.
Tomorrow’s scheduled start time is obviously contingent on the weather. Click here to stay up to date on the latest Philadelphia area weather forecast. As of right now, according to the hour-by-hour forecast, it looks like rain is expected for tomorrow night as well. The 10-day forecast shows sunshine on Thursday. [Read more...]
Last night, after an hour and a half rain delay, the Philadelphia Phillies took advantage of the Tampa Bay Rays’ late-inning pitching mistakes to claim victory in Game 3 that ended at 1:47 am. The Phillies took a 2-1 advantage in the World Series. According to the SI.com account of the game, the Rays were also treated to the typically brotherly warm chilly reception given to visitors from the notorious Philadelphia fans.
Game 4 is scheduled for tonight, and the NFL does not have a Sunday Night Football game scheduled to accommodate the World Series. According to Weather.com, the projected forecast around Citizens Bank Park is clear for the entire evening. So the game should start on time, giving more people a chance to watch the finish, which many fans (including me), were not able to stay up and do last night.
The pitching matchup for tonight’s World Series Game 4, scheduled to begin at 8:00 on Fox, is as follows:
No, neither of the Chicago teams that we were rooting for here at Midwest Sports Fans made the World Series. But still, as baseball fans, most of us will be taking an interest in the World Series.
I think that Boston-LA would have made for, at least on paper, better storylines and drama; but a Tampa Bay-Philadelphia World Series definitely features two exciting teams with great young players, and it features the best and most positive story in Major League Baseball since all the steroids madness started: the improbable run of the young, perennially down-trodden Tampa Bay Rays to the World Series.
The World Series follows the 2-3-2 format at all of the games are, of course, televised on Fox (Joe Buck! Tim McCarver!) and while MLB.com currently lists the Rays’ pitching rotation as TBD (as of this posting), ESPN.com at least made an educated guess. You may want to check these on a daily basis though, as the Rays getting stretched to 7 games by the Red Sox may necessitate Joe Maddon switching things up a bit.
Here is the schedule:
