My Long Overdue Post on the Phillies

Let's be real here for a second. I do not have access to players or coaches for interviews. I was not in Philadelphia to see Game 7, or any game for that matter. There is nothing I can tell you specifically about the game that ESPN has not already, or that you probably did not notice for yourself. So, because of that, here are my quick-hit thoughts on the series itself, how it was covered, and the reaction. 

1. The city of Philadelphia does not read this blog. That was a joke. But seriously. In case you missed it, earlier in the week, I posted about how Philadelphia's first championship since the 76ers in 1983 was diminished.  Philly didn't care, and why would they? No matter how it went down, the fact will remain the same: The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Tampa Bay Rays in the 2008 World Series, and they celebrated it like none other. The entire city was out in the streets many hours past the end of the game. They celebrated like they had every right to. But, speaking of Philadelphia ...

2. Philadelphia fans really are that obnoxious. If you watched the post-game coverage, you know exactly what I'm talking about. They booed - about three different times - the man who was presenting them with the World Series trophy. Look, Bud Selig leaves a lot to be desired, but you just won the World Series. Can't you be happy? For once? 

3. According to ESPN, the Rays lost the World Series. My roommate had to point this out to me about 19 times before I finally started believing: ESPN has more than just a Red Sox-Yankees-Cowboys-Sidney Crosby-Duke basketball-USC football bias. It extended to the Rays. Or maybe it was just a bias against the Phillies. Who knows? But I digress.

The fact remains the same that the story ESPN was pushing before, during, and after the series was not a championship for Philadelphia, but a loss for the Rays. 

Before the World Series, you could have watched Baseball Tonight for a good 15 minutes and not realized that the Phillies were even playing in it. It was the Rays' Cinderella season, the Rays' never-give-up attitude, the Rays' triumph over Boston. All the Phillies had done was cruise through a terrible National League.

During the World Series, even when Philly went up 1-0, then 2-1, then 3-1, it was never "The Phillies are getting closer to history." It was always "What do the Rays have to do to get their bats going again?" Forget how good the Phillies pitching was. The worst was leading up to Game 5b. What we were supposed to watch for was not whether Philadelphia would celebrate their first championship in 25 years; no, the most important thing was to watch young phenom David Price work his magic. 

Then, after the game, there was far too little "These Phillies really were terrific" and far too much "The Rays had a great season." That stuff should be saved for a few days. Let Philadelphia soak it all in. 

4. Pitching and defense really does win you championships. Case in point. It was just that nobody thought Philadelphia would have more of both. The key plays: Iwamura mishandles a bloop fly ball that knocks in a Phillies run. Chase Utley is alert in the field and goes home with a ball that saves a run. Feliz hits a ground ball that would normally be an out, but because the Rays were playing in, squirts up the middle to knock in another run. It wasn't shown in the highlight video, but in the 8th, with a man on, Utley and Rollins put together a perfectly executed double play to get the impossibly fast B.J. Upton out. Then, in the 9th, it was Brad Lidge's destructive slider.

Congratulations to the Phillies. Tampa, you will be around a long time. Right now, though, it's all about Philadelphia. 

(Photo Credits: AP)

Phillies' Glory Soured

The entire city of Philadelphia should have celebrated their first championship since 1983 last night. Instead, the sell-out crowd at Citizens Bank Park went away soaked and unsatisfied. Sadly, the rain is only the tip of the iceberg. 

The series, for starters, is not drawing any ratings. The truth is that baseball relies on their ratings coming from the two teams' markets. Nothing against the Philadelphia market; I expect they're holding their end. I have a hard team believing that Tampa is doing the same, though. The Tampa Cinderella story was the main story line promoted by ESPN coming into the game, as well. After so long, though, it got old. 

Second, the umpiring has been absolutely abysmal. I've never seen more wide strike zones in my life. It actually seems like the area of the strike zone is the same; the dimensions are just different. There's been no leniency with high and low, but if it gets within the height, it's going to be called a strike. 

Then, there was the Longoria call. It's one thing if the ump is far away and can't make the call. He was right there, though. If there's one thing this series will give us, it may be an expansion of instant replay.

Third, overall shoddy play. The Phillies have pitched well, but you can't give them all the credit for Longoria/Pena going 0-29. The Phillies are up 3-1 in the series despite having something like three hits with RISP the entire series. 

Fourth, the rain situation. Thank goodness the Rays scored that second run. 

There were so many variables that lead to good choices or bad choices, so I'm going to run through them now, and whether it was a good call or bad call.

A. The game was played to begin with. Bad call. Give a 6-year-old a five minute lesson on how to read a Doppler Radar. He could have told you there was no way this game should have been played. This isn't football. This isn't soccer. The fact that the game was played in that weather was a disservice to Philadelphia fans and to the players themselves, who easily could have been hurt.

B. The game wasn't called around the third, when the intensity really picked up. Bad call. Before it got to give, just end it. Both starters would only go a few innings and would be available on only a few days later in the series. Then, you wouldn't have to deal with the whole "They played their five and were up" nonsense.

C. The game was not called until Tampa tied it. The only good call. Bud Selig said that if it weren't tied, then the game would go to rain delay until the umpires saw fit. I'm talking 24 hour rain delay. Players sleeping in the clubhouse. It would have been an absolute fiasco (more than it already was), and there would have been 100 people in the ballpark to see the end. 

You just have to feel for Philadelphia fans. They've been waiting for this for so long. Their team is stacked, and the World Series is theirs. Odds are, they will still eventually win this, and Philadelphia will go insane. The memories won't be looked upon fondly by any other fans, though. It will be even worse than Super Bowl XL,  which is now known basically for its terrible refereeing. 

Poor Philadelphia.

(Photo Credits: AP)

It Could All Be Over

Tonight, the Phillies and Rays meet for what could be the final game of the 2008 Major League Baseball season. This World Series has been a letdown for many fans - the Rays were America's darling after their magical turnaround and playoff run - but not for me.

It's been tough to watch each and every inning, and I admit that I have not been able to. But what I have seen has been great. Cole Hamels has emerged as one of the best active playoff pitchers. Jimmy Rollins has proven that he is the key to everything that the Phillies do. Ryan Howard and Chase Utley have finally woken up. Even Joe Blanton has elevated his game - he even managed to hit his first career home run.

And, amazing, the Phillies have scored runs. The first three games, they struggled to score. They began the series inept at clutch hitting, but still managed to score runs. Small ball is still alive, even with a team like the Phillies.

The Rays, however, have finally run out of gas. Thier two best hitters - Carlos Pena and Evan Longoria - have gone 0-for-series (0-29 combined). That's right, not one...single..hit. That's not to say they're bad hitters. Far from it. Longoria is young (he's 23 in his first big league season) and Pena is a pure power hitter (.247 average during the season with 166 K's). The Phillies have just adjusted and exposed their weaknesses.

Because of that, the Phillies are 27 outs away from winning the World Series. They are the best team in baseball. And the Rays, who had baseball's storybook season, are right there with them. Next year, they could be a scary team. Let's just hope tonight's game 5 is as exciting as the other games this season.

Rays Should Not Despair

After losing Game 1 at home 3-2 to the Phillies Wednesday night, many Rays fans probably immediately started to worry. It was game 1, and they immediately surrendered the momentum they had. It was a home game, and they had the best home record in the majors. Kazmir gave them a good outing. 

It's not all bad, though. 

The winner of game 1 has won 63 of the 103 World Series that have been decided in the best-of-7 format. That's really not that significant, because there are numbers that go in the Rays' favor, too. Consider that the team with home-field advantage has won 18 of the past 22 meetings. 

Rays fans should also bear in mind that while the Phillies put their ace out on the mound for game 1 (Hamels, who was absolutely brilliant), Tampa's Garza won't come out until game 3. 

One more note: Upton, Pena, and Longoria combined for an 0-12 for Tampa Bay. No, this can't be counter-argued by saying "well Howard was terrible, too." Ryan Howard has been terrible this entire postseason, while those three at the top of the Tampa lineup have been dynamite. 

If Tampa loses game 2, then it's time to worry. But until then, know that most things will only get better. 

Looking Back

With so many sports going on at once, how can you keep track of them all? You don't have to, but I will. Every Monday I will look back and hit briefly upon the five story lines that stuck out from the previous weekend.

1. Maryland proved - again - that it has the talent to win the ACC. Yes, the entire ACC. As we know, though, we won't really have learned anything about the Terps until after this coming week, after another classic trap game. This time it's against NC State, 0-3 in the conference. Please don't lose.

2. The AFC Wild Card race is going to be a good one. The Patriots got a leg up on the competition just a minute ago with a 41-7 thrashing of Denver. The Jets, Ravens, Jags, and Colts all sit right behind them at 3-3, and the Chargers confuse at 3-4. 

3. Meanwhile, the NFC Divisional races look to be the hot thing. In the East, all four teams have shown definite strengths and weaknesses, and any of the four could be there at the end of the year. In the North, the Packers and the Bears stepped forward with huge wins this weekend. In the South, the Bucs and Panthers both look extremely strong, but don't count out the Falcons. In the West, the Rams - yes, the Rams - may be charging, and you can't say with certainty that the Cardinals won't choke. 

4. The Rays earned their trip to the World Series. The odds were stacked against them.

 After letting down from a 7-0 lead in game 5, the Rays lost in game 6, and had absolutely 0 momentum in game 7. But thanks to a pitching gem by Garza, they somehow did it. I've been riding the Phillies bandwagon the entire postseason, but they're going to have to overcome a Rays team with an absolutely unreal amount of spunk.

5. For lack of anything else, have you seen Colt McCoy's stats? This guy is so by far and away the Heisman trophy winner through the halfway point it's not even fair. The numbers: 81% passing, 1894 passing yards, 19:3 TD:INT, 371 yards rushing, 6 TDs

The only one close is Bradford, but he doesn't have the rushing yards, and he doesn't play for the number one team in the nation.  

Weekend Watch

Hey guys, sorry I haven't been on here for a little while. In any case, here's what I (and you, of course) should be watching for this weekend.

1. Whether the Rays can punch momentum in the face. They were up 7-0 in the 7th inning. The Red Sox couldn't get an out while they were in the field, and the Rays were pretty much doing whatever they wanted. Then came Big Papi, and we all know where that went from there. 

Of course, none of that will matter if the Rays take game 6, which will be tomorrow at 8:07 p.m. If it goes to 7, though, it will be a miracle if the Rays take it.

2. Whether Maryland can become consistent with their inconsistency. If everything goes according to plan with the season, they will beat number 21 Wake Forest. Things wont be easy, though, even if the "good" Maryland shows up. (We're going to assume they do because if the "bad" Maryland shows up, they will be beaten by 50.) Wake Forest boasts one of the top defenses in the country, and specializes in getting turnovers. If Chris Turner can throw one interception or less, however, Maryland will win. 

3. The NFL's contenders will continue to separate themselves from the pretenders.

Games to keep an eye on include:

MIN at CHI (for control of the NFC North); BAL at MIA (the winner will be back in the wild card chase, the loser won't); NO at CAR (for a leg-up in the NFC South); IND at GB (GB needs this because of the earlier NFC North game, IND needs to get rolling on a streak); CLE at WAS (we'll know a lot more about CLE after this week); DEN at NE (I've hated on them both, but the winner will impress me)

Next week, I will hit upon all these and more when I look back upon the weekend. Other things to look forward to include the power rankings, and the inaugural MVP/LVP for the NFL.

I won't be at Maryland Madness tonight due to a prior commitment; someone let me know how it is and how the team looks. Basketball preview will certainly come soon. Have a good weekend everyone.

And I hate to say "I told you so" about the Phillies while I was on air, but ... 

MLB Playoffs have arrived - at least on the mound

In a postseason that looked like it was going to provide a lot of drama ("Is this the Cubs' year?" "How will the Rays hold up?" "Chicago-Chicago or LA-LA World Series?"), the first day came and went quite silently. The scores didn't necessarily dictate it, but there was some good baseball happening, especially from a pitching perspective. Most teams brought their aces to the mound, and the run total showed it. The Brewers, Cubs, and Angels all scored two or fewer runs. All those teams are much better hitting than they showed, and I would definitely look for much more runs this weekend. 

Today, you have to try to catch some of the Rays' game (starts at 2:30). Even if you don't like baseball, this is a piece of history for both the Rays and baseball itself. I'm very interested to see how they respond.