Philles one win from championship, freeing Mitch Williams' soul

The Philadelphia Phillies are one win away from the World Series championship that the Chicago Cubs were supposed to win.

What? Did you not expect me to go there.

I have mixed emotions about this series ... and by mixed emotions I mean I don't care as much as an extreme baseball enthusiast should be, but I care enough to watch highlights on SportsCenter multiple times.

See, the Phillies have that whole tortured team/fan aspect that I can relate to. None of Philadelphia's four teams have won a professional sports title in 25 years.

That makes it an even 100 seasons since a championship banner has been waived in the City of Brotherly Love.

As for the Tampa Bay Rays, they've done two things no Cubs team has done since 1945.

Go to the World Series and win a game in the World Series.

And the Cubs spotted the Rays a head start of more than 100 years.

Ouch, that smarts.

From afar, I must admit to having a slight admiration for the Rays because they built their champion the old fashioned way: through the farm system.

Well, kind of.

The Rays get a lot of credit (and deservedly so) for building a productive farm system that has brought Evan Longoria, David Price and B.J. Upton to stardom.

However, to get those players, the former Devil Rays had to compile some of the worst records in baseball to do so.

Eventually, you're going to land some quality players when you've got more top-10 picks than you know what to do with.

Right, Elgin Baylor?

In the end, there is only one city that will be celebrating a championship by week's end. And since that city isn't Chicago (or Carbondale, or Chapel Hill...) I really don't care.

The Price is Right: The Rays are AL Champs!

You know what this world needs?

More clever headlines referencing one of the greatest television game shows in history and the name of the No. 1 overall pick in the MLB Amateur draft.

Yeah!

Oh and more cool celebration shots like the one on the right.

I'm sure Scoop Jackson LOVES! this pic.

Anyway, I'd like to send a personal shout out to the Tampa Bay Rays, who by virtue of their 3-1 victory in Game 7 of the ALCS, put to bed any possibility of the New England area having another championship run.

I know I'm not the only one who's happy to see it come to the end.

I'm tired of the constant fellatio that is given to the Red Sox, Red Sox Nation and former Red Sox by ESPN. I'm tired of the blogosphere going all Papelbon-and-Papi over the new New York Yankees. I'm tired of Theo Epstein hogging the Moneyball era when Billy Beane should be raking in the benefits.

As for the Rays (a team without a batter with a .300 batting average and a payroll that mirrors what Ted Lilly is getting over four years) they'll be going to the World Series.

While both Chicago teams, both New York teams, both Los Angeles area teams and ESPN's love-children will be at home watching the World Series like the rest of us.

Oh yeah, and the Philadelphia Phillies are playing too.

Here We Go Again Pt. 2

Photo Credit: Getty Images

Stop me if you've heard this one before.

The Boston Red Sox are pushed to the brink of elimination and thanks to the contributions of David Ortiz, Jonathan Papelbon and Jason Varitek they're baseball season lives long enough to force a Game 7.

OK, I thought we've gone through this scenario once or twice.

If the Red Sox do indeed come all the way back to win this series, the Tampa Bay Rays will likely be written off as frauds by the media folk out there. They would go immediately from the darlings to the dumpster.

It'd be the biggest collapse since - dare I say? - the 2003 Chicago Cubs had a 3-1 lead and then choked away their best opportunity to go to the World Series since 1945.

Yeah, I'd say it.

Tonight's Game 7 matchup doesn't provide the sexy pitching names of this series like Beckett (who was darn good last night), Matsuzaka or Kazmir but baseball people like myself will enjoy tonight's pitching duel between Jon Lester and Matt Garza.

Lester and Garza are both wealthy with young talent and if both teams do their part, it won't be the last time we'll see these two square off in a big game.

So long from Austintown, Ohio. We've gotta go back to Carbondale.

[Red Sox 4 Rays 2]

Here we go again...

Photo Credit: AP

Remember that MLB campaign "You can't script October?"

I do.

And I hate to say it but tonight's ALCS Game 5 looked like something straight out of a Disney movie.

The up-and-coming Tampa Bay Rays were looking to knock off the big bad Boston Red Sox from their championship form. And up 7-0 with the franchise's best pitcher it looks bleek for the home team.

Then the big bad Red Sox took a risk throwing their all-world closer in the seventh inning.

The move will go down in history as helping to spark the BoSox's 8-0 run to end the game, giving the team an extra life and helped send the series back to Tampa Bay.

If the Red Sox win this series, I'll be sick. But I won't be surprised.

Because I've seen this movie before and to be honest, I didn't wanna see another sequel.

[Rays 7 Red Sox 8]

Are the Rays ready to go all the way?

A franchise that was the laughing stock of baseball just one season ago could be getting the last laugh with a victory tonight in Game 5 of the ALCS.

Standing between the Boston Red Sox and their chance to send the series back to Tropicana Field is one Scott Kazmir, whose flame-throwing left arm is 4-4 with a 3.02 ERA at Fenway Park with 68 strikeouts in 62.2 innings at the venerable Boston ballpark.

(On a somewhat related note: standing between a New York Mets fan and suicide watch is the picture in this post. I digress.)

The Rays are hot and have been the talk of the baseball world of late. ESPN is catching on, and it almost seems as if (for once) they will be ready to relinquish Sawks/Yanks talk if only for one night because of the Rays' surge.

But don't count out the Red Sox just yet. We've seen this song and dance before and to be honest, it's getting kind of old.

"Oh, let's dig ourselves a deep hole and then slowly climb our way out of it and gain the love and recognition for being a bunch of gritty grinders."

Bleh. Screw that.

Dear Scott: Finish them.

I promise a better blogging day tomorrow.

Until then...

Good night from Carbondale.

Rays of Power

Photo Credit: AP

Part two of my series on how I'm jealous of the remaining teams in the LCS. This segment stars the Tampa Bay Rays and Boston Red Sox. Notice: I didn't say New York Yankees.

Raise your hand if you expected to see the Boston Red Sox in the ALCS this season?

(That's a good amount of you. Makes sense, seeing that the BoSox are coming off their second World Series title this decade.)

Alright, hands down.

By a show of hands, how many of you expected the Tampa Bay Rays to be facing the Red Sox in the ALCS?

(No one. Not shocking, seeing that the Rays have been a bottom feeder since entering the league in 1998.)

OK. How many of you folks knew that the Rays changed their team colors, logo and dropped the "Devil" out of their name?

(Not a flinch.)

And that's why I am in love with the Tampa Bay Rays.

As a tortured Cubs fan, I learned early to adopt playoff teams when October rolled around so I can keep up with the happenings of my favorite sport, baseball. This year's squad: The Rays.

For the longest time it was the Red Sox because my godfather (Luis Rivera) was a utility infielder for Boston in the early-mid '90s. And I still have those ties and now I have ties to the Cleveland Indians, for whom he now coaches.

I digress.

The Rays, well, they have a chance to make a young sportswriter look like a genius.

In September, a certain future sportswriter said the Rays reminded him of the 2003 Florida Marlins. They were young, dumb and therefore oblivious to pressure.

Remember when Derek Jeter and the '03 Yanks tried spooking the upstart Marlins by warning them of the "Ghosts of Yankee Stadium."

After blowing up Mark Prior and Kerry Wood in back-to-back starts, the Fighting Fish basically said 'f*ck your ghosts' and pissed all over the Pinstripes and clinched on the Yankees' home field.

Back to the Rays. I'm sorry, I'm off my rocker this morning.

The Cubs need to do what they Rays have done to build a winner. Without the whole years of suck thing because the North Siders got that down pat.

The Rays have built from the ground up. Smart draft choices made by smart baseball people developed by even smarter baseball people and managed by a coach who studied under one of baseball's best minds, the L.A. Angels' Mike Scoscisia.

• B.J.Upton (1st round, 2nd pick - 2002)
• Evan Longoria (1st round, 3rd pick - 2006)
• Carl Crawford (2nd round, 1999)
• Rocco Baldelli (1st round, 6th pick - 2000)
• David Price (1st round, 1st pick - 2007)

See a pattern? Young and talented. And that's not even counting the Christmas gift from Steve Phillips and the New York Mets known as Scott Kazmir.

Wondering about the Cubs' home grown draft picks.

Only Kerry Wood (1st round, 4th pick - 1995), Geovany Soto (11th round, 2001), Sean Marshall (6th round, 2003) and Ryan Theriot (3rd round, 2001) contributed to the Cubs all season long.

Look at the rest of the roster and you'll find 11 free-agent signees and five players that came via trade.

Notice that Wood is the only former first-round pick to make it through the organizational ranks. Mark Prior earns partial credit in this category.

But where the Rays have succeeded, the Cubs have failed. Miserably.

Let's play a game I like to call 'Who Would You Rather Have?'

Would you rather have...

• Mark Pawelek (No. 20) or Jacoby Ellsbury (No. 22) - 2005 draft
• Ryan Harvey (No. 6) or Nick Markakis (No. 7) - 2003 draft
• Bobby Brownlie (No. 21) or Matt Cain (No. 25) - 2002 draft
• Luis Montanez (No. 4) or Chase Utley (No. 15) - 2000 draft
  

I could do this forever, in fact I'll do that one day.

The point is if the Cubs want to be a contender over a long period of time they need to start making smart draft choices.

Starting now!

Daily Dosage: Like life, baseball goes on

First of all, let the record show that Nick Cannon has no business being married to the beautiful (and a little bit loco) Mariah Carey.

Seriously, Mariah can sing her butt off and look good in it. Nick Cannon had that one song with R. Kelly and that other song with a bunch of rappers.

At least he has Drumline money to fall back on.

Still, it's unfair.

Moving on to the Dosage.

The Phreakin' Phils Are Having Phun! Through four NLCS games, Brad Lidge has proven to be the anti-Mitch Williams.

Lidge converted his first four-out save this season and he did it at a perfect time for Philly fans as the fans of the Illa-delph's baseball team were rewarded with a 7-5 come-from-behind victory.

The Dodgers bullpen (normally good) allowed five runs in four innings of work to a powerful Phillies offense that is one win away from its first World Series since 1993.

Remember the Wild Thing? Here's hoping Brad Lidge has a short memory. Remember the last time he was in a LCS clinching game?

[Phillies 7 Dodgers 5]

Rays romp in Boston. To quote Eminem in the great movie "8 Mile": "Now who's afraid of the big bad wolf?"

Not the Tampa Bay Rays.

In their first playoff appearance at Fenway Park, the Rays looked like a group of veterans, knocking around Jon Lester (surprising!) to the tune of five runs (four earned) on eight hits in 5.2 innings. Then the Rays knocked around Paul Byrd (not so much!) for four runs (all earned) in 3.1 innings.

Oh yeah, and B.J. Upton is turning into an October star.

His summer troubles were chronicled here at TBDS.

The good news for the Rays center fielder is that it's the fall.

He's batting .308 after a 2-for-5 day at the plate in which he knocked in three RBIs, scored a run and hit a loooong home run off of Lester in the third inning.

The Rays are up 2-1 in the best-of-seven series.

[Rays 9 Red Sox 1]

Quality Linkage:

• The SIU men's golf team posted its worst finish of the fall season. [Daily Egyptian]
• The Heisman Field is lackin' for talent. [The Big Lead]
• The best Madden glitches ever. [on205th]
• A victory for "baseball geeks" like me. [Gawker]
• Marshawn Lynch is just like me. And by just like me, I mean he's a blogger. [With Leather]
  

Chicago D'oh!

The Chicago Cubs weren't the only Chicago baseball team stumbling out of the gate to start the playoffs.

Javier Vazquez welcomed Tampa Bay Rays third baseman Evan Longoria to the playoff party by allowing him to go long (twice) in the Rays 6-4 victory against the White Sox.

At least the White Sox believed in scoring runs at some point.

Dewayne Wise hit a three-run homer and A.J. Pierzynski and Paul Konerko were in 2005 form, combining to go 4-for-7 with two runs scored.

Unfortunately for the South Siders, Vazquez continued a Cub-like choke fest in big games, allowing six runs in 4.1 innings.

Luckily for the Sox, the series just started and have the face of the franchise, Mark Buehrle, taking the bump for Game 2.

If the Sox can somehow come away with a split in F-L-A, they could spring an upset when they return to U.S. Cellular Field.

Longoria's 2 homers lead Rays over White Sox 6-4 [Yahoo! Sports]

White Sox ready to rock Rays

Two days after clinching the AL Central Division title, the Chicago White Sox have payback on the mind.

The Tampa Bay Rays (remember, they dropped the 'Devil') enter their first playoff series still a national mystery.

They're young, talented and had one of the best records in all of baseball this season, but in the AL East, they were always buried behind the Yankees and Red Sox.

All the Rays did was win a billion games this year, winning the AL East crown and pushed the Red Sox into the Wild Card and the Yanks out of the playoff picture.

Should this intimidate the White Sox? Simple answer: no.

For most of the South Side Hit Men, 2005 is a fresh memory. Even though manager Ozzie Guillen is a nutcase, he still is a master motivator and a World Series ring-owning manager.

Paul Konerko, A.J. Pierzynski and Jermaine Dye anchored the '05 lineup and guess what - they're still swinging for the Sox.

Newcomers Orlando Cabrera, Nick Swisher and Ken Griffey Jr. all have previous playoff experience. So does Jim Thome.

Cabrera won a ring with the '04 Red Sox.

The difference between the Rays and White Sox sits at the back end of the bullpen.

While there's a chance that Grant Balfour or Dan Wheeler steps up and grasps the closers role by the horns, Big Bad Bobby Jenks still sits at the back of the Pale Hose bullpen.

Jenks has been there. Done that. Got the World Series t-shirt.

He's a proven commodity that could mean the difference between going home for the winter and going home for the ALCS.

First pitch is at 2:30. Are you down for the crown?

One AB 101 Years In The Making

Texas Rangers slugger Josh Hamilton is one dangerous dude.

He currently stands as one of the elite power hitters in the American League, hitting .304 with 28 home runs and 114 runs batted in, and everyone knows about the 30 million bombs he hit at Yankee Stadium during the Home Run Derby. But what happened Sunday night hasn't been seen in more than 100 years.

Tampa Bay Rays manager Joe Madden asked for Hamilton to be intentionally walked with two outs and the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth with the Rays hanging onto a 7-3 lead. Hamilton's RBI walk brought the Rangers within a run at 7-4 before Dan Wheeler retired Marlon Byrd to end the game.

The last time this happened was when Buck Showalter (then employed by the Arizona Diamondbacks) gave Barry Bonds the bases loaded free pass to force in a run. Better yet, Bonds was inserted in the game as a pinch-hitter for left fielder Chris Jones, who was 2-for-3 with two runs scored and one RBI.

Yet, Showalter walked Bonds, then walked a way with a victory.

Just like the Rays.

Bases-loaded intentional walk to Hamilton pays for Rays [Fort Worth Star-Telegram]