LOL @ still the Devil Rays...Come on man, at least give them "Rays"... Anyway...Tampa played Boston great all-season, I just don't see them getting past this hurdle. Shields, Kazmir, and Garza are all questionable. Sox in 6...As much as I'd like to see Tampa win, Boston is not the team you want to face.
im torn between the Sox and rooting for TBJF's retarded homerism and blatant homosexuality.... if I just ignore TBJF, it will all be aight. Go Rays. Buck Foston!
Just for reference... Josh Beckett vs Tampa- 2-1, 2.96 ERA, 35 IP, 27 H, 5 BB, 37 K Jon Lester vs Tampa- 3-0, 0.90 ERA, 20 IP, 18 H, 6 BB, 19 K Daisuke Matsuzaka vs Tampa- 1-0, 3.00 ERA, 15 IP, 13 H, 11 BB, 17 K TOTALS- 6-1, 1.93 ERA, 70 IP, 60 H, 22 BB, 73 K Scott Kazmir vs Boston- 0-2, 9.00 ERA, 18 IP, 24 H, 14 BB, 14 K James Shields vs Boston- 2-2, 5.85 ERA, 20 IP, 20 H, 5 BB, 17 K Matt Garza vs Boston- 1-1, 4.50 ERA, 22 IP, 21 H, 7 BB, 10 K TOTALS- 3-5, 6.30 ERA, 60 IP, 65 H, 26 BB, 41 K
Stats don't mean anything!! The Rays are young and full of cum! Lester is too young to stop this young team. The Rays are young and full of potential! They play hard! [/vomit]
Those numbers are sort of in response to the "Tampa played Boston tough" crowd that's around, not only here, but in general. They really didn't. They played the Red Sox bullpen filler tough, that's about it. The Mike Timlins and Chris Smiths aren't on the roster now, and other guys aren't going to have as long a rope now. Sox in 5.
They're very evenly matched teams. It'll probably hinge on whoever's rotation gives the most, because whoever can avoid trotting out the dregs of the bullpen has the clear upperhand. Both teams have lights out late innings guys, with Balfour/Howell/Wheeler and Papelbon/Delcarmen/Okajima basically being a wash. Best thing that could happen to Tampa is Percival missing the series and not being handed leverage ABs. Kazmir got knocked around a bit by Boston this year, but it was a funky season with the early injury and he's historically picked up his game against the Sox. Shields misses enough bats for me to think he'll hold his own in this series. For Garza and Sonnastine, you just need to hope they keep it in the park and that baseball's most improved defense can keep up the excellent work. For Boston, Lester is practically 2 wins in the bag with the way he's performed and the way Tampa can struggle against lefties. Does Francona play it that way and try to set him up to pitch 3 games? I tend to think he'd position Beckett for that spot, even if it's not necessarily the right move. Beckett's health is going to be huge here. I'm not too sure that he'll have everything. Matsuzaka is an adventure. Eventually putting all those guys on base is going to hurt him, right? He'd be my x-factor, so to speak. If he goes deep into games, Tampa is fucked. But they certainly have the ability to get on-base and pick up a few big hits. Basically, if Beckett is healthy and Matsuzaka is effective, I'd give it to Boston, and neatly too. But playoff baseball is fucking weird. You take two similar teams, throw them together for a small sample size, and who knows what'll happen. So give me the Rays in 7. Ya gotta believe.
I can ignore TBJF, but can't ignore the Sox in the world series. gotta pull for the Rays in this. they certainly have the pitching, but do they have the nerves? the Angels didn't and they had the best record in baseball.
Part of me wants to see the Sox lose this one. The other part wants to see a Dodgers vs Red Sox World Series. Sox in 6? Edit: Ugh no fuck that. Must not pick a Boston team. Rays in 7!
I'm going to be curious about how many Red Sox fans visit the Trop. I'm betting it will be a 50/50 crowd.
Yeah, while TBJF is perhaps the worst example of a bandwagon fan I've ever seen, I still have to root against the Sawx whenever possible. You know, I was thinking about something. All Tampa Bay fans can honestly say right now that they've been die-hard Rays fans since the beginning. What a wonderful bandwagon that must be.
