Friday, September 30, 2011

Alchemy

Please call me if you have anything you would like me to touch so it turns to gold. Things are going my way.

I wouldn't have believed even if I had Grays Sports Almanac from Marty McFly that Riley Nelson would lead a 96-yard game winning touchdown tonight against Utah State. Nor would I believe that Shoppach was going to hit two homeruns and the Rays would crush the Rangers 9-0 holding them to only two hits with a rookie starting pitcher.

Normally, I discount goodwill and intangibles when analyzing a balance sheet. I may need to change my philosophy. Riley Nelson has intangibles. He's anything but fragile physically or mentally. I think a lot of people now know that. With the Yankees game rained out the main sporting event of the night was the BYU game on a little channel you may have heard of called ESPN.

Don't let me wake up from this dream. Go Cougars! Go Rays!

#DoingMoreWithLess

We are who we are

We are who we are and it is what it is.

Does it really surprise anyone that the Rays fought all season and overcame the improbable to make the playoffs and they are throwing out there a starting pitcher in Game 1 of the ALDS with less than 10 innings of big league experience? Only the Rays. Discount baseball at its best.

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Sum it up







Never Give Up

If you didn't watch it all and want a pretty good recap. Here you go.

September in microcosm

I don't believe what I just watched. I don't. It just couldn't have happened. I now understand what they mean when they say it isn't over till it's over. But, I mean, wow! I don't doubt that it happened. I only doubt the way it happened.

Walkoffs within minutes of each other. Boston must hate Dan Johnson. From nine games back and seven runs down. Crawford misplayed the ball that ended the season for Boston. Should have played the hop and thrown home. And they lost to the Orioles, the first team I ever loved and the first team I ever saw live. I don't believe it. Rain delay, balk, grand slam, extra innings, and walkoffs.

Seven runs down in the eighth. Nobody on and two outs in the ninth inning... IN BOTH GAMES. Things like this just don't happen.

It almost doesn't matter what happens in October. We just won the World Series. That was awesome!

I'll never forget this night as long as I live. I'm not being dramatic. That is the point. I don't think I'm going to sleep tonight. Unbelievable!!!

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Move Over, Babe

So Babe Ruth called his shot on a home run but people hit home runs all the time. Try calling your shot on a triple play! Word out of Zobrist after the game is that the Rays met at the mound during a timeout with the bases loaded, down by a run, and nobody out. Zobrist says that Evan looked at him and told him if the ball was hit right to him he was going to go for the triple play and sure enough magic happens. Wow! I had never seen a triple play live before. I probably won't ever again.

Speaking of magic - the magic number is now 2 for Boston, Tampa Bay, Atlanta, and St. Louis. I liked the roster for Atlanta before the season started and decided they would be my adopted team this year if the Rays fell out quickly. Now I'm cheering St. Louis as I relate with their comeback story.

I was jumping so high that I nearly fell over the rail from the first row of the second level last night when Joyce cleared the fence in the 7th. I'm hoping my voice gets back to normal today. I've heard a lot about this movie Moneyball that came out recently. I think I'm watching it play out in real life and it couldn't have been scripted any better.

Lets Go Rays!

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Game #160

If you were like me you were starting to wear out the "previous" button on your remote last night between the Rays/Yankees game and the Orioles/Red Sox.

They says defense wins championships when they talk about basketball and football. At least the coaches do. But for the most part, even the coaches aren't convinced of that in baseball. But Joe Maddon isn't most coaches.

The defense-to-win correlation is grossly underrated in MLB. Pitching is another and the Red Sox and Yankees undervalue both. In the games I watched last night the two plays that stick out in my mind were both defensive hinges to their respective games. Desmond Jennings made an awesome catch on a Jeter would-be gapper. On the other channel the game changed on a two-out Jacoby drop at the fence that allowed three runs to score on the inside-the-park homerun.

Forget about pitching and defense. This year's Sox team just wants to outscore you. Digest this stat - in the month of September the Red Sox are 2-19 when they don't score at least 12 runs (they have scored 12 runs four times this month and won all four). Lets hope the O's give themselves a good chance tonight by holding Boston under 12. On second thought, who cares what Boston does? All we have to do now is win.

Saturday, September 17, 2011

Stats

I really like stats so I thought I'd start a running post to maintain some of the stats that I come across that I think are the most remarkable or insightful. I'll pull the post to the top of the blog every time I add a stat to it.

161 - It is September and Adam Dunn has the same amount of strikeouts as he does points on his batting average - 161. That is unbelievable. (9/17/11)

The Rays have won 22 straight games when scoring at least five runs. (9/13/11)

Roger Federer was 178-0 when leading two sets to zero in majors until yesterday(6/29/11).