Click on above images to be taken to full standings, box scores or schedule...

THE GOOD: It was a perfect game for the Phillies. They had their best pitcher on the mound against the Rays #3 starter. They got a number of breaks during the game, including a safe-call on a pickoff attempt in the 2nd inning that showed the runner was out. In the 5th inning Pat Burrell was safe at first on an error when it appeared that he was clearly inside the base line. The Phillies had several excuse-me swings and bloop basehits. With the bases loaded and only 1 out in the 3rd, BJ Upton hit a ball about as hard as it could be hit, but the ball went right to Pedro Feliz at third base, who turned a double-play. And the biggest break may have been a non-balk call in which Cole Hammels picked Carlos Pena off first base with no outs in the 6th of a 1-run game. All of those breaks, with their ace on the mound and the Rays still only lost 3-2 and had several opportunities to win the game. If there is such a thing as a "good" loss in the World Series. This was it. With pitching matchup advantages in the next 3 games, the Rays are far from out of this...The DH is a big advantage for the Rays. Chris Coste was the Phillies DH and he didn't even look like a major league hitter...The Rays "double" lead-off combination of Jason Bartlett and Akinori Iwamura reached base each of their first 5 plate appearances...Lefties in the lineup went 4 for their first 7 with a home run and 2 RBI against Cole Hamels.

THE BAD: Scott Kazmir once again couldn't get out of his own way in the first inning giving up a 2-run home run. And even though Kazmir was a bit unlucky with some bloop hits after the first inning, he still allowed 11 base runners in the first 6 innings. If the Phillies didn't go 0-9 with runners in scoring position in those 6 innings, the game wouldn't have been so close...Phillies lead-off hitters were on base 4 times...With 2 outs in the 5th and a runner on second, BJ Upton fouled out to Ryan Howard who reached into the stands for the grab. Absolutely awful job by the crowd in that section. We have no idea how they can let an opposing player make that play...The Rays 2-4 batters went a combined 0-12 with 5 Ks....Why the hell is the "free taco" such a big story? Did people think there was a chance nobody would steal a base in the entire World Series? Taco Bell is giving away free Tacos. Good for them. We understand Fox TV making a big deal. It is a corporate sponsorship. But why are there so many news stories on the topic?

THE TELLING: Joe Maddon chose to start Ben Zobrist in right field with Gabe Gross struggling and preferring to keep Fernando Perez on the bench as a late-inning weapon. It was Zobrist's second start in right field in his career...10 of the last 11 World Series winners won game 1. Then again 5 of those were sweeps and another 2 were 4-1. Anybody think the Rays are getting swept? Didn't think so...There is about an 80% chance of rain in St. Pete tonight. Too bad the Rays don't play in a dome. Oh. Wait. Never mind...According to CoolStandings.com the chances of the Rays winning the World Series is now only 36.1%.

DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA...

• In a strange story, Daisuke Matsuzaka apparently accused (in the Japanese media) the Rays of moving the pitching rubber to benefit James Shields. MLB checked the mound and found nothing wrong. [St. Pete Times]
  
• Big League Stew debates the non-balk call. [Big League Stew]
  
• In a classic case of "hindsight is 20-20", Jeff Passan of Yahoo! Sports says the Rays were "too cool" in game 1 and didn't play the game with urgency...Of course in game 1 of the ALCS everybody was saying the Rays played too uptight. [Yahoo! Sports]
• Gerry Fraley of Fox Sports says the game 1 win cannot hide the problems the Phillies have. [Fox Sports]
• Jerry Crasnick of ESPN says Joe Maddon gives his players 30 minutes after every game to either celebrate the win or stew about the loss. After 30 minutes, that game is done and it is time to focus on the next game. [ESPN]
  
• We always wonder what makes one team in a championship contest a "team of destiny" and the other is not. The Press of Atlantic City thinks the Phillies are destiny's darlings this year. [Press of Atlantic City]
  
• Philly, we'll make you a deal. We'll stop ringing the cowbells if you promise that the Phillies fans in games 3,4,5 will not yell any ignorant insults. Deal? Didn't think so. [Philadelphia Inquirer]
• Peter Mucha of the Philadelphia Inquirer says a rainout on Saturday would move Cole Hamels up from game 5 to game 4. This will not change Hamel's availability for game 7. If game 4 is moved to Monday, game 7 will not change. There just won't be an off-day between games 5 and 6. Which means game 7 will be next Thursday regardless of when game 4 is played. So unless Hamels comes back on 2 days rest, Hamels is not pitching game 7. [Philadelphia Inquirer]
  
• Scott Kazmir just wishes he could get the one pitch back from the first inning. [MLB]
  
• Mark Newman gives us "Ten things to love about The Trop." [MLB]
• Sean McAdam of the Boston Herald says that the emergence of the Rays changes the landscape in the AL East and the Yankees and Red Sox should get used to it. [Boston Herald]
• BJ Upton's bat from the ALDS and ALCS was sent to the Hall of Fame. [Baseball Prospectus]
  
• Bud Selig sure doesn't seem upset about the Rays in the World Series when he says, "I just can't tell you how important this is...I'm really lucky I was able to see this." [USA Today]
  
• Troy Percival is still at home with his family in California...Joe Maddon says he would be with the team if he was on the roster. [Tampa Tribune]
• The Tigers new pitching coach has ties to Matt Garza. [Detroit Free-Press]
• Todd Kalas joined his dad in the radio booth during the 4th inning. [MLB]
• While the Rays were celebrating after game 7 of the ALCS, Trever Miller's 4-year old daughter nearly died in the stands. It does sound as if Miller's wife had the situation under control, as this is a condition that is not new. [MLB]

THE GOOD: Evan Longoria. Dirtbag became just the second player to homer in each of his first 2 playoff at bats. The first player to accomplish this feat was Gary Gaetti. Coincidentally, Gaetti was Longoria's hitting coach at triple-A Durham...The Bullpen (again). Grant Balfour came in with 1 out in the 7th inning and the bases loaded. He then proceeded to do what he does best. The Mad Australian struck out the next 2 batters, but not before apparently annoying Orlando Cabrera, who took exception to Balfour's antics and kicked dirt towards the mound. JP Howell then took over in the 8th, striking out the first 2 batters he faced and retiring the side in order. Dan Wheeler started off shaky giving up a home run, but then settled down and got the next 3 batters for the save. 2.2 innings, 1 hit, no walks, 5 strike outs.

THE BAD: James Shields. He did get the win, but Shields is turning into a cliche. Give up a 2 or 3-run home run early. Scare the crap out of the fans. Then settle down and work into the 7th or 8th inning. Why "bad"? Because, if he keeps this up in the playoffs, he is going to give us an ulcer...Carlos Pena. Pena had to be removed from the game due to blurry vision after he apparently scratched his eye at home the night before. The Rays are saying that they expect him to be ready to go tomorrow.

THE TELLING: The most important games in a 5-game series are games 1 and 3. Now, all the Rays have to do is split the next 2 games with Scott Kazmir going at home and Matt Garza going in game 3 in Chicago. Earn at least a split in the next 2 and the Rays will be positioned to move on to the ALCS.

DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA...

• Buster Olney says that Joe Maddon has bullpen that can handle any situation. [ESPN]

History shows a closer-by-committee setup usually isn't advisable. But the Rays' committee is very good, and very deep.

• For the playoffs, Todd Kalas has been relegated to the Party Deck above left field. [The Heater]
• If the ALDS goes 5 games, Stuart Sternberg will not be attendance as Wednesday marks the first day of Yom Kippur. [New York Times]
  
• Manny Stiles breaks down the playoff matchups. We are a little confused by the statement, "The Bears and Buccaneers both kinda suck this year." Huh? The Bucs are 3-1. [armchair gm]
• What would the Rays' VH1 song be? Hugging Harold Reynolds says "Now That We Found Love" by Heavy D...We are not sure the Rays have found love yet. How about "Owner of a lonely heart". [Hugging Harold Reynolds]
  

Click on above images to be taken to full standings, boxscores or schedule...

THE GOOD: Edwin Jackson. A steady diet of 95 mph fastballs and decent sliders. And maybe Jackson's greatest trait is his endurance. His fastest pitch of the night was the last pitch of the 8th inning, a swinging strike on Brendan Harris. That pitch was either 97 or 98 depending on who you talk to...Jeff Niemann. Niemann relieved Jackson and got the last 4 outs. His first batter he was throwing 91-92. But when he came out in the 9th, he found a few extra inches in the tank, pushing it to 95 and even hitting 97 on a swinging strike to strike out the second out...Replay. The first official replay occurred at the Trop and now the first official overturn from a replay happened on a Carlos Pena fan-interference double that was changed to a home run. Ironically, it was a Twins fan that was originally ruled ot have interfered...Yet another bases loaded walk. the Rays now have 19 walks and 4 hit batters with the bases loaded this season. The 23 "free" runs with the bases loaded now leads the majors by 1 over Boston. Of course, the Rays also lead the majors in most intentional walks issued with the bases loaded.

THE BAD: Todd Kalas. Where was Kalas on the home run overturn? He has to hustle his ass out to right field and talk to the people in the stands. Even if he can't get there for an inning or two, the point is still topical. Now, we did flip the picture-in-picture over to the ESPN feed a couple of times, so there is a chance we just missed it. Bueller?...Blackouts. Yes, today's broadcast is on "National TV", but only if you live in about 1/3 of the country. And if you don't happen to be in the areas showing the Rays-Twins game, you might be screwed. This would mark just the second time (we think) this season that a game is not available on one of the outlets (MLB.tv, Extra Innings, etc) for people that live outside of North Florida (and SW Alabama, for some reason). That would include us. Of course, there are ways around these things. We just can't tell you how, or the powers that be will not be happy.

THE TELLING: With the win last night, the Rays have clinched at least a tie for the Wild Card and a 1-game playoff...The odds of making the playoffs according to Baseball Prospectus is now 99.9998% and the odds of winning the division is 73.0%.

DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA...

• Baseball Digest Daily will have Gerry Hunsicker on today to talk about his recipe for pasta sauce (or maybe they will talk about the Rays). [Baseball Digest Daily]
  
• Mohawk fever. It is spreading. Now Mrs. Professor is saying "Do it." Peer pressure sucks. Peer pressure from your wife is a death sentence. [MLB]
• Scott Kazmir says he found a few minor flaws in his delivery from his last start and feels he was able to correct those in his bullpen session. [Tampa Tribune]
  
• Tampa Bay Rays Prospects has the full list of the Rays' top minor leaguers including Fernando Perez and David Price who were named overall player of the year and pitcher of the year. [Tampa Bay Rays Prospects]
• Outs Per Swing wonders who the Rays' MVP is...We have said it before, JP Howell and Grant Balfour have been great this season, but a middle reliever should never be named MVP of anything. Even if Howell was the only Ray competing in the annual Treasure Island Tofu Dog eating competition and he ate 675 Tofu Dogs, he still shouldn't be named Rays' MVP of that competition. Win Shares is admittedly a flawed stat but it can provide some level of comparison for pitchers and hitters. Take a look at the Rays' WS values for this season. There are 14(!) players ranked ahead of Howell and 16 ahead of Balfour. Now if you want to say the "Middle Relievers" are the team MVP, we would be willing to listen to your argument. In defense of OPS, they picked Evan Longoria. We agree. [Outs Per Swing]

Back in June we wondered aloud how two ladies managed to not only get their questionable (yet awesome) sign on TV, but were actually named "Energized fans of the game" by Dewayne Staats.

An anomaly? Apparently not. During last night's game Todd Kalas was reporting from the upper deck in left field without checking out what the guy next to him was wearing...The evidence below (Thanks Bryan, for the screencaps)






Oh Todd. In your position, you really need to check everybody's chest. Just sayin'.

We still have several of these to go through, but thought we would show how the various Rays media members are faring so far...


In general, Rays fans are happy with the on-air media with all scoring above 90%. As for the print media, the fans are more supportive of the writers from the St. Pete Times. Could this be an anti-Tampa Tribune bias? Or maybe this is a reflection of the Yankees love-fest that regularly occurs at the Tribune?

Team USA 3, Peo Saguaros 0.
Evan Longoria was 0-3 and is now hitting .308 in the Arizona Fall League. Justin Ruggiano did not play. On Wednesday, Longoria went 2-4 with 2 doubles and 2 runs scored in Team USA's 5-3 win over Surprise. Ruggiano went 1-4 with a triple and an RBI.

Scottsdale 6, Surprise 0.
Mike Prochaska started and pitched 5 shutout innings, allowing only 2 hits and 1 walk with 3 strikeouts. Evan Meek and Calvin Medlock each pitched an inning of relief striking out a combined 3 batters and allowing 2 hits. Each pitcher threw a wild pitch.

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA...

• The Devil Rays are currently in negotiations with Disney to play a a series at Disney's Wild World of Sports for the second consecutive season. If a deal can be reached, the games will be played in the newly named Champion Stadium after a deal was reached with Hanes clothing. The Devil Rays playing home games in "Champion" Stadium? There is no way this ends well in the Blogosphere. [Orlando Sentinel]
• Jim Hickeywill be back in 2008 as the Rays pitching coach. [TBO]
  
• MLB4U has a list of all the free agents that the Devil Rays will not be pursuing this off-season. [MLB4U]
• Does Matt Silverman have a new girlfriend? Nadya seems to think so. No details though. Damn it. [AOL Journals]
  
• ArmchairGM takes a look at Evan Longoria. [ArmchairGM]
  
• When we first read that Rays announcers Dewayne Staats, Joe Magrane and Todd Kalas were all up for the Frick Award we were taken back a bit. The award is presented annually during the Hall of Fame induction ceremonies and is given to a broadcaster that makes major contributions to baseball. We were a bit surprised. They are decent, but never have we thought that they added very much to a game. Not bad. Not great...Then we read the fine print and realized that the only reason they are "up for the award" is because every announce with 10 years experience is up for the award. A final list of 10 candidates will be announced in December. We are still wondering why Bill Chastain decided that this deserved its own piece on DevilRays.com. [DevilRays.com]
• Wanna meet Kevin Costner? Here is your chance. If we win, we are showing up dressed like his character from "The Postman". [DevilRays.com]
• Tampa Bay Sports Fanatic takes a look at how all the Rays farmhands are performing in the Arizona Fall League. [Tampa Bay Sports Fanatic]