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The McFreeds report...
Evan Longoria of the smoking Tampa Bay Rays was selected in a nationwide internet vote for the 2008 All Star Team for the American League! Way to go Evan! Now lets win some games Rays!
Sean is conflicted...
I have been a huge Boston Red Sox fan over the years. I own a piece of the Green Monster as well as a piece of the 2004 World Series bench amongst other memorabilia from the Red Sox! And in the spirit of family unity I have also in the last 2 years become a fan of the Tampa Bay Rays... it helps that Stefan's brother is a broadcaster for them. All of a sudden though the Rays have gotten not just good but great after 10 years of languishing at the bottom. They are so good that they just overtook the Red Sox for the lead in the American League East! Stefan and I witnessed the win that did it for them too in Pittsburgh against the limping Pirates at PNC Park with our friends Tim and Roxanne this weekend!
Tonight the Red Sox and Rays start a three game series in a match up that truly matters in the nature of the standings. FoxSports and Sports Illustrated columnists just today (June 30, 2008) called the Rays the best team in baseball this week (although subjective). It's gotten so bad I find myself listening to more Rays games and knowing Rays players better than my own beloved Sox! I hate appearing as a frontrunner fan, but family pride seems to be winning out this season... as is my love of the underdog. I even ordered an Evan Longoria rookie card! Oh the betrayal!
Who to root for??!! The Sox? Or the underdog Rays??!!
Agony!
I hope that the games are classics given the stakes!
Sean says...
Boston Red Sox pitcher John Lester can now add no-hitter next to his list of accomplishments, which include being the winning pitcher of a World Series! On May 19, 2008, he threw a no-hitter against the Kansas City Royals at Fenway Park!!! The 18th no-hitter in Red Sox history. Only 24 years old, 2nd full season in major leagues, and a cancer survivor to boot! Congrats John!
Sean says...
I have to say first off that since 1986 I have rooted for an loved the Boston Red Sox through bad times and two World Series sweeps. But, with the combined factors of family loyalty and major underdog status I am becoming a "frontrunner" fan for the underdog Tampa Bay Rays. Of course, I have to mention that Stefan's brother Andy does a great job with his on-air partner Dave Wills in calling of of the Rays games on WHNZ 1250AM and the Rays Baseball Radio Network. Beyond the love of family though is the power of underdog status; and this year even the most die-hard fan of any team has to be amazed at the great start the Rays are forging.
Mature in some areas but raw in others, Manager Joe Madden and General Manager Andrew Friedman (and his front office) have really made something special. Whether it lasts into the playoffs or not is both too "Pollyanna"-ish to specualte about and beyond predictability at this point in the season. In fact, the pundits on ESPN, Fox Sports, and Sports Illustrated are treating this surge with kid gloves because no one knows where this new level of play is going to take the fate of this season's team. But all of this is making me enjoy baseball even more from a fan level rather than my normal commitment to the famed Red Sox.
Listening to Andy and Dave call of May 13, 2008's game versus the New York Yankees (spits and grumbles to the side) was just incredible for the emotional milestone it was. The Rays scored against both the incredible steamroller that is Chien-Ming Wang and the venerable Darth Vader of Yankee pitching and true Hall of Famer Mariano Rivera in the same game using small ball is amazing to begin with! But with Edwin Jackson pitching 7 innings of shut out baseball against the Evil Empire is just a huge cherry on Tampa's cake. Troy Percival's 2nd blown save in the 9th not withstanding (come on dude!), the game couldn't have ended better with the huge surge of emotion that could be heard on the radio and seen in the TV clips after the game winning single by Gabe Gross to bring in Jonny Gomes in the 11th. And with that the Rays capped a moment that in a way killed their own curse of not being contenders in the toughest division in baseball and surged into a 1/2 game lead in a divison brutal in its history to those not from Boston or New York. The reaction of fans and players made it seem like they HAD won the World Series just then! And in their minds I bet you they felt they did win something. The Rays are reaching a summit at a time where even they didn't think they would make it too. Remind me of the Colorado Rockies of last year and the heart they truly brought to baseball. All the emotion was a great thing to experience even if it is fleeting or not... you don't want to jinx things you know!
So go Rays... just don't beat the Red Sox!
Sean celebrates...
The Boston Red Sox's David "Big Papi" Ortiz has been a horrible slump since the beginning of the 2008 MLB Season. Tonight (April 18, 2008), he broke the jinx with a GRAND SLAM against the Texas Rangers at Boston's Fenway Park!!!
Congrats Big Papi! Welcome back!
Sean pants heavily...
What a game in San Diego on April 17, 2008!
SAN DIEGO (AP) -Let's play 2 1/2!
Colorado and San Diego did just that Thursday night and into Friday morning, slogging through a 22-inning game that was the longest in the majors in nearly 15 years.
The Rockies finally won 2-1, with Troy Tulowitzki 's two-out RBI double bringing in Willy Taveras with an unearned run in nearly empty Petco Park. A game that lasted 6 hours, 16 minutes was decided by an unearned run.
Reigning NL Cy Young Award winner Jake Peavy threw the game's first pitch at 7:05 p.m. The game didn't end until 1:21 a.m., when Padres pitcher Glendon Rusch took a called third strike. Colorado's Yorvit Torrealba , who caught all 22 innings, wearily pumped a fist in celebration.
''It's tough to keep your head into it and put together good at-bats and be into every pitch,'' Tulowitzki said. ''We were talking about how our legs were hurting out there. It's tough to stand on your feet for 22 innings and keep moving.''
Manager Clint Hurdle noticed that his players were a little tight.
''This was a good game to get outside yourself,'' Hurdle said. ''About the 16th inning, I said, 'Hey boys, no matter what's in front of us, there's a world of people out there who've got harder rows to hoe than we do. No matter what happens the rest of the night, have some fun with this thing.' ''
His players listened. It just took them six more innings to score a run.
''It's definitely better to win in a 22-inning game than lose, I'll tell you that,'' Tulowitzki said.
It was the longest game since Aug. 31, 1993, when Minnesota beat Cleveland 5-4 in 22 innings. It was also the longest game in Rockies history and in the 5-year history of Petco Park. It was the longest by innings for the Padres, and one minute short of matching the longest by time for San Diego.
There's something about these two teams and extra innings. On Oct 1., Colorado rallied past the Padres for a 9-8 win in 13 innings in the wild-card tiebreaker game.
There was a little bit of everything, but far too little offense on Thursday. There were planes to catch - The Rockies open a series Friday in Houston and the Padres will be at Arizona - but the game was scoreless until the 14th inning. Wouldn't you know it, each team scored a run that inning to prolong it.
In the 22nd, Taveras reached on a two-out grounder when shortstop Khalil Greene 's throw pulled 6-foot-7 first baseman Tony Clark off the bag. Taveras stole second and took third on catcher Josh Bard 's throwing error. Tulowitzki doubled to left-center of Glendon Rusch (0-1), the seventh Padres pitcher. Taveras set a club record with 10 at-bats.
Only a fraction of the crowd of 25,984 was around to see the final out.
Some Padres players amused themselves in the 18th by taping up the head of a stuffed ram and placing it on the front bench in the dugout. After the 18th, shortly after midnight, the sprinklers came on in the Park at the Park, a grassy knoll beyond the bleachers in right-center.
There was a seventh-inning stretch, a 14-inning stretch and finally, a 21st-inning stretch.
Greg Maddux had his glove on in the dugout in the 22nd. It was wishful thinking, because he's scheduled to start Friday night at Arizona, when he'll try for his 350th career victory.
The stadium's cleanup crew sat listlessly in the far upper deck as the game dragged on, knowing they were going to be working into the wee hours.
There were 659 pitches, by 15 pitchers. There were numerous foul balls. In the 14th inning, a man in the second deck caught a foul ball and yelled, ''That's it, I'm going home!'' as other fans cheered. He stayed until the end.
''That was an incredible baseball game,'' Padres manager Bud Black said. ''It will go down as one that everybody who was here, will never forget it.''
San Diego's Josh Bard , who also caught all 22 innings, was angry.
''You give up two runs in 22 innings and you should win,'' he said.
''It's disappointing that we played so long and didn't get a win,'' right fielder Brian Giles said. ''Hopefully we'll play nine tomorrow.''
Had he ever played a game that long?
''Just in softball,'' Giles said.
The previous longest game this season by innings was 15, on April 9, when the Cubs beat the Pirates 6-4 at Pittsburgh. The previous longest in time was 4 hours, 53 minutes, Toronto at Texas on April 16. Texas won 7-5 in 14 innings.
Kip Wells (1-0), the eighth Rockies pitcher, pitched four innings.
Padres pitchers tied a team record with 20 strikeouts and their Rockies counterparts also set a record with 17 punchouts. Colorado stranded 16 runners and San Diego 14.
The Rockies went ahead 1-0 in the top of the 14th inning when Brad Hawpe drew a bases-loaded walk off Kevin Cameron to bring in Taveras.
The Padres tied it in the bottom of the inning when Bard's bases-loaded single off Manny Corpas brought in Kevin Kouzmanoff , aboard on a leadoff single. Tony Clark was forced at home for the second out and rookie Colt Morton - San Diego's last position player - grounded to third in his fourth big league at-bat. It was Corpas' second blown save in five chances.
The Padres blew a big chance in the 13th. Paul McAnulty led off with a line drive into the right-field corner but was thrown out trying to stretch a double into a triple. Left-hander Randy Wolf , who beat the Rockies 6-0 on Tuesday night, followed with a pinch-hit single to center field but was stranded.
Three Rockies pitchers retired 23 straight Padres batters from the second to the 10th inning.
Peavy and Rockies lefty Jeff Francis started a pitcher's duel that the bullpens continued.
Peavy was trying to win his first four starts of a season for the first time. He struck out a season-high 11 in eight innings, the 25th time in his career he's reached double digits. He allowed four hits, walked three and lowered his ERA to 1.20.
Francis kept the Padres scoreless for seven innings while allowing three hits, striking out seven and walking one.
After Peavy's broken-bat, bloop single down the right-field line with two outs in the second, Francis retired 16 straight batters.
Brian Fuentes pitched a perfect eight and Taylor Buchholz a perfect ninth. Buchholz retired pinch-hitter Jim Edmonds leading off the 10th before allowing Greene's single.
Notes: The 13 full scoreless innings were the most in the big leagues since July 20, 2004, at Oakland, when the A's beat Toronto 1-0 in 14. It was the longest for the Padres since July 15, 1994, when they won 2-1 at the New York Mets in 14. It was 0-0 after 13. ... The Padres have gone 94 innings without a home run.
