Well that was a whole lot easier than I thought it was going to be.
No offense, Angels fans, but I'm being serious. The Angels were the major league's best team in 2008. They had 100 wins, stellar pitching, a potent offense, a physics-defying closer, and one of the cutest infielders in history. They were shaping up to be the Perfect Storm of Postseason Baseball.
They ended up being a light rain shower. Sure, they made the sky a little gray and ruined my picnic, but in the end I still got to go to the movies.
Now, I'll give LA some credit. They did manage to finally win a game against the Red Sox in the postseason for the first time since roughly two years after the crust of the Earth cooled. Even that game, though, was a nail-biter to the very end. They barely squeaked by. They never showed the dominance and tenacity that I expected going into the series.
I'm not trying to rub this in any noses (okay, maybe a little), I'm just expressing my utter shock is all.
So now that the ALDS is over, I will prepare you all for the forthcoming ALCS battle between AL East rivals, the Boston Red Sox and the Tampa Bay Rays.
I've said this before, and I'll say it again: This series makes me the most nervous. I heard through the grapevine that Disney has already completed the second draft of the movie version of the 2008 Rays team. They even have a title: "Denzel Does Something Amazing Once Again" (it's a work in progress). This does not bode well for the Sox.
Nonetheless, the teams will still bother going through the motions and playing the games anyway. You never know, maybe Disney will accidentally pay off the wrong umps. Stranger things have happened.
The first game of the 2008 ALCS will take place down in Tampa Bay, where the Rays organization have assured everyone that they will have a full crowd on hand. They haven't guaranteed that the crowd will consist entirely of people, but by george there will be something in every seat in the stadium.
This is good news for the Rays. This team spent 80% of the year playing in front of only their parents and wives. Even the local news were calling them "that team over there in that town" until well into July. Yet somehow this team still managed to find the competitive spirit to win consistently. You can only imagine what a stadium full of cheering humans, monkeys, and dogs will do to motivate them.
I can just imagine the scene when Evan Longoria smashes a deep home run to center, and as he's rounding the bases, the monkeys throw their feces at him! It will be just incredible! I'm sure he'll be crying.
By the way, has anyone pointed out how close his name is to that female Desperate Housewife? I just think someone needs to tell him that. Preferably while he's at the plate in a crucial situation in the ninth inning.
The good news for the Red Sox is they get to come back to Fenway and play three games next week. That means that all they really need to do is win one game down in Tampa this weekend. If they do that, then they will ensure that, no matter what happens, my best friend will be able to go to a game, as he got tickets to Game Five in a lottery last week.
Either way, it is very important for the Sox to win at home in this series. A lot. Both teams were very good at home this year, and both will be counting on that trend continuing.
1 comments Last one added 9 months ago — Leave a Comment
Beau Kiklis 9 months ago
The way I see it, the only reason that the Angels won 100 games was because they played in the AL west. If the Rays, Red Sox, Yankees, or Blue Jays were in that division they would all win 90 games. Granted they beat up on the Red Sox in the regular season, but they can;t win the big game.
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