Sunshine & Lollipops
Everyone was saying they couldn’t do it. They’ll never stay in 1 st place; they’ll never finish above the Red Sox and Yankees… blah blah blah Does anyone want to say they can’t win the World Series? This team has a way to bounce back from tragedy over and over. In July right before the Allstar Break they lost 7 straight, lost 4 straight in the first weekend in September and then lost 14 out of their last 27 games. Then again after losing Games 5 & 6 everyone was all on the Red Sox and how the Red Sox have bounced back in the playoffs against the Indians last year and the Yankees previous to that. Well again they showed this time the World that they could do it. For those of you that haven’t been following these Rays and just assumed they were the same ol’ Devil – Rays that is how they have been winning all season long. The icing on the cake was to have a 2007 1 st round pick that no one has heard of throw the last 4 outs… His name is David Price and he earned a Postseason Win before he has earned a regular season win….
They looked over matched by the Red Sox so let’s see how they match up to the Phillies
1B- Carlos Pena - Ryan Howard
31 HRs + 102 RBIs vs 48 HRs + 146 RBIs Ryan clearly stands out
2B- Akinori Iwamura - Chase Utley
.274 leadoff guy vs .292 + 33 HRs + 109 RBIs Chase clearly is a more all around
SS- Jason Bartlett - Jimmy Rollins
.286 + 20 SBs .277 + 48 SBs Jimmy clearly stands out
3B- Evan Longoria - Dobbs/ Feliz
.272 + 27 HRs + 85 RBIs vs .270ish + 23 HRs + 98 RBIs Takes two to equal Evan
LF- Carl Crawford - Pat Burrell
Speedster vs Homerun Guy
CF- BJ Upton - Shane Victorino
Both 5 Tool guys to close to call
RF- Rays Platoon - Phillies Platoon
Too many guys to match up all it a wash
C- Dioner Navarro - Carlos Ruiz
Dioner
SP- James Shields, Scott Kazmir, Matt Garza, Andy Sonnanstine
Cole Hamels, Brett Myers, Jamie Moyer, Joe Blanton
This will be the key who’s pitching will stand up to who’s sluggers
The Rays Pitching shut down a great team and the Phillies didn’t really get challenged
So it’s hard to say….
Bullpen- Dan Wheeler, JP Howell, Grant Balfour, Chad Bradford
JC Romero, Ryan Madson, Chad Durbin, Clay Condrey
Closer- Brad Lidge vs Rays Platoon Clearly Lidge looks more appealing here
So again the Rays look over matched but don’t count them out…..
Why I think they won’t fall like the Rockies did last year
They beat the Red Sox & Yankees to take the AL East and just didn’t get hot late
They are Resilient and can bounce back from what seems to be the deep bottom….
Resilient Remarkable Rays