Congrats To Tampa
Dave · October 20, 2008 at 5:58 am · Filed Under Mariners
Their version of 1995 has just gone a step beyond our own. Congrats to Tampa on a remarkable season, and let’s hope the World Series is every bit as exciting as the ALCS.
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It is really exciting seeing what a smartly built, well-run organization can accomplish. They should be the model franchise for the powers that be in Seattle.
It was impressive to see David Price in there at the end. That is a lot of pressure for one guy to handle let alone a green rookie.
Just watching the Red Sox players faces after they had lost was worth it for me to stay up and see that. haha
That was just an amazing ALCS. I still can’t believe Boston got as far as they did.
I’m glad the Rays did it, and I really think it will be great for baseball if they win it all. I don’t know how baseball executives think, but I’m assuming that their making it to (and hopefully winning) the World Series will have a greater bearing on how other organizations may mimic them.
wouldn’t it have been nice if in ‘95 there’d been that much young talent for the next five years or so?
The Rays in general and Rocco Baldelli in particular are one of the best sports stories in a long, long time.
Between the Rays and Jamie Moyer, it’s going to be a fine World Series..
Truly the most exciting story in sports in a couple of years. I have been pulling for them all year.
Diamondback, Marlins and Rays…they all beat us there.
Or, you know, a sweep by Tampa.
…And Rockies.
… And Blue Jays (expansion team same yr as M’s).
Yeah, congrats to the Rays and Joe Maddon who seems like an interesting guy for a baseball manager.
@Mustard–Price sure didn’t look all that green! He has great cross plate trajectory on his fastball and hella sink on his slider that could wreak havoc for the Phillies solid left-handed line-up. Gulp.
That said, Go Phils!
David
Diamondback, Marlins and Rays…they all beat us there.
Yep, I keep thinking how Tampa Bay beat Seattle there. The Rays have, what, less than half the time in MLB that the M’s do? And what other teams have never played in the Series?
That was just an incredible series and an awesome game! Seriously, that was freaking sweet. I think David Price just won the “experience matters” argument…
I definitely want to see Moyer pitch well and win his games, but I want the Rays to take the series.
Potpourri about the Tampa / Boston series…
1. I love seeing the Rays in the WS!
2. I loved seeing the Rays take it to Boston!
3. Evan Longoria: Anyone else see the reincarnation of Edgar Martinez with healthy legs in Longoria? Every time I see him swing…it just reminds me of Edgar!
4. Young, good, talent triumphs over experience once again! Garza is awesome!
5. Talk about the ability to miss bats!! Something the Mariners lack outside of Felix.
To answer the question about who else shares the same play off misfortunes as the Mariners, the only other teams who have not won a pennant are the Rangers and the Nationals (including Expos). The other teams who have not won a World Series are the Brewers, Astros, Rockies, Rays, and Padres. The Rangers are currently the oldest team without a World Series title.
I’m a big Sox fan and I’m glad they made a series out of ALCS. The Rays were the better team and deserved the win. Francona and the Sox did everything they could but the Rays had the better players and executed better in the clutch. I really liked seeing Maddon manage and his ability to think outside the box and put the best players in the situation to execute. I was really hoping he’d stick with his “veterans” and let Wheeler try for a 2 inning save but he did the right thing.
I loved listening to the talking heads on TBS as they kept saying “This is definitely the last batter for Price” for all three outs in the 9th.
Now I’ll have tough time choosing between Moyer (I don’t care about the rest of the Phillies) and the Rays for the WS.
It’s pretty cool how TB had all their draft choices mature at the same time. Usually, the low market teams bleed off free agents at the same rate they bring on youth, which is why some of them never seem to get over the hump. Good on the Rays for getting a bunch of talent into the majors at the same time and watching them perform.
So, Dave, do you now regret not giving the Rays organization an A+?
Phils vs. Rays . . . this is going to be an interesting matchup on a lot of levels.
The only teams that have never been to a World Series are us (1977), the Expos/Nationals (1969), and the Senators/Rangers (1961).
Or in other words, no team that has played their home games in either Washington except the Pilots/Brewers has made the World Series.
That team is amazing. BJ Upton, who I know is talented as all heck, just went bonkers during the previous playoff series.
Experience vs. talent? I’ll take talent every time.
That’s not entirely true, as it should be noted that the original Washington Senators(well, original for the modern era since the creation of the American League, at least), who existed from 1901-1960, did make it to the World Series 3 times, winning once in 1925 over the New York(now San Francisco) Giants.
[They also made it to the World Series in their new guise as the Minnesota Twins, where they've won 2(1987, 1991) and lost 1(1965).]
And, on that note, all 3 teams mentioned: the Mariners, the Expos/Nationals, and the expansion Senators/Rangers, are all replacement teams in some form or another, now that I think about it.
[The Mariners replaced the Pilots, who moved to Milwaukee.
The expansion Senators/Rangers replaced the original Senators, who moved to Minnesota.
The Nationals moved from Montreal, replacing the expansion Senators/Rangers. Although it took about 45 years, I guess it still counts!]
Yeah, great series. The best thing about the Rays win (other than demonstrating that talent and smart roster construction can beat “experience” and raw payroll)? Watching all the obnoxious Sox fans drift out of my neighborhood bar with wan and drained faces, no longer their loud and strutting selves. The WS will be far more enjoyable with the bar full of just the regulars, and not overcrowded with these once-a-year bandwagon boors.
The Rays in general and Rocco Baldelli in particular are one of the best sports stories in a long, long time.
Watching Baldelli face Lester I was wondering how many people, knowing their medical history, would’ve given either one a shot to be there. It’s pretty cool, and much bigger than baseball.
It’s pretty cool how TB had all their draft choices mature at the same time. Usually, the low market teams bleed off free agents at the same rate they bring on youth, which is why some of them never seem to get over the hump.
And some big market teams trade them (or just the draft picks) away for “proven veterans” which is why some of them never seem to get over the hump.
But hey, the Rays went from worst team in baseball last year to the WS this year. Why, with all the talent the M’s have stockpiled they can go from worst to… better than the last place teams in the other AL divisions?
Your 2009 Mariners: “You Gotta Believe in Less than 100 Losses!”
Sub-Cento Mojo!
Also, consider this for a minute: Willy Aybar is the Rays’ Willie Bloomquist.
[no politics]
[STOP IT]
Willy Aybar this year — 10 HR 33 RBI.
Willie Bloomquist — 0 HR 9 RBI.
Willy Aybar > Willie Bloomquist.
How about no team in the state of Florida has ever lost a post season series? Thats pretty amazing considering how tough it is to get there, and stay there!
I think they experience their 1st loss this week. Phillies in 6 games.
I think I’m actually pulling for the Phillies in the WS despite how cool the Rays are.
One of my least favorite sports-memes is the one about the really good player who just can’t win it all. Sports-pundits just abuse the storyline until they can’t use it anymore and I find it really tiresome. It’s why I rooted for Phil Mickelson all those years. It’s why I was happy to see the Colts to win a Super bowl. It’s why I was so ecstatic when Bonds went absolutely ape-shit in 02 and why I continue to pray for A-Rod to hit 500/750/1000 in the playoffs one of these years so everyone will STFU about it.
Basically I think this is a cusp year for Rollins-Utley-Howard. They’ve been young and they’ve been good and they’ve made the playoffs, but now they’ve been around a few years and if they don’t win it this year, I guarantee they’ll get tagged with the boring old can’t-win-a-ring label. And at a certain level, once the Ms are out of it, I’m rooting for whatever outcome will disrupt the lazy story-framing of Sportscasters everywhere.
Go Phils.
PS David Price!
Willy Aybar > Willie Bloomquist.
Yes, that was exactly my point. Willy Aybar has the Bloomquist role on the Rays’ roster. He’s the do-everything utility guy (he has at least two games this year at every infield position). But it’s a measure of how good the Rays are, and how good they are at roster construction, that their version of Bloomquist is so much more productive. especially in the postseason. The M’s stick with Bloomquist because he’s gritty and popular; the Rays picked up Aybar, whose career has been clouded by substance abuse and domestic violence, as essentially free talent in a trade for Jeff Ridgway.
With all due respect, I wouldn’t trade the M’s 1995 for this run by the Rays. With the comeback and all that, I think M’s ‘95 > Rays’ 08, purely on an emotional level.
From a baseball standpoint, I’d say this run by the Rays is more comparable to M’s 2001, with the improbable win to a division title while being solidly in contention all year-long, and obviously the Rays have eclipsed what the M’s accomplished.
I realize that you were just comparing the organizations’ two maiden playoff seasons, but ALCS drama aside I’m not sure they are anywhere near the ‘95 M’s on the pure drama-scale.
Actually, it’s most comparable to 1991 Atlanta.
I echo many of the sentiments I’ve seen here, and would add that a World Series victory for the Rays is simply in the best interests of baseball.
Imagine a baseball world in which other organizations studied what made the downmarket Rays so successful and applied those lessons within, up and down the ladder. Imagine a baseball world in which most team owners wake up to the reality that there’s a better way to win it all than blowing your money on roll-the-dice free agents. Imagine a baseball world in which mediocre 31-year-old free agents with superficially good counting stats but weak peripherals and trends don’t get five-year, $70 million contracts, but have to settle for $3-million-a-year fliers a week before spring training.
A Tampa Bay triumph holds potentially transformational lessons for us all. Even, one hopes, Pat Gillick.
Hoo-Rays!
[still off-topic]
I was really pulling for the Rays, so was on the edge of my seat for all of that game, but as soon as it was over I was overcome with a huge feeling of jealousy. I mean, even Tampa figured things out and got to the World Series.
Also, I’ve seen him throw all of about 2 innings, but man does David Price remind me of Randy Johnson in his prime. That fastball-slider combo from a lefty, especially the way both sweep across the plate…. Given how young Price is, it’s just scary.
Way to go, Rays!
But. . .
GO MOYER!!!
Tip of the cap to Dave on this one.
While no one had the Rays winning as many games as they did, I believe Dave said that they were going to have pretty good team (5th best team in the AL if I’m recalling that correctly). Very few people had the Rays being good but their success didn’t catch Dave to far off guard. Nice call Dave.
Great series. The Sox were the underdog, WS rings not withstanding, and at least they played it to the last out with the pride the WS champ should show. My friend the Sox fan knew they weren’t going to win, so any Sox fans who thought otherwise were just tattered ballcap wearin’ bandwagoners.
My fear? That the Mariners ‘management’ will look at the Rays and only see a team which lost all those games one season previous, and think that means that the Mariners can make the WS in 2009. Er…no. The Rays have always had talent, which the Mariners sadly don’t.
Well, more like the Rays know what talent looks like…
Yeah, I’d like the “Go Moyer!” sentiments, but have the Phils actually set up their pitching staff for the WS?
After poor Jamie stunk up the NLDS and NLCS games he started, they might entertain the notion of leaving him off the roster. That would be an abomination, after all the trials he’s gone through — including some pretty bad years recently with the M’s — throughout his career, being released FOUR times fergoshsakes!
That being said, I hope they hide him ‘way in the back of the bullpen, and he can talk pitching to all the other pitchers…
And THAT being said, I’m rooting a bit more for the Rays to win the WS. They’re the AL team, and I root for AL over NL except when the Yankees are the AL team.
If Jamie’s on the roster, and the Phils lose the WS, he’ll still get a WS ring. It just won’t say WS CHAMPIONS on it. Or he can just wear his NLCS commemorative ring…
Food for thought: If Jamie Moyer gets a Series ring and at least 250 career wins, could he be thought of as a viable Hall Of Fame candidate? I can’t imagine he’d be taken seriously as one … and yet, I think there would be a lot of sentimental, non-sabermetric support for such a move.
I love seeing the Rays make it all the way to the World Series, but I am soooo green with envy it’s killing me on the inside. I was annoyed seeing or hearing a good quarter of the crowd in St Pete cheering for Boston. That really drove me batty. All in all it’s a really good story for baseball, even though it makes Seattle seem even more like Loserville, USA.
Congrats to Greg Dobbs, unceremoniously cut by the Mariners after not being given a chance to succeed. This site was especially critical of his skills; now he has the last laugh and is four wins away from a WS ring.
Congrats to the Rays but what will be more impressive than a WS win is if they can keep this group of talented young ballplayers together for many more years or will they just become the Florida Marlins??
Why would the Rays become the Florida Marlins? Unlike the Marlins, they don’t have an evil genius thieving slimeball butthead for an owner.
Which owner are you talking about? Loria or Huzeinga?
I personally thought this team would be good in 2-3 years but i guess i was off a bit. I love watching them play and even though i love the mariners i think people should appreciate watching them. They have youth, pitching, and timely hitting. I believe the mariners should work through the draft and try to go that way they way the rays did. I dont know does anyone agree with me?
Figure this kinda relates since it’s about the World Series and this year’s nominal M’s team…
Did anyone watch How I Met Your Mother tonight?
At one point a character on the show says to another, “Inviting an ex to your wedding would be like inviting the Seattle Mariners to the World Series. It’d just be awkward for everyone.”
Yeah – I was pretty floored by it too.
The last time I remember hearing an M’s reference on a prime-time sitcom was on Family Ties like twenty years ago when Michael J. Fox was offered tickets to an Indians/Mariners game and his only response was something like, “well that’s a clash of the titans”.
I didn’t even actually see that one live, but I just remember it being replayed several times during the ‘95 ALCS in reference to how far both teams had come.
No, don’t forget the Mariners were indirectly referenced in that Seinfield episode involving the Jay Buhner trade.
More to the point, there was a Mariners reference on “Frasier” (in a 1995 episode written, not surprisingly, by Ken Levine) where (Cheers character) Sam Malone shows up claiming he’s interviewing to be the pitching coach for the Mariners. Later he confesses he’s just fleeing his wedding.
Also, on a Simpson’s rerun yesterday Professor Frink calls Astrology “the Tampa Bay Devil Rays of the sciences — not very good.”
Which might give you hope, since that episode dates back 3 years. It’s the 3 year Simpsons recovery plan! Step 1: Donuts!
he’s scheduled to pitch game 3.
FWIW, the Phillies claimed him off waivers, partly to fill in at AAA if needed, and if not, to act as a bat off the bench– so, not exactly a change in role …
Yeah, I guess you could define “professional pinch hitter” as “being given a chance to succeed” — particularly since Dobbs was the most effective PH in baseball this year — but it’s probably not the chance he was hoping for (with either team).
Which owner are you talking about?
Loria. Definitely Loria. (But I’ve harped on this before).
Or, perhaps, the Mets — who’d totally stunk up the Polo Grounds and Shea for the first seven seasons (five with 100+ losses…OUCH!) prior to their “Amazin’” run of 1969.
Agree there…though in terms of power/slugging potential, Aybar looks like Manny by comparison.
Yes, I did catch that, and I normally love that sitcom. Now….eh.
Then again, they have a point after the ridiculously bad season we had.
They should’ve had Barney deliver the line, but they had Marshall do it. Marshall, the guy who wore the ridiculous Dr. Seuss hat and who was in Forgetting Sarah Marshall.
Oh well.
Barney wouldn’t deliver that line, because Barney doesn’t care about sports, because women (mostly) don’t care about sports. Unless he was trying to bed a woman who cared about sports, in which case he would temporarily learn everything he could about sports. But in that episode he was trying to bed Robin, who apparently cares nothing about sports (or at least baseball). Hence, it would be out of character for Barney.
But it’s a great line. Hopefully it’ll soon seem as dated as that Tampa Bay Devil Rays reference on the Simpsons. (Or Ken Griffey’s enormous head)
Congratulations to the Rays and their fans. They played great ball all year and with Beckett and Lowell hurt they were the better team. They deserved it. I hope they destroy the Phillies, not because it will make my Red Sox look any better but because the national league deserves ignominy with all the franchises it has which don’t really try very hard to build a championship team.