Dojji

I can't count Ortiz as a 1B. If Ortiz was a 1B he would be PLAYING 1B right now and Kotsay would be on the bench.

The hell?

Age? 28 1B: Foxx 2B: Doerr SS: Petrocelli (Nomar wasn't Nomar long enough) 3B: Boggs LF: Williams CF: Dom DiMaggio RF: Dewey Eveans DH: Jim Rice Pitchers: Cy Young, Pedro Martinez, Lefty Grove

CK, if you want to keep this up, stick to one account and stop alternating posting within 2-3 minutes of each other, seriously. You might think we're stupid, but it's really hard to be THAT stupid.

We have the talent to win every game and so do they. This has the potential to be a great, great series. But it could also, very easily, be decided by the winner of Game 1.

Well, See Red, let's be fair, being a Rays fan wasn't really a source of all that much pride until this year. It was a dirty secret, sort of like having an obscene fetish. Now that the Rays are winning, yeah you have some bandwagonneers, but you also have a lot of people who liked them all along finally getting into it because there's soemthing cool to get into. Color me suspicious that both of these "newcomers" know exactly who Cowbell Kid was. I know their fanbase is smaller than ours, but not that small. (that said, even if this is CK, he seems to have learned a lesson and is trying a much more acceptable tack, so let it go unless he screws up)

Alxe Cora is going to play. There's really no way around it. It's not like he's a worse option offensively than Kotsay right now anyway. Having Lowell off the roster is going to cut into Cora's playing time anyway. Tito's going to want to hold Cora in reserve now in case of in-game injuries to Youkilis, Pedroia or Lowrie.

We need Bailey's righthanded power.

http://www.benwaters.co.uk/public/Internetpics/chance-banned.jpg

Kid, if you're going to try to come in here and stir up a riot, do us all a favor and LEARN HOW first. I know it's hard to see it from your perspective but you're seriously making a fool of yourself here. Using FORUM POSTERS as credentials? Migod.

Actually, even in archaic English which still embraced Thee and Thou, when addressing someone either formally or confrontationally, "you" was still the preferred form. "thee" and "thou" were informal and used mostly with family members and close friends. So ironically, the correct phrase even in 16th century English would still be f*** You.

So in other words you predict the Rays win in 5 games and then turn around and say Rays in 6. I don't think we're dealing with someone above the age of consent, anyone else? Dude, if you're going to talk trash in an opposing team's forum at least have something more to back it up with than just repeating yourself. All you're doing is making your fellow Rays fans (such as there acutally are any) look like drooling idiots.

Please stop quoting CK's posts. The mods are trying to clean them up.

I think the difference here is that Varitek made the tag, and clearly pulled his hand away from Willits before he fell and lost control of the ball while trying to get his feet back under him. There was a separation between ball and runner. Willits did not in any sense cause Varitek to lose control of the baseball. In other words, Varitek did not lose control of the ball as a result of making the play, it happened after the actual play was over. In a plate collision, losing the baseball by being knocked into the ground and having the ground knock it out of your glove is still losing it as a result or consequence of the actual tag play. It's because of the way you chose to make the tag (a head-on confrontation with the baserunner) that you were knocked down and lost control of the baseball. A bit different from making a lunging tag and then not being able to recover because you were wearing catcher's pads and trying not to trip over the baserunner.

Boy, they're really counting on winning one of the first two games. If everything goes 2004 on us it'll be a choice between Wakefield or Byrd pitching to save our season or Daisuke on short rest.

Be nice, guys, the Rays are new to this whole "not being a disgrace to the sport of baseball" thing. It's going to take time for the Rays fans to figure out how to handle it. Not all fanbases are blessed to have a Fitzy around to combine wit, dirty humor and an honest look at baseball from the fan's perspectives. If they're really unlucky, sometimes all fans have is this guy. For the record, I don't really respect the Rays for ending the season of the single weakest playoff team in both leagues. It's nice to win the playoff series, but frankly I was surprised it actually took them 4 games , especially against an aging, all-or-nothing offense that was without Carlos Quentin and with Juan Uribe at third base while you have HFA on turf in a dome. With that said, it's not as much of a challenge as beating a fundamentally sound 100 win Angels team without HFA and with a rotation that's a match for your own if not better while you're dealing with a major performance-sapping injury to one of your own best hitters. I happen to think that while the White Sox were the worst team in the playoffs, the Angels were quite possibly the strongest. In other words, the Sox overcame a worthy opponent that was an equal if not a superior squad to their own, while the Rays booted an old, exhausted, underpowered, undermanned, poor defense team out the door who never should have been there in the first place (Twins scared me a lot more). This is going to be a good series. I could easily see it going 7 games. Especially because both of the ALCS the Sox have won this decade as well as the one they lost have gone to 7 games. But in the end I think the Sox are going to prove too mentally tough for the Rays and the Sox will take the series.

Agreed.

No. We owe him something for 6 good years.

Do you think you would feel the same way if it had been Napoli making the tag and Pedroia had failed to lay down the squeeze bunt with Crisp at third? Just curious. I'm kinda surprised Willits didn't make a better run back to third base. Willits is not slow, and if he runs flat out he forces Tek to throw the ball through him to the third baseman and has a decent chance of getting back safely for another shot at the squeeze or even forcing a throwing error. Willits ran like it was a rundown between first and second, and that's the wrong play between third and home because Varitek isn't going to let you turn around anyway.

DOn't be an @$$, it's all over the media. BTW, by the sound of the NESN broadcast, it sounds like it was Lowell who took himself off the roster for the good of the team. If so, good for him.

ESPN is making a lot of hay about the fact that Varitek didn't hold onto the baseball after the tag when he hit the ground. Is this a legitimate issue to discuss or are they, as they do so often, just stirring the pot? Personally, I'm kinda torn. If we'd been the one trying the squeeze, and the catcher dropped the ball after the tag, I don't think for one second we would have been happy if the out call wasn't reversed. On the other hand, the drop happened after Aybar had already been tagged out, so there's a gray area here. Thoughts?

(if they did them, I mean?) If Jon Lester had gotten the win in Game 4 I think the choice is pretty clear, but he didn't, so I think it's a toss-up between Lester, Bay and Papelbon, with Youks and Kotsay getting HM for their defense. Given the way the three played, I take Bay, who had a key offensive play in each one of the 4 games. Thoughts?