World Series Game 5: Rays @ Phils
By
The 2008 baseball season may come to an end tonight. It sucks, I know, but there’s nothing we can do about it. The only people capable of keeping the baseball season alive are the Rays, who (putting it bluntly) have played like shit the last two games. When your 3-4-5 hitters are a combined 4 for 44 with 16 strikeouts in the series, you don’t deserve to win.
Scott Kazmir will take to the mound for the biggest start of his life and biggest game in team history. The youngest member of the Rays rotation and winningest pitcher in franchise history will be relied on to keep Philly’s suddenly surging offense in check long enough for their sluggish offense to do some damage. A tall order for the Kazmanian Devil, but he’s up to it.
As if a 3-1 series lead wasn’t enough, Philly is sending their ace to the mound tonight, Colbert Richard Hamels, the kid so awesome that Jeff Lebowski refers to him as “The Dude.” Allowing only 21 hits & 8 earned runs in 35.2 postseason innings, Hamels appears to have entered the realm of “Big Game Pitcher” this year, and would cement that status with a W tonight. He’ll have to deal with a slightly revamped Tampa lineup tonight, but it might be too little too late for Joe Maddon’s boys.
My prediction that the Rays would win the series in 6 (losing only the games Hamels starts) is obviously not coming true, but I hope Tampa manages to extend the series tonight. I’m not ready for baseball to go away just yet.
Tampa Bay
1. Akinori Iwamura, 2B
2. Carl Crawford, LF
3. BJ Upton, CF
4. Carlos Pena, 1B
5. Evan Longoria, 3B
6. Dioner Navarro, C
7. Rocco Baldelli, RF
8. Jason Bartlett, SS
9. Scott Kazmir, P (12-8, 3.49)
Philadelphia
1. Jimmy Rollins, SS
2. Jayson Werth, RF
3. Chase Utley, 2B
4. Ryan Howard, 1B
5. Pat Burrell, LF
6. Shane Victorino, CF
7. Pedro Feliz, 3B
8. Carlos Ruiz, C
9. Cole Hamels, P (14-10, 3.09)
Weatherman says we might be in for a little rain tonight, but it shouldn’t be enough to postpone the game. I’m sure MLB is ecstatic about another World Series game ended after 1am.
Oh, and remember that kinda weird out-of-place “FISHY FISHY FISHY” song that played during the Game Three pregame ceremonies? The creator of the song left a comment on the game thread. How cool is that?
Update (11:35pm): It’s official, they’ll resume the game tomorrow night in Philly.
So is Stevie of Sandie and Stevie fame now the most famous person to comment in a RAB game thread?
It’s a toss up, either Stevie of said Sandie & Stevie fame, or Tim Lincecum’s dad. I’d vote for Old Man Lincecum, personally.
Link?
Scroll down a bit.
Nevermind
What about Peter Gammons from ESPN’s Diamond Cutters? He’s on here commenting all the time…
Michael Clayton was a great movie.
That it was. Can I ask what prompted that? That’s kinda random.
I am Shiva. The God of Death.
There was a line in the movie that was very similar to that said by Tom Wilkinson.
Ah ok. I don’t remember it.
Michael Clayton: You are the senior litigating partner of one of the largest, most respected law firms in the world. You are a legend.
Arthur Edens: I’m an accomplice!
Michael Clayton: You’re a manic-depressive!
Arthur Edens: I am Shiva, the god of death.
Here is where the quote happens. I think the scene takes at a mental ward where Arthur Edens is kept. The scene happens in the beginning of the film.
Yep, I remember the scene, just not the exact quote. I only saw the movie once, back when it was in theatres.
I might go watch that movie.
Fantastic movie, I dont understand what exactly Tilda Swinton won an academy award for though. Timmy’s dad definitely wins. Where is that post? Did he talk about teaching the Sand Koufax mechanics that are actually just Tim Lincecum mechanics?
Here’s the link, it’s from January:
http://riveraveblues.com/2008/.....ment-46899
He comments again further down.
Beckett was 6-2 coming into this season and was teh greatest postseason pitcher of all time. If Hamels goes 5-0 in one postseason, doesn’t that make him better than Beckett? 5-0 is better than 6-2 right?
It would have to be, right? Hamels wasn’t even close to losing one of the first 4 wins either.
Nah Hamels will have throw a perfect game to even be in that discussion. Maybe 2.
Or throw on a Sox uniform for the ESPN crew.
Did the Phillies yield anything worth noting in the trades for Lidge and Blanton?
For Lidge, no, not at all. Michael Bourn sucks, Mike Costanzo was turned around and traded for Miggy Tejada, and Geoff Geary is a nothing special middle reliever.
They gave up more for Blanton. Adrian Cardenas is a top 100 prospect as a middle infielder, and Josh Outman was in Oakland’s rotation at the end of the year. Dunno anything about Matt Spencer.
Ok cool. I just wanted to know how they acquired those players with the current state of their farm system.
they pretty much bought low on lidge, expecially since the ‘Stros signed Valverde
I prefer that the Rays starter be referred to as the media calls him “Former Met Scott Kazmir”
When was the last time we saw a good WS? 02, maybe 03?
2002 I think. At least that series was competitive, both teams were playing well and no one was dominating the other.
Robb Nen basically sacrificed his career for the title that year, too bad he didn’t win it.
And Chris Russo didn’t either?
Nevertheless, the last couple WS have been downright brutal.
Thank God for John Oates.
Man I am so fuckin hyped for the NBA season and the first two games on TNT are some must watches.
Yo guys when the Yanks lost the WS in 01, how ya guys react or feel? I was super depress for like 2 weeks after that lost. That shit hit me hard, really hard.
03 was different. I was dissapointed no doubt but it never that hard and I accepted it pretty well.
‘01 was tough, but I got over it quick. ‘03 just made me angry.
Game 4 and 5 tick me the fuck off. I was more stun than angry when Beckett threw the shutout.
Oh good, nice gigantic strike zone tonight.
That profile of Hamels seemed to be a bit lazy to me. I may be nitpicking.
The Phillies’ “Key to the Game” was “Finish them off.” We really should start expecting less from our baseball broadcasts.
Too quick of an inning, if I’m the Rays. Strikezone didn’t help either.
Donovan F. McNabb in the house.
The Angel of Death is coming for those oh so cute you just have to love them Tampa Bay Rays
And Kazmir is not gettin the calls.
it’s the first inning can we give it a little more time
If the Phillies close this out the city is going to be crazy, and unfortuantly I cannot partake b/c I was in the hospital the past 2 days with this intestinal infection
Oh yes Kazmir has pin point control it’s the umpires fault that he hit him.
They should have traded him for Johan Santana when they had the chance.
No. Lets Just remember that that AFL stat. don’t account for anything.
When they suck that is.
LOL
The Flyin Hawaiian!!!
Hawaiian Punch.
Inning should have been over a batter ago.
But it’s not don’t just love those Rays
Uh oh
Nice Inning by Kazmir.
Ugh. Why the hell is Pena bunting. Stupid.
Holy crap Evan Longoria is 0/17 in the WS. That’s A-Rodesque.
Soriano-esque.
Slider, low and away.
LMAO
Thats was a brilliant idea by Pena.
We should get A-Rod to bunt more often.
Hey that an idea it couldn’t hurt.
LOL
“the only games that philly will win are the games Hamels starts, the other games wont even be close”
Lets now remove the words philly and Hamels and replace them with Rays and Shields.
HEEEEEEEEE
How about taking some damn pitches, RAYS! One of the team’s homerun leaders is bunting while the stud that is Evan is swinging at the first.
I wasn’t paying attention, and I just glanced at the screen and said “oh good, Kazmir struck someone out.” Then I realized it was the pitcher.
Mike, I’m warming up to you Joe P’s love of Ben Sheets. Assuming we don’t get CC, of course. A guy with his ability on a short term deal could be an excellent Plan B.
So he’s injury prone. Is that really so bad given the depth we have in starting pitching? I really wouldn’t even care much what he did during the regular season, I would just want to do everything possible to make sure he’s healthy for the playoffs. If I went into the playoffs with a rotation of Sheets/Wang/Joba/ with Pettitte or Hughes also available I’d feel pretty confident.
Only a short term deal though. If he wants 4 yrs or so, forget it.
2 yrs, maybe 3 if the price is right.
Do you think he accepts a short term deal? For me at best is 3-years at 45M. He accepts that?
I’d try 2/30. I’d rather overpay in dollars than years. 3/45 would be an absolute max.
If he stayed healthy, he’d be an absolute steal.
Sure, if its the best offer on the table.
A better question would be “Who will offer him more than 3-45?” That I cant answer. No idea.
I can see the Astros going that high.
OK, if the offers were the same then the question would be which team does he want to play for. Again, no idea.
Astros, also maybe Texas.
Yeah, when you think about some of the crazy contracts given to lousy pitchers recently, I guess somebody will pay him.
There are actually fewer current Phillies with WS experience than there are Rays. Who’d a thunk it.
Wait, nevermind. I thought Bradford was on the ‘04 Sox. Same number of players then.
Mike– check your email
Already replied.
wow that was quick. thanks a bunch.
No problem. Good luck meeting your deadline.
Pena should have bunted. Dumbass. How dare he swing away.
Signs of life.
This ump should fired for that strike. My goodness. That was terrible.
I can’t wait for the day that balls and strikes are called by some intricate laser prism triangulation GPS system.
The Yanks seemed to have dropped Sheets off their radar since the elbow injury. Do they know something we don’t? I dunno, but Sheets is attractive when compared to the other available FAs.
Sheets>Burnett-Not by much, but he’s a better pitcher when healthy. Walks fewer guys.
Sheets>Lowe-Not even close
Sheets/Peavey-I’d call that one a wash, but Peavey’s health history is much better.
And most of the injuries had nothing to do with his arm, he had some weird inner ear thing in 2005, a hamstring in 2007. He did have shoulder tendinitis in 2006, but most pitchers get that at some point and its usually not serious unless they ignore it.
2 year guaranteed deal with reachable incentives for a 3rd and/or even 4th year sounds about right. Just give me 20+ starts and 140-150 IP and be ready for the playoffs. He’s done that every year except 2007, and just missed 200IP this year.
http://www.baseball-reference......be01.shtml
He’ll certainly have to pass a physical before the deal could be made official.
Check this out-Past 5 years IP
Sheets-839 total
Burnett-831 total
How can the Yanks argue that Sheets is too injury prone, but BURNETT isn’t?
and again, Sheets is a better pitcher.
You’ll give 5 years 80-95 mil to Burnett but won’t give 45 mil to Sheets?
Well if they miss the boat on CC, Burnett would be their next target. I just have a feeling that Burnett is gonna be a yankee. Hopefully Im wrong on that.
Sheets will definitely have to prove he’s 100 healthy to at least get the attention of the yanks. Nevertheless, compare to Burnett and Lowe, he might come cheaper and he’s younger and his stuff translate well in the AL East.
I’m hoping they take another look at Sheets if they lose out on either CC or Burnett and when Peavey gets traded elsewhere. Maybe when all the smoke clears, he’ll look more attractive.
How is Sheets better than Lowe, and it’s not even close? Lowe has been better in the NL, is healthier and more reliable. He also knows pitching in the AL East, in a huge market, in the playoffs. While Sheets may have more upside, he has not been a better pitcher, never mind by a wide margin.
Because Lowe was awful the last 2 years he was in the AL East, and that was when he was 4 years younger.
To be fair, Sheets obviously hasn’t pitched in the AL East. But its a known negative against an unknown with more upside. That’s an easy choice for me if I’m a GM.
I would prefer Sheets, but only for upside. Lowe has simply been a better pitcher. The next time Sheets goes into Yankee Stadium to pitch Game 7 on 2 days rest and throws 6 innings of 1 hit ball will be the first.
And he only sucked in his last year in the Al East. He was slightly above average his 2nd to last year, threw over 200 innings and won 17 games. I know wins are overrated, but on a team with a good offense, pitching 200 innings and being better than league average isn’t awful. Much better than Pettitte was this year.
Maybe Philly will win the World Series when the game is called due to rain after the top of the 5th. That would be fun.
I can’t imagine that would ever, ever happen.
Although it would be pretty awesome.
Man, that’s the LAST thing you wanted to happen to Hamels.
What? I was putting kids to bed. Did I miss anything?
Hamels squared up to the bunt, he missed, and the pitch caught him in the fingers on his left hand. He was shaking them and still is.
Damn. Can anything else go wrong in this game?!
Hank is right. Baseball needs to move on and drop the ‘pitchers hitting’ thing. Imagine if Hamels breaks a finger trying to bunt?
Seriously. Just make everyone use the DH. It makes the game so much more fun to watch.
I’m still pissed CMW got injured because of this ‘baseball tradition”.
I’m surprise that last pitch to Rollins wasn’t a strike. Has this ump seen the light?
I was just thinking this, which poor sucker is gonna sign Oliver Perez to a huge contract of 4-years+ with 60M+.
Minaya. How could he let Perez leave?
probably right.
Mets. I don’t see anyone else offering anything close to that, and who are that desperate for pitching. Ok, maybe the Tigers. Still I see the Mets re-signing him. Detroit already have a bad contract on the books with Willis. No need for another one, especially since Oliver is erratic.
Oliver Perez in the AL would be pretty scary. For the team that signs him.
How did Detroit shot themselves on the foot with Willis. The guy sucked in the NL in 07, and at least see what he can do in the AL before thinking of giving him a contract.
GS here.
This is all strategic. Kazmir is trying to “ice” Hamels by leaving him out on the bases all inning. Smart man.
Might the Rays make the mistake of going to Balfor instead of Price next inning? I hope not. Though I want the Phillies to win, let’s try to keep the game competitive.
Wow, mother nature hit by Badelli.
OMG. Now mother nature is putting her stamp on the game.
is someone in the phillies coaching staff named rich doobie? haha
Good play by Utley.
Grant Balfour is a good pitcher, but he doesn’t match up well with the Phillies. He is pretty much a fastball pitcher and that works well with the Phillies.
WTF is up with this umpire!!!!!!!!!!!!!
OMG this ump sucks. Doesn’t help Kaz control sucks as well.
holy smokes ball 4 looked like strike 3 to me.
So did ball 3.
This Ump is just dreadful. My goodness, helen Keller would of known those were strikes.
PItch was definitely a strike.
Scott Kazmir only throws 91!!!!!! OMFG, kids a bust losing 2-1 in the world series.
Clearly. Why is he even in the big leagues? Funny thing is, he throws harder than half the rest of the staff, but according to some, Hughes can’t succeed at 91. And oh yeah, he throws harder than 91, but we’ll leave facts out.
This umpire’s strike zone….there aren’t enough words to describe that piece of crap. Kazmir might as well physically walk each and every pitch up to the plate so that the umpire can clearly see that it’s a strike.
This inning has the potential to be ugly. Balfour control+bad ump+him being righthanded with one pitch=potential yikes.
Bottom of the order, so I’m hopefully Balfour wiggles out of it.
Why bunt with Victorino?
Apparently some people are under the impression that giving away outs in the middle innings is the key to success.
Feliz sucks.
Balfour got of it.
Nice job by Balfour. I really hope this game isn’t decided on a play the weather effects – an outfielder slipping or something.
Not sure if this was talked about yet on the site, but did everyone hear about the Phils fans throwing open mustard packets at Joe Maddon’s 7 year old granddaughter? I mean seriously, are there bigger scumbag fans in sports than Philadelphia fans?
Best fans in sports, as ESPN and FOX said earlier in the series.
Unbelievable. The stark contrast between Pennsylvania fan bases is remarkable. I just got back from Pittsburgh, me and a couple of buddies road tripped it for the Giants game (which was fucking awesome), and the Steeler fans were some of the nicest, most genuinely friendly fans I’ve ever encountered. We literally got shit from 2 guys the whole game, and both times handfuls of other Steeler fans apologized for said douchebag fans and told us they’re not a fair representation of the fan base. Meanwhile, down the turnpike, you have fans who cheer for the opposition’s paralysis.
Steeler fans are intense and the whole city is one big Steeler maniac fan but Pittsburgh is a great city and the people are so nice (and LOTS of Yankee fans there).
I once went to a Raiders game in Oakland. There is a place you do not wear opposing colors.
http://www.courierpostonline.c.....002/SPORTS
Could we stop with all the shots of the rain? WE GET IT.
*shakes head* after Iwamura K.
Wow. So Hamels gets that call, but Kazmir doesn’t get those calls against Burrell? Bullshit.
This is the worst officiating ever.
Did the Phils pay off the home plate ump or something?
1. I don’t really care who wins this series.
2. It would have been nice to see the Phillies win in their park.
3. I don’t want the Rays to be robbed and the calls that have gone against them are really starting to add up.
Buck and McCarver, the weather surely affected Upton’s stolen base.
This is terrible. They can’t keep playing in this.
but it’s so gritty of them to keep at it.
They’re pretending they’re football players. Gritty football players not mamby pamby dome football players.
I’ve been wondering what they should do here if they stop the game. I’m sure they all want to get it in.
Stop the game, and if you can’t get the rest in tonight, finish it up tomorrow during the off day. Easy fix.
yea, CP!
UUUUUUGE hit by Pena. I was terrified that Upton was going to slip making the turn there.
Tie game.
This has been a classic.
Suspended game in the WS? It’s A-Rod fault.
That is all folks. They’ll probably play Wednesday because tomorrow looks like a pile of ass.
can you believe they would have ended the world series if pena didn’t tie it and the game was called? is there a worse commissioner in the history of professional sports than bud selig?
go rays!
I’m sure FOX was pressuring them to keep going.
Phils lose Hamels now.
Hey quick question for you guys that run RiverAveBlues? How did you all get into this? Are you all buddies that know each other or roommate or what? When did it start?
Also, I’m currently a college student- any advice for somebody that might want to do that?
Do you guys have a regular jobs as well, or just riveraveblues? sorry for so many questions. If you don’t want the info on the blog publicly, I’d appreciate it if you e-mail me, just cause I’m a college student trying to become a sports blogger trying to figure out how to do it successfully, and there was a workshop today at the school paper explaining a bit about it, but they really did a terrible job.
We all knew each other before this, and were blogging individually at various spots on the interweb. One day we decided to start a site together, so here it is.
We all have regular jobs, well Ben’s still in school, so that counts as his job. The site creates barely enough revenue to cover the hosting costs, we see very little profit.
There’s really not much too it, we started blogging one day and got lucky that it became so popular.
FYI – I deleted your email from the comment so you don’t get spammed to no end.
How bad has the home plate umps balls and strikes been this WS?
Kazmir got squeezed like no ones business. He must be steaming right now. Cost him 2 runs and about 40 pitches.