With their 6-2 win over the Chicago White Sox Monday in Game 4 of the ALDS, the Tampa Bay Rays are moving on to the ALCS for the first time in franchise history. And as Tommy Rancel of MVN.com puts it so perfectly, the Rays no longer should just be considered a “nice story”, “pleasant surprise” or a “Cinderella tale.” They’re legitimate World Series contenders, no matter who they play in the next round.
The Rays were supposed to contend for .500 at season’s beginning. In June, they were just a nice story, but they were destine to fail. Before the All Star break, they crashed to reality and lost first place and were supposed to never get it back. In August, they were peaking too early and would collapse in September. In September, the pressure would get to them and the Red Sox were supposed catch them and win the East. Once the Rays won the East and clinched a spot in the ALDS their experience was going catch up to them come October.
They would open the ALDS against the more experienced White Sox, who won three straight elimination games to get there. The Sox would have much of their 2005 World Series team in tact and Mark Buehrle, one of the tough lefties that was supposed shut the Rays down, said he wanted to face the Rays because he thought they were the easier matchup. Oops, somebody forgot to tell the Rays all that. The Rays brushed the dirt off their shoulders all season long and now are just four wins away from going to the World Series.
Well now what are they going to say? My bet is nothing. When push comes to shove the Rays have passed every test put in front of them.
Well said. It’s easy for the media to follow trends. The White Sox had the experience and had won recently at this level. But as I wrote after the Rays’ win in Game 2, experience isn’t everything. Congrats to the Rays.
Not to take anything away from Tampa, but it must be noted how depleted Chicago was coming into the playoffs. Not having bats like Carlos Quentin (36 HRs, 100 RBI, 96 runs) and Joe Crede (17 HRs) in the lineup certainly hurt. And the Sox run production in this series is a clear indication of that.
The 2008 NFL Season is only a quarter of the way finished, but it already looks like it could be one of the craziest years in some time. And as if anyone needed a reason to tune in this year, I’ve gone ahead and listed 32 of them below.
In no particular order:
1. Parity still rules. Who would have thought that the Bills and Titans would have better records at this point than the Colts, Patriots and Jaguars?
2. The Giants. The G-Men are the best team in the league and nobody is talking about them.
3. Aaron Rodgers is holding his own. The Packers have dropped three straight after starting the year 2-0, but that’s hardly Rodgers’ fault. The young man has gone through a lot this year and he continues to impress, including playing with an injured shoulder and throwing nine touchdown passes in five games.
4. The Colts 17-point fourth quarter comeback against the Texans in Week 5.
5. Preseason predictions still mean nothing. There’s no greater feeling than checking out who the pundits predict will be the best teams in the NFL in preseason…then realizing how wrong they were after the first couple weeks of the season.
6. Jason Campbell’s development. People in the know say that it usually takes a quarterback 2-3 years to fully learn the West Coast Offense but so far this year, Campbell has thrown for over 1,000 yards, six touchdowns and zero interceptions. And oh-by-the-way, he also has the Redskins at 4-1. First-year head coach Jim Zorn has done a remarkable job in Washington so far.
7. The Titans. There’s not a defense in the league that has been more clutch late in games than Tennessee has.
8. Ronnie Brown. No offense to Ricky Williams, but it’s nice to see that the guy who didn’t quit on the game because he wanted more time to smoke weed is having more success than the guy who did.
9. The balance of power is starting to shift between the two conferences. The AFC has long dominated the NFC in terms of teams and quality of play, but so far this year those roles have been reversed. Four of the top five or six teams in the league belong to the NFC.
10. Brett Favre. Through five weeks, no signal caller in the league has a better QB rating than Favre. And his six-touchdown performance against the Cardinals in Week 4 was vintage Brett.
11. Baltimore’s defense. They might be aging unit, but Ray Lewis and Co. can still lay the wood can’t they?
12. Rookie quarterbacks playing well. Matt Ryan just went into Lambeau and knocked off the Packers, while Joe Flacco almost pulled off upsets against top defenses in Pittsburgh and against Tennessee. These first round signal callers have been impressive to say the least.
13. Adrian Peterson. Forget the sophomore slump – the 2007 Offensive Rookie of the Year is proving that he’s no fluke.
14. The Bears finally have a quarterback. Kyle Orton is nowhere close to being the best quarterback in the league, but watch him play – he has a little gunslinger mentality in him. And hey, he’s no Rex Grossman, which is a great thing (just ask Bear fans).
15. Kurt Warner. Some groaned when the veteran unseated youngster Matt Leinart in preseason, but so far head coach Ken Whisenhunt’s decision to go with Warner has paid off.
16. The Dolphins. They might be all hype right now, but who cares? The Fins’ fan base saw only one win last year – let them enjoy the ride.
17. Ben Roethlisberger’s toughness. This is arguably the worst offensive line the Steelers have produced in years, yet Big Ben continues to show how underrated he really is. His performance against Jacksonville in Week 5 was simply amazing.
18. The Bills. It’s easy to pull for a young team and most of their wins this year have been nail bitters. Hopefully QB Trent Edwards is okay from the hit he took against Arizona last Sunday and he’ll get back on the field soon.
19. The young Titans’ secondary. Cortland Finnegan and Michael Griffin share the league lead for interceptions. And they play in the same defensive backfield.
20. Marty Booker’s catch against the Lions.
21. Jay Cutler. The kid is cocky but it’s hard not to like his swagger.
22. Michael Turner’s running style.
23. Donald Driver and Greg Jennings. The Packers’ wideouts are just two example of why teams don’t need to spend first round picks on receivers.
24. Fresh starts in Oakland, Detroit and St. Louis. Yes these three franchises are a mess. But maybe there is a silver lining now that Lane Kiffin, Matt Millen and Scott Linehan all received their walking papers. Maybe…
25. Eli Manning. The former first overall pick is proving that last year’s postseason performance wasn’t a fluke and he really has taken the next step as a NFL quarterback.
26. The Panthers. Jake Delhomme is healthy and playing well again, rookie Jonathan Stewart has been a great complement to DeAngelo Williams and the run defense has been fantastic so far. Carolina is a legitimate contender in the NFC.
27. Monte Kiffin’s defense. The Bucs don’t even rank in the top 10 in any major defensive category except for points allowed, but ask Matt Ryan, Kyle Orton and Aaron Rodgers if they would want to face Kiffin’s unit on a weekly basis.
28. The Patriots are still finding ways to win. It hasn’t been pretty, but Bill Belichick and New England are still finding ways to win despite not having Tom Brady under center. Even after being blown out by Miami at home in Week 3, the Pats are still a team to watch out for in the AFC.
29. Reggie Bush. He might not be able to run consistently between the tackles but he sure as hell can run outside of them.
30. Terrell Owens…when he shuts up and just plays. And Tony Romo…when he can hang on to the football.
31. The Bengals. For providing the casual football fan with plenty of entertainment off the field.
32. Al Davis. For providing the casual football fan with plenty of entertainment off the filed.
Here are a few of my favorite photos from Week 5 action. You can see a full slideshow of larger versions on NFL.com.
I’m not a fan of Randy Moss, but the league is better off when he’s playing his best ball. After Matt Cassel’s first couple of starts, many were wondering if he had the arm strength to hit Moss with the deep ball. I like photos that capture more than just a single play. This one also answers a question that was plaguing the Patriots and their fans.
The Texans/Colts game turned out to be one of the most exciting finishes of the day due in no small part to Reggie Wayne’s terrific one-handed touchdown catch. Wayne is clearly one of the best (and most consistent) wideouts in the game and this photo captures his immense ability.
Sage Rosenfels would probably like to forget Sunday’s game against the Colts. He had a chance to take hold of the starting job in Houston, but he managed to give the game away with two fumbles and an interception in a miserable fourth quarter. This picture captures his boneheaded decision to go airborne as the Texans tried to put the game away.
Throughout his career, Donald Driver has been one of the most consistently underrated wideouts in the game. This catch against the Falcons looked like it was going to be knocked away or even intercepted, but Driver out muscled Erik Coleman for the ball.
The Redskins have been one of the biggest surprises of this young season, and much of their success is due to the steady running of Clinton Portis. His game was on display against the Eagles, as the Redskins utilized his power running as an effective deterrent to the Eagles’ blitz happy defense.
The Packers are now 2-3 and this week’s loss to the Falcons signifies just how far Green Bay has to go. The tackling was sloppy and they hurt themselves with too many mental mistakes and penalties. It’s tough to see my favorite team in this position, but the picture captures the Packers’ current ineptitude.
I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t really follow the MMA. But it’s hard not to know who Kimbo Slice is considering the YouTube.com star actually graced the cover of ESPN the Magazine a few months ago.
I didn’t catch the fight (I was flipping between college football and the latest Cubs’ postseason collapse), but I had to chuckle when I read that Slice was knocked out in just 14 seconds Saturday night by some guy filling in for the inured Ken Shamrock. And as Dan Wetzel of Yahoo Sports writes, it looks like the Kimbo Slice Show has reached it’s finale.
One simple shot sent Slice to the canvas and from there some guy named Seth Petruzelli needed just 12 punches and 14 seconds to put an end (we hope) to one of the great sporting charades of all time.
It was just a matter of time before Kimbo got exposed. He was little more than a character out of central casting, a bunch of addictive YouTube videos and a lot of insane hype by CBS, which made him a headliner before he made himself a fighter.
He was the Kimbo the Cash Machine, everyone lining up to exploit the lie that this was the baddest man on earth as long as he could walk through hand-picked tomato cans.
Kimbo was KTFO by a guy he absolutely towered over yet was willing to bang with him anyway. Not that Kimbo did any banging. Slice charged him (“He was like a truck,” Petruzelli said) but he never actually landed a punch.
In the end, Kimbo’s hand speed, defense and chin proved incapable against even an average mixed martial artist. Which was pretty much what every hardcore fan had predicted.
Not that CBS didn’t keep up with the Slice willing to fight, “anyone, anywhere, at anytime.” This was a 100 percent true statement if “anyone, anywhere, at anytime” means “no one any good, anywhere, ever.”
Not that I would ever want to go toe to toe with Slice – but what a joke. And is that a M.I.L.F. Hunter T-shirt he’s wearing in that photo? Awesome.
Brian Westbrookfractured two ribs against the Redskins and is iffy to play in Week 6. Just when he recovers from his ankle injury, now he has ribs to deal with. It looks like it’s going to be one of those seasons for Westbrook. Owners should do what they can to acquire Correll Buckhalter as an insurance policy…LaDainian Tomlinsonaggravated his toe injury and will likely find himself on the Chargers injury report all week. Darren Sproles is the obvious pickup here, but LT2 tends to play through pain so it’s tough to know when to start his backup instead…Trent Edwards was knocked out of the game with a concussion, but since the Bills have a bye in Week 6, he should be good to go for Week 7. Keep an eye on this, however, as a series of concussions has ended QB careers before…Tony Scheffler and Eddie Royal are probably going to miss some time with groin and ankle injuries, respectively.
The Rays were supposed to contend for .500 at season’s beginning. In June, they were just a nice story, but they were destine to fail. Before the All Star break, they crashed to reality and lost first place and were supposed to never get it back. In August, they were peaking too early and would collapse in September. In September, the pressure would get to them and the Red Sox were supposed catch them and win the East. Once the Rays won the East and clinched a spot in the ALDS their experience was going catch up to them come October.
