The World Series is now set- Tampa Bay Rays vs. Philadelphia Phillies. Any predictions? Anyone have a particular rooting interest? Other thoughts?

I’m going for the Rays; it’s a good story and it reminds me a lot of the 1991 Braves. The Worst-to-First, the young arms, the good young hitters-it’s eerily similar to ‘91. Maybe the Rays can take it a step further than the Braves did.

My prediction is that the Rays will win it all in seven games. While I think that the Phillies are playing good baseball right now, the Rays seem to have destiny on their side. They have solid pitching and timely hitting; I think that their only real weakness is on defense. If they can keep the errors to a minimum and continue to get solid starting and relief pitching and hitting from their lineup, I think they’ll take the Series.

It sucks that Willie Aybar didn’t work out for the Braves; he’s playing really well for the Rays. That trade doesn’t look too good these days.

On our last night in DC, my family, one of my co-workers and I headed out to Nationals Park to see the Nats take on the visiting D’Backs. The stadium just opened this season, so I was looking forward to seeing how it compares to some of the other new parks. We took the Metro train to the game, about a twenty minute ride from our hotel. When you walk out of the station, you immediately see the outfield entrance to the Park, about a one block walk. We bought tickets at the box office and headed up to our seats. We bought the cheap seats and were on the very top row of the stadium. Even though we were somewhat high up, the breeze was nice and the view of the field and of downtown DC wasn’t bad at all. Most of the other tickets were really expensive, including the majority of the seats in the upper deck. I think this would partially explain why they only average 29K (the stadium seats 41K) in the stadium’s first year. Of course, the fact that they’re in last place doesn’t help either.  

 The stadium itself was nice, but i’ve been more impressed by some of the other newer parks. There are several tiers to the stadium, most of which don’t extend all around the stadium. It gave an uneven appearance to the stadium’s interior, something that I didn’t particular care for. It also prevented me from taking a lap around the upper level. You can walk the lowel level and that was much better as you could see the game from the top of the sections, just like Turner Field.

They have a lot of variety of foods, but everything was absurdly expensive. We brought some food for Olivia, but we weren’t sure if you were allowed to bring in food, so we didn’t and paid a ridiculous $29 for three hot dogs, nachos and a drink.

The game itself was a classic pitcher’s duel. Dan Haren pitched for the D’Backs and threw a gem. He only allowed 2 hits through eight innings and looked to be on his way to a 2-0 shutout. However, he allowed two baserunners  in the 9th and Lyons came on to save it. He allowed both runners to score and the game went to extra innings. The D’Backs scored three runs in the 10th to make the score 5-2. The Nats battled back to score three runs in the bottom of the inning to tie it again at 5-5. The D’Backs scored two more in the top of the 11th and the Nats couldn’t muster up another rally to tie it up for a third time.

Overall, it was a positive experience and we had a good time, even if it was more expensive that anticipated.

The second game of the series didn’t go much better than the first for Houston. Oswalt gave up a pair of two run homers to Milton Bradley and former Georgia Tech product Marlon Byrd. Vicente Padilla overcame a high pitch count and went seven strong innings to get the win. He has pitched really well this year as the Rangers have now won seven consecutive series to move to .500 for the season. The highlight for Houston once again was a 2-4 from Berkman including a long HR to left. He should lead in all thriple crown categories as soon as Chipper tweaks a leg muscle and doesn’t qualify for the batting crown due to a lack of ABs. That should happen in the next few weeks.

 I’m passing on the game today since it is over 90 degrees and I don’t need the sunburn. For the game yesterday, I sat in the HR porch in right field in the 4th row. It was a really good view and the fans were great with chants of “Let’s Go Rangers” battling it out with “Let’s Go Astros!” Watching the game today, Houston is leading 4-0 in the fifth and Berkaman just got another hit to make him 34 for his last 56. Pay homage to the Big Puma!

I went to the first game of the Astros/Rangers series last night at the lovely ballpark in Arlington. The Rangers were giving away bobbleheads for CJ Wilson so I got there pretty early. Apparently demand isn’t very high for giveaways as I could have gotten there 20 minutes before first pitch and still received one. In a matchup between the two leading RBI men in Major League Baseball, Josh Hamilton came out the big winner by hitting two homers and a triple while collecting 5 RBI to go along with a 5-5 night. Lance “Big Puma” Berkman managed a 2-4 night to edge his batting average closer to .400. The Rangers got up 8-2 as they shelled Shawn Chacon. Houston battled back to even the score before Texas took back the lead on a close play at the plate that resulted in an ejection for Cecil Cooper. The home team tacked on 6 runs in the bottom of the 8th as Oscar Villareal gave up 3 homeruns, bringing the Rangers total to 6 for the night. Villareal’s ERA is now over 6.00 for the season and he has been seeing mop-up duty after being projected as a key set-up man before the season. I think the Braves got the best of that deal although I think Josh Anderson is in the minors, right?

 Back out to the Ballpark tonight with a much better pitching match-up of Oswalt vs. Padilla. I’m sitting in the right field porch for the first time, which should be cool. One little nugget to pass along from last night’s game is that Chacon still has no record of wins or losses at this point despite 9 starts on the year, which is a MLB record to start a season. Also, the Astros already have 17 come from behind wins this year.

Will the Indians close out the Series tomorrow night?  You have Schilling vs. Carmona going.

Can Boston repeat 2004 and come back from 3-1 down?

Who do you think will make it to the World Series and who do you want to make it? 

NLCS: D’Backs vs. Rockies

ALCS: Red Sox vs. Indians

I want a Rockies vs. Indians World Series with the Indians taking it, but I think it will be D’Backs vs. Red Sox with the Sox winning it all.

The reason why I want the Indians to win is that I think Cleveland fans are devout and have suffered enough. 

Now that the MLB playoffs have started, what teams do you see making the World Series? Which would you prefer to see in the Series? Do you have a favorite to win it?

I think we’ll see the Angels against the Cubs (yikes!) with LAA winning it. I’d like to see the Indians versus the Rockies with Colorado winning it all.

For all you Braves fans, what are your thoughts on the Braves decision not to get in the Andruw Jones sweepstakes? Good move or will they regret it?

Buck Farry!

Matt  =

JJ Putz

I’ve never seen this guy before since he’s out in Seattle and in the AL, but this was such an obvious call when they introduced him tonight at the All-Star Game.

I can’t believe that McCann made it and Renteria didn’t. What a ripoff. McCann has had a terrible year offensively (Around .260 right now) and his defense has sucked. He’s not holding on to balls, he’s getting used on steals and he’s not blocking the plate very well. If anyone watched the game last night vs. the Dodgers, McCann dropped a third strike in the 6th that would’ve gotten the Braves out of the inning with a 1-1 tie. Instead, the runner made it to first and the next batter homered to make it 3-1. He’s just not protecting the plate and smothering low balls.

Edgar, on the other hand, has been in the top 5 all year in hitting, has been stellar at short and has been the only consistent field player for the Braves all season. I realize that SS is jammed with good players in the NL, but he could’ve at least made it and been used as a pinch-hitter.

Smoltz deserved the nod, but I hope he doesn’t pitch in the game. He looks like he’s carrying an injury based on his actions on the mound. He’s needs some time off to help his shoulder mend itself.

Lastly, who in the hell is voting for Bonds? How did he beat out Soriano in the last three days of voting? I don’t know anyone that likes Bonds and can’t imagine that it was just Giants fans that voted him in.