Rays Win and Take Over MLB's Best Record: A Win to Remember
I wasn’t at the game tonight since I am out of town, but I was able to catch it on TV. WOW! I believe we are going to look back on this game and realize that it was clear statement game for our young team. This game is classic 2008 Rays. There were so many things worth noting:
1) Stellar starting pitching: James Shields had great stuff tonight pitching 8 innings giving up only 2 runs and Dan Wheeler closed it out with a strong 9th inning.
2) Great defense: not only were there no errors by the Rays, but Gabe Gross made a leaping catch up the left field wall (Web Gem #4), Jason Bartlett made a great leaping grab doubling up the runner at first and BJ Upton made a sensational throw to home plate saving a key run (can you say laser show? - Web Gem #2).
3) Very timely “hitting”: hitting is in quotes because the game was actually tied on an RBI walk to Carlos Pena (3 walks on the night). Appropriately, Willy Aybar stayed hot (the Rays fill in player for Longoria) and stepped in and drove in 2 runs with 2 outs in the 8th to seal the victory. He is now batting .364 with 3 HRs, 9 RBIs and 6 extra base hits since taking over 3rd base for the injured Evan Longoria on August 8th (11 games).
4) Finally, you had Joe Maddon aggressively back up BJ Upton when the first base umpire made one of the worst calls I’ve seen all year. Maddon was ejected and BJ now knows that his coach and team mates have his back despite the couple of rough weeks he’s been through. This year is all about TEAM and this aspect of the Rays showed up big tonight.
This game puts the Rays into first place in all of MLB and it is appropriate that it happened the way it did. Remember this game as the year nears a close. I’ll be at the game tomorrow night with my brooms. Go Rays!
Don't forget, to celebrate the launch of 9=8.com, we are giving away two (2) tickets to a 2008 Rays home game as we race to the finish line. If you want to enter to win these free tickets, simply sign up to receive our blog posts via email. We will select 1 winner from our email list over the next few weeks. Check back later this week for more information. Sign up now!
1) Stellar starting pitching: James Shields had great stuff tonight pitching 8 innings giving up only 2 runs and Dan Wheeler closed it out with a strong 9th inning.
2) Great defense: not only were there no errors by the Rays, but Gabe Gross made a leaping catch up the left field wall (Web Gem #4), Jason Bartlett made a great leaping grab doubling up the runner at first and BJ Upton made a sensational throw to home plate saving a key run (can you say laser show? - Web Gem #2).
3) Very timely “hitting”: hitting is in quotes because the game was actually tied on an RBI walk to Carlos Pena (3 walks on the night). Appropriately, Willy Aybar stayed hot (the Rays fill in player for Longoria) and stepped in and drove in 2 runs with 2 outs in the 8th to seal the victory. He is now batting .364 with 3 HRs, 9 RBIs and 6 extra base hits since taking over 3rd base for the injured Evan Longoria on August 8th (11 games).
4) Finally, you had Joe Maddon aggressively back up BJ Upton when the first base umpire made one of the worst calls I’ve seen all year. Maddon was ejected and BJ now knows that his coach and team mates have his back despite the couple of rough weeks he’s been through. This year is all about TEAM and this aspect of the Rays showed up big tonight.
This game puts the Rays into first place in all of MLB and it is appropriate that it happened the way it did. Remember this game as the year nears a close. I’ll be at the game tomorrow night with my brooms. Go Rays!
Don't forget, to celebrate the launch of 9=8.com, we are giving away two (2) tickets to a 2008 Rays home game as we race to the finish line. If you want to enter to win these free tickets, simply sign up to receive our blog posts via email. We will select 1 winner from our email list over the next few weeks. Check back later this week for more information. Sign up now!
Labels: BJ Upton, Carlos Pena, Gabe Gross, James Shields, Willy Aybar
posted by Blogging Man at
10:56 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home