2008 AL Champions: The Tampa Bay Rays

There was a lot of doubt about Tampa Bay going in to the playoffs.

"They're too young".
"They're going to fade".
"They don't have any experience".

Tampa Bay knows how to change minds.

The Rays knocked off the defending World Champion Boston Red Sox Sunday night to capture the title of AL Champions. Matt Garza was lights out for Tampa, going 7 strong, only giving up two hits, one being a home run by Boston's Dustin Pedroia in the first inning. Tampa struck back in the 4th, when rookie 3B Evan Longoria hit a double that scored Carlos Pena. They followed it up in the 5th when Rocco Baldelli singled to left, which scored Willy Aybar. Aybar also put the final nail in the Sox coffin with a solo shot in the 7th.

Rookie David Price, Tampa's first overall pick in the 2008 draft came on with two outs in the 8th and came back in for the 9th, holding the Red Sox hitless.

Congratulations to Tampa Bay, they played a great series. They didn't get scared when Boston took games 5 and 6; rather they were calm in the pressure. They take on the Phillies in game 1 of the World Series on Wednesday night.

Saturday Spotlight

It's very easy to forget about college football while the NFL, MLB, NHL, and NBA preseason are all going on. But with the Red Sox and Rays not playing until 8:37, you need something to watch, and these college football games are there to fill the void. Here are the big matchups on campus this weekend.

#10 Georgia vs #22 Vanderbilt
Georgia has gone through a rough patch lately, but they can't afford to keep their heads down against an extremely surprising Vanderbilt team. As we've seen before, anything can happen in the SEC, but because Georgia is at home, I see them getting the win.

#12 Ohio State at #20 Michigan State
Terrelle Pryor gets a giant road test against a very good Michigan State team this weekend. The match-up to watch will be MSU 1,000 yard running back Javon Ringer against LB James Laurnitis. Whoever wins that battle will win this game, and I'm taking Michigan State at home.

#4 Oklahoma vs #16 Kansas
OU will try to rebound after their first loss of the season against Kansas. Both teams have great passing attacks, lead by Sam Bradford of the Sooners and Todd Reesing of the Jayhawks. This looks to game that will be decided by the defensive backs, so I'll take the Boomer Sooners.

#2 Alabama vs Ole Miss
As said before, anything can happen in the SEC. Ole Miss knocked off Flordia a few weeks ago, and look to do the same thing to the Tide. History is on 'Bama's side, as they've won the past four games against Ole Miss. It will turn in to 5 straight wins this weekend.

#17 Virgina Tech at Boston College
The ACC is still up in the air as BC and VT replay last years conference championship game. BC has been solid at home against ranked teams recently, winning their last 3 in a row. Don't expect many points in this game, it's going to be a defensive battle. I would not be supurised if it came down to the kicking game, and Tech has great special teams. I'll take VT on the road, but not by much.

#1 Texas vs #11 Missouri
This game features two amazing quarterbacks, Colt McCoy of Texas and Chase Daniel of Mizzou. Texas is the new #1 after beating Oklahoma in the red river shootout, and Missouri is looking to rebound after a loss to Oklahoma State last weekend. Both teams can put up a massive amount of points, so it will be up to each defense to try to get the win. I think Texas has a better D, and with home field advantge, they get the victory.

Enjoy the games!

Sox Stun Rays

Game five started just as the previous three had; a Boston starter got roughed up early and the Rays appeared to be cursing to their first World Series birth in franchise history. But just when things looked over the Rad Sox said not so fast...

Down seven runs going to the bottom of the seventh the Sox roared back led by a three run homer by playoff legend David Ortiz and some timely hitting from JD Drew. The Rays bullpen, which had been so strong throughout the playoff thus far, just could not get the job done tonight.

Going to the bottom of the ninth tied an error by probable rookie of the year Evan Longoria allowed Kevin Youkilis to advance to second base. Jason Bay was then intentionally walked setting up a lefty-lefty match up between Rays reliever J.P Howell and Sox batter JD Drew. After falling behind 3-0 Howell was able to battle back but Drew lined a 3-2 pitch down the right field line scoring Youkilis from second for the walk off win.

Once again this just goes to show you that you can ever count out the Boston Red Sox. A year ago they came back from a 3-1 deficit to the Cleveland Indians to win the series. The win tonight gives them a chance to duplicate that feat. It certainly will be no easy task, but Boston does have favorable pitching match ups heading back to Tampa. It is expected that Josh Beckett will get a chance to redeem himself in game six facing off against James Shields. Should it get to a game seven it will be Jon Lester for Boston likely against Matt Garza.

Chiefs Suspend Johnson

The Kansas City Chiefs have suspended starting running back Larry Johnson for this Sunday's game against the Tennessee Titans. Chiefs coach Herm Edwards refused to go into detail, but did say that the suspension is due to a violation of team rules.

The loss of Johnson against the NFL's lone undefeated team does not bode well for Kansas City. Their offense has struggled to put points on the board thus far this season getting off to a 1-4 start.

Philly World Series Bound

The Philadelphia Phillies are the first to punch their tickets to the world series as they defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers Wednesday night 5-1 to take the series four games to one. The win marks the first time since 1993 that the Phillies have advanced to the World Series; they have not won it since 1980.

Led by another dominating performance on the mound from Cole Hamels, the Phillies had the win locked up early. Hamels pitched seven strong innings giving up just a Manny Ramirez homer in the sixth while striking out five. Jimmy Rollins also homered in a winning effort for the Phillies.

Following the game Hamels was named NLCS MVP. He finished the series 2-0 with a 1.93 ERA while striking out 13 batters in 14 innings of work.

Philadelphia awaits the winner of the Tampa Bay-Boston series, a series led by the Rays 3-1 going into tonight's game.

Rays Crush Sox....Again

For the second consecutive day the Tampa Bay Rays busted out the bats in a big way at Fenway Park, knocking Red Sox pitching all over the park en route to a 13-4 victory.

The loss marks the third game in a row that a Boston starter has been roughed up early as Tim Wakefield lasted just 2 1/3 innings giving up fives runs including three homeruns.

Rookie sensation Evan Longoria continues to tear the cover off ball for the Rays as he hit yet another homerun in the first inning of Wakefield. Carlos Pena and Willy Aybar also homered for Tampa. Carl Crawford led all Tampa Bay hitters with five hits. He finished the game a homer shy of the cycle.

The Red Sox have now lost three of four home playoff games this season. That comes a big surprise as they had the second best record in all of baseball at home during the regular season, second only to the Rays, a team they will now have to beat at their place if they hope to advance to the World Series. The good news for Sox fans is that Boston is no stranger to ALCS comebacks. Last season they climbed out of a 3-1 hole against the Cleveland Indians to win the series. And who can forget the 3-0 deficit in 2004 against the New York Yankees that the Sox erased en route to winning the ALCS and ultimately the World Series.

Busy Day in Dallas

Two major announcements came out of Dallas today as the Cowboys first announced a suspension that has been handed down by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, then announced a major trade.

The first news concerned Adam "Packman" Jones, who has been under the microscope all season following his reinstatement during the preseason, was suspended for "a minimum for four games" by Goodell stemming from a bar fight with Jones' own personal security guard. The guard had been assigned to Jones by the team in hopes of preventing any such problems. It is expected that Jones has played his final game in a Cowboys uniform. Rumors have been circulating for hours now that the Cowboys will likely cut ties with the troubled corner before his suspension is lifted.

After what seems like endless bad news for Dallas this week there was finally a positive as it was announced that they have acquired Pro Bowl wide receiver Roy Williams from the Detroit Lions for three draft picks. The addition of Williams gives the Cowboys one of the most formidable 1-2 punches at receiver in the league as Williams will team up with fellow Pro Bowler Terrell Owens. The biggest question now will be how long until one of these superstars is upset about not getting enough touches? There are only so many balls to go around and both players have a history of making it well known then they are upset with their lack of use in the offense. Brad Johnson will certainly have his hands full in the coming weeks as he looks to fill in for the injured Tony Romo at quarterback.

Cowboys March on Without Romo

The Dallas Cowboys will be without quarterback Tony Romo for the next 3-4 weeks due to a broken finger on his throwing hand. Romo suffered the injury on the first play of overtime during Sunday's 30-24 overtime loss at Arizona.

This is bad news for a Cowboys team that has been struggling as of late losing two of their last three games. 40 year old Brad Johnson will start in Romo's absence. His last NFL start was back in 2006 when he was a member of the Minnesota Vikings. The Cowboys next next three games are at St. Louis, home vs. Tampa Bay, and then at the Giants week 9 before a bye in Week 10.

Rays Win Marathon

When Josh Beckett and Scott Kazmir take the hill you know you are in for a close game. What you would not expect however is a 9-8 final score.

It started as a shootout, but ended as a pitchers duel. Two so called aces looked more like deer in headlight rookies combining to allow an ALCS record tying seven homeruns in five innings of work.

After the fifth inning it was a whole new ball game. Over the remaining six innings the two teams combined to score a mere three runs. But it was the Rays who scored when it counted. With the bases loaded in the 11th BJ Upton hit a sacrifice fly to right to plate pinch runner Fernando Perez evening the series at a game a piece.

The series now shifts to Boston for three game beginning Monday. Jon Lester and Matt Garza will take the hill for the Sox and Rays respectively.

Myers Gets It Done...With a Bat?

Philadelphia Phillies' starting pitcher Brett Myers came into game two of the NLCS batting 4 for 58 on the season at the plate. As a pitcher a stat line like that is not all that surprising. Myers himself would be the first to tell you that he is a bad hitter, but its not his job to hit, right?

That all changed on Friday night as Myers made up for his shaky performance on the mound by nearly doubling his hit total for the season. He finished the night 3 for 3 with three runs batted in en route to a 8-5 Phillies victory in game two of the NLCS.

"I'm not a very good hitter," said Myers in his post game interview. "I just get lucky occasionally. I'm baffled by it. I would've rather pitched better."

At this point in the season it is better to be lucky than good. We will see if the luck for the Phillies can continue Sunday as the series shifts to Los Angeles for three games.