Top News:
ESPN:
Simulations say ... Rays likely to advance — Last week, we ran our Diamond Mind simulation on behalf of ESPN and predicted the Tampa Bay Rays would easily defeat the Chicago White Sox, most likely in three or four games, and the Los Angeles Angels would upend the defending world champion Boston Red Sox …
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Sean McAdam / Boston Herald:
Five keys for the Red Sox — ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Think the Tampa Bay Rays are going to be an easy opponent for the Red Sox [team stats] in the American League Championship Series? — Think again. — Get beyond all the cute modifiers - plucky and upstart, for two …
Discussion:
Baseball Prospectus, Boston Globe, Over the Monster, DRaysBay, MLB Interviews.com and Associated Press
Sean McAdam / Boston Herald:
Tampa Bay Rays won't say sorry — ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - The opponents in the American League Championship Series couldn't be more different. — Name the measuring stick - revenues, resources, tradition, fan base, experience - and the Red Sox [team stats] have it all over Tampa Bay.
Patrick Sullivan / Baseball Analysts:
Sox/Rays — The Tampa Bay Rays had a tremendous season and are very much capable of taking Boston out in the 2008 ALCS. Let me explain, however, why these two teams might not be as evenly matched as they appear. The important measures, as far as I am concerned, are how a team performed …
Bob Nightengale / USA Today:
Torre's brother: What Yanks did to Joe ‘was not right’ — PHILADELPHIA — Frank Torre, the 76-year-old brother of Los Angeles Dodgers manager Joe Torre, walked onto the field Thursday at Citizens Bank Park, and had one question: — “I wonder what the (New York) Yankees are thinking …
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Justin Einhorn / Yahoo! Sports:
Los Angeles at Philadelphia — The acquisition of Manny Ramirez spurred the Los Angeles Dodgers into the playoffs and his offense helped get them into the NL championship series. — The big bats for the Philadelphia Phillies might need to get on track if they are to go any further.
SofaKing / Toronto Star:
A.J. Burnett in no hurry to talk to Blue Jays — A.J. Burnett, in possibly his last game as a Jay, salutes the home crowd. “It was storybook,” Burnett said of the sendoff on Sept. 24, 2008. — CATHAL KELLY — The Toronto Blue Jays may have to wait well into November …
Sam Donnellon / Philly.com:
Burrell turning jeers to cheers — THERE IS a guy who sits 12 rows back in the leftfield bleachers who has, over the years, embraced Pat Burrell like a brother, kicked him around like a dog, and now loves him like an old army buddy again. Anyone who has sat back there on Sunday afternoons has heard him …
Jeff Passan / Yahoo! Sports:
Rays' numbers game — ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Nine equals eight. It's true. — Mathematics professors at Michigan State University say so. They can prove it. — So can the Tampa Bay Rays. All season they've worn T-shirts with what seemed a mathematically impossible message: 9 = 8.
Rick Morrissey / Chicago Tribune:
Cuban: Financial crisis will slow Cubs sale — What, you expected the Cubs' sale to go smoothly? — After the club's torturous playoff loss to the Dodgers, which brought on a great depression? — While the U.S. financial system is in convulsions? — No.
Discussion:
GoatRiders of the Apocalypse
JSOnline:
Conspicuous by absence — Viewers of baseball on television, sometimes for good reason, have complained over the years about having to watch so many national telecasts involving the New York Yankees. — Pinstripes here, pinstripes there, pinstripes everywhere, has been known to grind …
Discussion:
Sliding Into Home
Liz Doup / FloriDUH:
Women getting Mohawk-style bikini wax to support The Rays — Talk about team spirit. — The latest style to sweep the west coast, home of the Rays, is a bikini wax. Mohawk style. — Try waving that around at a game! — Michelle Foster of Skin Deep Spatique says she was inspired by her son's Mohawk, reports
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Jenifer Langosch / MLB.com:
Bucs' Moss should be ready for camp — Arthroscopic procedure replaces microfracture surgery on knee — PITTSBURGH — It looks as if Pirates outfielder Brandon Moss should be ready to take the field with no limitations in Spring Training after all. — Moss traveled to Vail, Colo. …
Discussion:
Bucs Dugout
