2008 MLB Thead

I'm still finding it hard to believe that the Tampa Bay Devil Rays are in the ALCS. The DEVIL RAYS? Those guys used to be the easiest punch line in baseball. What happened between last season and this one, did they sell their souls for a shot at the post season??

About a month ago I turned on the radio and heard the tail end of the sports report, and the guy said "The Yankees remain eight games behind the first place Tampa Bay Devil Rays," and I thought I'd slipped thru a wormhole to the Twilight Zone.

That said, I hope they eat the Red Sox for breakfast.

Fat Freddy wrote:

I'm still finding it hard to believe that the Tampa Bay Devil Rays are in the ALCS. The DEVIL RAYS? Those guys used to be the easiest punch line in baseball. What happened between last season and this one, did they sell their souls for a shot at the post season??

About a month ago I turned on the radio and heard the tail end of the sports report, and the guy said "The Yankees remain eight games behind the first place Tampa Bay Devil Rays," and I thought I'd slipped thru a wormhole to the Twilight Zone.

That said, I hope they eat the Red Sox for breakfast.

Simple. They dropped the "Devil" from their name thus lifting the curse.

tohostudios wrote:

Fat Freddy wrote:

I'm still finding it hard to believe that the Tampa Bay Devil Rays are in the ALCS. The DEVIL RAYS? Those guys used to be the easiest punch line in baseball. What happened between last season and this one, did they sell their souls for a shot at the post season??

About a month ago I turned on the radio and heard the tail end of the sports report, and the guy said "The Yankees remain eight games behind the first place Tampa Bay Devil Rays," and I thought I'd slipped thru a wormhole to the Twilight Zone.

That said, I hope they eat the Red Sox for breakfast.

Simple. They dropped the "Devil" from their name thus lifting the curse.

Of course!!! (Smacks forehead) It's so SIMPLE!!!

I'm sorry, I just can't root for the Rays. Not because of their players, but because of the fans. They had the 5th worst attendance figures in baseball this year. Heck, it probably would've been worse had the Yankees & Red Sox fans not filled up Tropicana Field when they came to town. I have no respect for a community who can't support their baseball team. Oh yeah, the fans filled up the place for the playoffs, but who can't do that. There were a couple of games this year when they were in the lead this year where the team drew less than 10,000......absolutely pathetic.

I thought the Marlins had a horrible fan base, but the Rays is singlehandedly the worst in baseball. I know it's Florida, and there are other things to do, but there is no excuse in not filling the place close to capacity, especially when you have a great team on the field.

I'm a Brewers fan, and for years we had trouble putting butts in the stands. Much of that was due to having Bud Selig as our former owner, and then having his daughter Wendy Selig Prieb run the show while he was commissioner. When Mark Attanasio became our new owner, he pledged to build a winning team if Milwaukee fans supported this team. Mr. Attanasio, the team, and the fans delivered this year. We had over 3,000,000 filling the stadium to almost 90% capacity.

Tampa Bay's percentage was 52% filled for this year's games. Pathetic franchise, if you ask me.

I will take Boston, Los Angeles or Philly any day before this dead beat community!

I'm hoping for a Dodgers/Red Sox finals and Manny and Joe Torre spanking the Sox.

metalinmyveins wrote:

I thought the Marlins had a horrible fan base, but the Rays is singlehandedly the worst in baseball. I know it's Florida, and there are other things to do, but there is no excuse in not filling the place close to capacity, especially when you have a great team on the field.

The Marlins had their share of "fair weather" fans when the won the World Series back in '97... for about a week everybody was going to their games and the stadium was packed. Then everyone found something better to do, I guess.

Nazgul wrote:

I'm hoping for a Dodgers/Red Sox finals and Manny and Joe Torre spanking the Sox.

Isn't it time for new teams to be in it? Who wants to see Torre and Manny in another World Series? I am hoping for a Phillies/Rays series as the Phillies are my favorite team cuz i was born and raised in the outskirts of Philly.

MetalRob331 wrote:

Nazgul wrote:

I'm hoping for a Dodgers/Red Sox finals and Manny and Joe Torre spanking the Sox.

Isn't it time for new teams to be in it? Who wants to see Torre and Manny in another World Series? I am hoping for a Phillies/Rays series as the Phillies are my favorite team cuz i was born and raised in the outskirts of Philly.

If you're a Phillies fan, you should know better than to get your hopes up. I'll be very happy and quite surprised if they get past the Dodgers.

MetalGuy71 wrote:

MetalRob331 wrote:

Nazgul wrote:

I'm hoping for a Dodgers/Red Sox finals and Manny and Joe Torre spanking the Sox.

Isn't it time for new teams to be in it? Who wants to see Torre and Manny in another World Series? I am hoping for a Phillies/Rays series as the Phillies are my favorite team cuz i was born and raised in the outskirts of Philly.

If you're a Phillies fan, you should know better than to get your hopes up. I'll be very happy and quite surprised if they get past the Dodgers.

I have good hopes for this team. Usually we are not the favorite to win anything but this time we are (Even though everyone is picking the Dodgers). Yes, people aren't giving us a chance but, we have a better team this time around and the record proves it. Better starting pitching, better bullpen, and a better line-up imo. People seem to think Manny is why the Dodgers are where they are, and I can agree to that somewhat, but they are confident and I think a little too over confident after beating the Cubs who were lifeless because of resting there starters. I think the Phillies run away with this series in 5 or 6. Remember the Dodgers were only 30-25 with Manny thats only 5 games over .500

MetalRob331 wrote:

Nazgul wrote:

I'm hoping for a Dodgers/Red Sox finals and Manny and Joe Torre spanking the Sox.

Isn't it time for new teams to be in it? Who wants to see Torre and Manny in another World Series? I am hoping for a Phillies/Rays series as the Phillies are my favorite team cuz i was born and raised in the outskirts of Philly.

This is precisely why I'm rooting against the Phillies.

Although I don't hate them with the fiery passion I did while growing up in Emmaus, I still don't like them because of years of listening to Harry Kallas and Richie Ashburn go on and on about how great the Phillies were.

And they stole Steve Carlton from the Cardinals too.

tohostudios wrote:

MetalRob331 wrote:

Nazgul wrote:

I'm hoping for a Dodgers/Red Sox finals and Manny and Joe Torre spanking the Sox.

Isn't it time for new teams to be in it? Who wants to see Torre and Manny in another World Series? I am hoping for a Phillies/Rays series as the Phillies are my favorite team cuz i was born and raised in the outskirts of Philly.

This is precisely why I'm rooting against the Phillies.

Although I don't hate them with the fiery passion I did while growing up in Emmaus, I still don't like them because of years of listening to Harry Kallas and Richie Ashburn go on and on about how great the Phillies were.

And they stole Steve Carlton from the Cardinals too.

i used to drive through emmaus to work everyday. I lived 20 mins north of allentown..

Small world, huh?

tohostudios wrote:

Small world, huh?

So small that i moved 800 miles west to Columbus Ohio...

And I moved 800 miles southwest to St. Louis, Missouri.

Braves fan since 1990, a lot of disappointing years let me tell ya.

akeldama wrote:

Braves fan since 1990, a lot of disappointing years let me tell ya.

I assume that's a sarcastic remark.

Until New England got so full of themselves, The Braves were my most hated team of any sport. I got so sick entired of the self-proclaimed "America's Team" winning all the damn time. And that stupid chop n chant high school crap...God, I hated that team. Still do it's just that the Patriots have gotten even more obnoxious so the Braves have to take the runnerup spot on my hatred list.

But I still hate 'em!

I want the Phillies and the Rays as they either have no titles or the longest current drought of available teams.

akeldama wrote:

Braves fan since 1990, a lot of disappointing years let me tell ya.

dont they have the record for 16 str8 divisions

MetalRob331 wrote:

akeldama wrote:

Braves fan since 1990, a lot of disappointing years let me tell ya.

dont they have the record for 16 str8 divisions

Something like that. That's why I assumed that was a facetious post.

I can actually sort of see the Braves fans' pain.....all those consecutive Post-Season appearances and only one WS to show for it.

Cry me a river.

Teams like Tampa never even finished above .500 before.

And regarding Tampa's lack of fan support, no one was worse for that than Atlanta. Braves fans didn't pack the joint until the post season because they just always assumed they'd be in it at the end.

At least Tampa fans used to be able to say "Why go because we suck".

Kinda like Rams fans are saying now...

scottmitchell74 wrote:

I want the Phillies and the Rays as they either have no titles or the longest current drought of available teams.

I want the phillies since I have been following them ever since i can remember watching baseball. While they have the bad habit of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory I really want uncle charlie and co to win the big one this year!!

Alex

tohostudios wrote:

MetalRob331 wrote:

akeldama wrote:

Braves fan since 1990, a lot of disappointing years let me tell ya.

dont they have the record for 16 str8 divisions

Something like that. That's why I assumed that was a facetious post.

All those division titles but only one WS win, being up on the Yanks 2-0 only to blow it was exceptionally rough.

tohostudios wrote:

Cry me a river.

Teams like Tampa never even finished above .500 before.

And regarding Tampa's lack of fan support, no one was worse for that than Atlanta. Braves fans didn't pack the joint until the post season because they just always assumed they'd be in it at the end.

At least Tampa fans used to be able to say "Why go because we suck".

Kinda like Rams fans are saying now...

The reason Tampa fans have no excuses is, they've been hot since the beginning of the season. This isn't a team that got hot late...they've been the team in the east. I will support your summation regarding the Braves. I would say like Tampa and Miami, Atlanta is easily the most fickle sports city. They only support a winner, and even when the Braves were going to the playoffs during their last 6 years of their 14 year run, they were having trouble selling the place out. Say what you want about cities like Boston, New York, or St. Louis, this would never happen there.

I'm sorry, but I just can't root for the Rays. When someone roots for a team, they ultimately are rooting for another city. Those fans have no excuses for not coming out to the Rays games. I don't want to hear it about the long suffering Rays either. As a Brewers fan, we didn't get to the postseason for 26 straight years. No Rays fan would possibly know what that's like. The Brewers have had stronger attendance figures than this years Rays team, when they were 20 games under .500. Screw Tampa!!! Hopefully one of the other 3 teams will win it.

You play ball like a girl!