The Rays Tank: Brewers Stomp Cards, Fun Shane Victorino Gifs

by Steve Slowinski on Oct 10, 2011 8:00 AM EDT in The Rays Tank

General Chatter

I take full responsibility for the Brewers' rout of the Cardinals last night. I wrote a piece for ESPN on Sunday about how Jaime Garcia could be a key part of the series for the Cards, and look how that turned out. I'm rooting for the Brewers as they have a fun team and haven't been to the World Series since the '80s, but I wasn't exactly expecting that to happen.

I missed this on Saturday, but Ryan Howard had a pretty serious injury on the last play of Game 5 of the Phillies' NLDS series. After getting evaluated, it turns out he tore his Achilles tendon and will miss at least a couple months of next season...possibly more. Good thing Howard's new 5-year, $125m contract is all set to kick in next season; I'm sure the Phillies are glad they did that last season.

Amazin' Avenue put together a collection of ridiculous Shane Victorino gifs from around the web, inspired by his gaffe in the NLDS. Now we just need someone to do this for Raul Ibanez.

Al Davis passed away over the weekend, and Joe Poz has a tribute piece up. Even if I don't know the person or player all that well, I always make sure to read his tributes, since they're so well written and I end up learning new things.

It was a piss poor weekend for Florida sports. The Bucs lost...big. The Bolts lost. The Gators, Seminoles, and Hurricanes lost. This means things can only get better going forward, right?

Rays Talk

There haven't been many articles out on the Rays of late -- go figure -- but I just saw the movie "Moneyball" last night finally and it got me thinking. It's worth remembering that while that movie praises the A's for competing with the Yanks and Red Sox with only a $39m payroll, that was in the early 2000s. Payrolls have inflated since then, so the Rays' success with a $42m payroll in 2011 is even more absurd than the A's.

Johnny Damon was featured pretty heavily in the movie, and they mention at one point how he's not worth the $7m salary the Red Sox are paying him. That's a bit of an exaggeration, even for then, but Damon was paid $5m this season and worth every penny. Plenty has changed since 2001-2002. And not all of it has been for the benefit of small-market teams.

Tweet Comment 7 comments | 0 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

I too saw the movie this weekend and have read the book. I enjoyed them both

but have to wonder. The movie makes it sound like Beane and DePodesta put together this team of under valued misfits and won 101 games. They never mention the A’s roster on ‘02 had young Hudson, Zito and Mulder, position players like Tejada, Chavez, Dye and Mark Ellis. That’s not too shabby. Wondering who brought all those guys into the system, the old scouts or the saber boys?

follow me on twitter @sternfan10

by sternfan1 on Oct 10, 2011 8:08 AM EDT reply actions

Yeah, it goes a bit far in making its point.

And these days, the baseball world has settled down to the fact that both stats and scouts have important things to say, just as long as you know what to look for from both of them.

It’s weird, but this past season for the Rays is almost a more compelling storyline than the 2002 A’s. You couldn’t write that sort of an end to the season.

I love Casey Fossum. Now try and take me seriously. -- @steveslow

by Steve Slowinski on Oct 10, 2011 8:21 AM EDT up reply actions

And a first round exit. Again.

by firemangreg on Oct 10, 2011 9:02 AM EDT up reply actions

Your point being?

by mint420 on Oct 10, 2011 10:48 PM EDT up reply actions

I think Michael Lewis didn't have the distance when he wrote it to know all this.

And that a movie is too small a vehicle to explain all the intricacies of what the As were doing right. Instead they just explain what the As were doing different. Not something I’m complaining about, but the it’s a good movie that’s a conversation starter about saber stuff rather than a lesson in how to build a successful team.

The As were a pretty well run organization even before Beane became the GM.

by Whelk on Oct 10, 2011 12:30 PM EDT up reply actions