USVI-On-Line

DELETED

I love baseball. I've watched it and been involved with it my whole life. I absolutely love the beginning of the season. To me it means, aah, summer is on its way! I'm so happy that my boys like it too, and they are pulling for the Rays, I probably am too.

I have watched a lot of baseball in my life. Game 5 of the 2008 ALCS was in the top five games I've seen.[/quote]

Yes, that game was AMAZING!! We were jumping around and screaming so loud I had to close the house up so as to not wake the neighbors.

Honestly, for me, the best thing about the Sox not making it is that I am finally going to get some sleep! Between the games and the debates I am seriously sleep deprived. John went to the Patriots tonight...I would have been asleep by halftime.

liamsaunt wrote: Honestly, for me, the best thing about the Sox not making it is that I am finally going to get some sleep!

I agree - that is the real silver lining in a very difficult loss to swallow.

And it shouldn't be forgotten that Jon Lester, who is a cancer survivor, continues on his path to becoming one of the elite pitchers in the game today (I think he's there already).

As a lifelong Sox fan who watched Ray Knight score the game winning run in Game 6 of the '86 Series...To then watching the A's of the late 80's / early 90's beat up on the Clemens led Sox with the likes of Dave Stewart...To the Indians dominating them in the '95 division series...All of the Yankee dominance in the mid to late 90's...The Sox have come a long, long way. They have become the benchmark for winning over the last 5 years. They are already the team of this decade - and likely will remain so.

All that said...They were beaten soundly by a better team. That is difficult to say as I have come to dislike the Rays nearly as much as the Yanks...Dating back to the early 2000's with the battles between Pedro and Gerald Williams...Brian Daubach getting cheap-shotted by Johnny Gomes on the bottom of the pile...And then this year with the Coco Crisp/James Sheilds brawl. These two teams have a history.

I really did not want to see the Sox lose to them.

Congrats, Rays. Go Phils.

DELETED

SJfromNJ wrote:Ahhhh game 6.... etched in my mind as the second best game I have ever watched. Lets not forget that the Sox were also up by two runs in game 7.

The best game I have ever watched... game 6 NLCS 1986 Mets vs. Astros. Sixteen innings of sheer excitment!

Yes, I remember the two run lead. Thanks for the reminder.

That NLCS game in 86...Mike Scott...Remember him? He was a bad man for a couple of seasons. In '86 I was a 9 year old budding Red Sox fan...Dad took me to my first game at Fenway that year, vs. The Milwaukee Brewers. Don Baylor hit a homer over the Monster. Good times, good times...

As for the Rays...I was hoping Beckett or Dice-K would've brushed those youngins off the plate a bit...They were way too comfortable in the box, especially up in Boston.

BTW, I'll bet Dustin Pedroia hasn't slept a minute since the end of Game 7. He has quickly become my favorite player to watch in the game. In New York, they make Cano out to be the second-coming of Rod Carew...I wouldn't trade Pedroia for 5 Robinson Cano's.

Hey all you Sox’s fans – First, I’d like to thank you all for recognizing the Rays for the team they are. I know that it’s not easy to recognizing an opposing team when you’re a “Die Hard Fan” but thank you. This town is going nuts because the Rays were never suppose to get this far. They’re a young team and I think that everyone in the Tampa Bay area is still in shock. No matter what happens in the Series – history was made in St. Pete Sunday night. May the best team win (Rays that is – he, he, he) in the World Series.

My guess is MLB cannot be too happy about this matchup. First they lost Cubs/White Sox series and then Dodgers/RedSox matchup. Now its two fairly small markets....never good for ratings.

White Sox fan here saying go Rays!

I am from Detroit, so if the Tigers can't be in the World Series, I am OK with it being anyone who beat the Yankees, White Sox and/or the Red Sox. (Sorry, but it's true.)

I love how excited the Tampa Bay fans were (not that the Red Sox fans weren't excited). It's probably not going to be as big of a money-maker for Major League Baseball, but that is not what the World Series is about.

Schnell wrote:My guess is MLB cannot be too happy about this matchup. First they lost Cubs/White Sox series and then Dodgers/RedSox matchup. Now its two fairly small markets....never good for ratings.

White Sox fan here saying go Rays!

Generally speaking, I would agree with that. Fox has no Marquee team in the WS (Cubs, Red Sox, Yanks, Dodgers, Cardinals, etc), which won't be a good thing for them as far as national interest goes.

That said, Philly is the 4th largest TV market in the country (ahead of Boston), and Tampa/St. Pete is the 13th largest TV market in the nation...You also have to add into that the Miami (#16) and Orlando (#19) markets.

MLB didn't come out of this too badly...Now, if it was a Milwaukee/Tampa series...ooh, that would be ugly in terms of households.

Here are the top 15 TV markets nationally:

1. New York
2. Los Angeles
3. Chicago
4. Philadelphia
5. Dallas/Fort Worth
6. San Francisco/Oakland
7. Boston
8. Atlanta
9. Washington DC
10. Houston
11. Detroit
12. Phoenix
13. Tampa/St. Pete
14. Seattle/Tacoma
15. Minneapolis/St. Paul

Link to top 200 - http://www.tvb.org/rcentral/markettrack ... by_dma.asp

I was in New England at the time and was rooting for the Sox with my Mom up there. Been to Fenway a few times when I lived in Gloucester...

The Rays have a good team, I was impressed... and they obviously deserve it.

BUT, being from Lancaster PA, I probably need to root for the Phils...not really sure until I start watching...

My team didn't make it to the playoffs, this being said, I am usually cheering on the underdog. This playoff was confusing! Exciting for the Rays having a strong year, exciting when the Sox pulled off a win from behind....whoo!

But now...Go Rays!