Here it is. The last "Advancing the..." of the season. Four more wins and the Phillies are the World Champions.
To find out more about the Tampa Bay Rays, we turn to Cork Gaines, lead writer at Rays Index. Gaines has contributed to MLB Trade Rumors, The Hardball Times, Deadspin as well as numerous scientific journals for his day job.
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First things first. The Phillie Phanatic is clearly a creature from the Galapagos Islands that answered his calling here in the States to cheer on baseball in Philadelphia. Anyone can tell that just by looking at him. But the Rays mascot? Who and
what is he? She?
Ha! This one stumped us for a while also. I used to think he was a hairy ray, as in a fish, which wouldn't make much sense. Turns out he is a "Sea Dog". An interesting side note is that Raymond has gone through a renaissance this season, much like the Rays. Prior to the season, Raymond went under the knife and had a makeover. As you can see in THESE PHOTOS, Raymond went from Wilfred Brimley to cute and cuddly. And while the Phanatic and the San Diego Chicken are in a league of their own, Raymond is now right at the top of the next wave of mascots. Never shy, Raymond is a tireless worker, often working overtime.
The Rays' closer situation seems a bit murky. Troy Percival has been on and off the DL with knee and back problems. Six pitchers earned saves for the Rays in the regular season and a seventh, phenom LHP David Price got the six final outs in the ALCS Game 7. So. Who's the closer?
For the last month Joe Maddon went with a closer-by-committee, with Dan Wheeler receiving the bulk of the 9th inning duty. The problem is, Maddon is a big believer in "closing" the game in the 7th and 8th inning. The two relievers that Maddon has the most confidence in are JP Howell and Grant Balfour, although The Mad Australian struggled in the ALCS. So when big outs are needed in the 7th and 8th inning, those are the pitchers you will see. As for Price, game 7 was a big breakthrough but it is difficult to gauge what that will mean for the World Series. Maddon clearly has confidence in Price so it will not surprise me to see him in the 9th inning at some point, but he has yet to work back-to-back days so the opportunities will be limited.
A few years ago, I saw B.J. Upton murder a ball off the scoreboard in centerfield in a spring training game in Orlando. The kids got a ton of talent, and has been hot in the playoffs so far after being hampered with shoulder problems all year. Is he 100% and ready to do some damage in the World Series?
He is not 100% physically, but for the first time since April he might be 100% mentally. Upton tore the labrum in his shoulder early in the season. The injury will require off-season surgery. While he is OK to play, he admitted that he was afraid to swing hard durig the regular season and often let certain pitches go if they were in a certain spot, because he was afraid to aggravate the injury. When healthy, he destroys fastballs with one of the quickest bats in the game. But most of the season, he laid off fastballs and waited for breaking pitches due to the injury. But then the postseason started and something clicked. All of the sudden he is driving fastballs again. He seems to have put the injury out of his mind and we are finally seeing the bat we saw back in 2007.
Rocco Baldelli is another player coming off of an injury [isn't he always?]. What can we expect from him in the Series? Will he be the regular RF?
He will be in right field against lefties. So with Hamels and Moyer, you will see him a lot. The big problem with Baldelli's disorder is that he tires very quickly, so he can't play everyday. If the Phillies were starting Hamels and Moyer back-to-back you might have seen Rocco DH in the second game. But with the current set up look for Rocco in RF and Willy Aybar at DH against Hamels with Gabe Gross in RF and Cliff Floyd at DH in game 2.
Here in Philly, we've talked a lot about how the Phillies will handle the designated hitter situation in Tampa Bay. But there's a flip-side. How will Joe Maddon handle the non-DH situation here in Philly? Will his decision weaken the Rays defense at all?
From a strategy point of view, it will be interesting. The Rays never sac bunt. They had the fewest sac bunts in baseball this season (23). But they did sacrifice a bit more in NL parks this season. In 9 games they utilized the sac bunt 3 times. In games with a DH, Maddon only sacrificed once every 7.7 games. It will also be interesting to see how he juggles the lineup. Maddon uses a platoon system at RF and DH. Rocco Baldelli and Gabe Gross are the right fielders with Willy Aybar and Cliff Floyd at DH. My guess is that will not change with Aybar and Floyd sitting in Philadelphia. Floyd is not a big loss, but Aybar was a huge bat in September and so far in the postseason. His bat will be missed.
Speaking of Joe Maddon, he seems like an interesting guy, and I'm partially concerned about him riding his bike down Kelly Drive and someone shoves him into the Schuylkill River. At any rate, almost as old as the game of baseball is second guessing
your favorite team's manager. How does that pastime work for a Rays fan? Does someone as unconventional as he is bring more or less criticism?
Papa Joe does makes a lot of unconventional decisions but this season it seems that his moves are working at about a 99% clip. That has earned him the benefit of the doubt. In the ALCS some questions were brought up (especially after game 5) but the criticisms were fairly muted. Soemtimes I can't figure out what he is thinking with the bullpen and I still can't figure out why he thinks Gabe Gross is a better late-inning defensive RF than Fernando Perez, but other than that, Maddon has been gold this season.
Care to make any predictions?
Joe Maddon has preached "one game at a time" all year long and in the postseason they continue to play as if it is these are just mid-May games. If the World Series goes like the regular season and the postseason so far, it sould be fairly scripted. The Rays will take an early advantage. At some point in the series, they will be on the brink and as they have been doing since June, the experts will tell us that the clock is about to strike midnight. And just when everybody thinks the Rays are dead, they will do what that have done all year. They will win. Basically, what I am saying is RAYS IN FOUR.
We'll see about that.
