I found Joe Maddon's post-game interview with Ken Rosenthal to be somewhat odd in that the dude appeared to be completely content. He wasn't upset at all. It was like the anti-Bill-Belicheck-Super-Bowl-post-game-interview. Apparently other people thought Maddon was on to something, though. Other people like Jerry Crasnick.
"Obviously, you want to win the World Series when you get to this particular juncture, but for us to get here this year is just unthinkable," Maddon said.
[Unthinkable? You won 97 games and took home a division that also has the Yankees and Red Sox. Sorry. Not pinch-hitting for J.P. Howell just because you want a lefty to throw sliders to Burrell in the next inning... that's closer to unthinkable. (P.S. How'd that work out, anyways?)]
"This World Series will provide us the best instructional video in the history of the organization."
[What, Tampa Bay has never hosted a Tom Emanski video shoot? Didn't the Rays even have Fred McGriff on the roster at some point?]
And wonder of wonders, the fans in Tampa-St. Petersburg turned out with enough numbers and fervor to drown out the traveling bands of Red Sox diehards in the ALCS. That will be part of the 2008 Rays' legacy.
[Dude, of course people are going to show up for playoff games. I'm pretty sure the Braves even drew a few hundred fans for their playoff games back in the Maddux-Glavine-Smoltz-Gant (yes, Ron Gant) era. Let's take it easy with the "wonders" and "legacy" talk. The Rays (who were awesome at baseball all season, mind you) packed the Trop to a degree that gave them the 26th lowest attendance average out of all 30 MLB teams. They averaged 7,000 less fans a game than did the Padres. And the Padres scored 17 runs this year.]
The Rays hit .212 as a team in the World Series, grounded into six double plays and got a combined 3-for-37 effort (.081) out of their Nos. 3-4 hitters, Evan Longoria and Carlos Pena. The defense, considered a team strength all year, committed five errors in five games. And the Rays seemed just a tick off their game when it counted.
[A tick off? Did Crasnick write the sentence about Longoria and Pena going 3-for-37, take a 3.5 hour nap, and then wake up and just start writing anew?? And what, those 34 ABs by the Rays' two best hitters aren't part of the "when it counted" portion of the Series?? Nope, you're right, Craz. The two isolated fielding and baserunning plays you cited are WAY more important than the 34 outs your 3-4 hitters woefully recorded. C'mon, Iwamura! C'mon, Bartlett! If you hadn't been such boneheads on those two plays, Longoria and Pena would have gone 28-for-34 in the Series with 17 home runs between them.]
Before the Series, the conventional wisdom was that the Phillies might be stale from their extended layoff after an easy win over Los Angeles in the NLCS. In hindsight, was it possible that the Rays paid an even bigger price for their seven-game marathon against Boston in the ALCS? Did the ordeal sap their emotions in a way that can't be measured?
[Wait, Craz knows of a way in which one CAN measure emotion sappage and he's not telling us!?! I've been researching this for years! I must have been focusing my experiments solely on the Rays-type of emotion sappage.... you know, the one that apparently can't be measured.]
The Rays will regard themselves differently, as well. A small payroll and inexperience will no longer be an excuse for coming up short.
[Wait, I thought we already established that it was the 3-for-37 turd laid by Longoria and Pena that caused them to come up short. No? OK.]
As the Rays settled into their seats on the bus for the trip to the airport, they knew they'd accomplished something special. Even the hollowness of the ending couldn't change that.
[That's right, Rays. I'm sure that you'll win 97 games and be huge World Series favorites (with home-field advantage) in each of the next 8 seasons. So, really, this whole no-show was no biggie. Enjoy the parade!]
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