All season long, the Tampa Bay Rays won with balance. Hitting in the clutch, strong team defense, and solid pitching led the team to 97 victories. But, in the Game 1 loss to Philadephia in the World Series, the hitting faltered and all sense of balance was off.

Compiling only five team hits, the Rays lineup was stifled by opposing pitcher Cole Hamels all game long. The meat of the Ray’s order - B.J. Upton, Evan Longoria and Carlos Pena - were held without a hit in 12 at bats.

In attempt to offset the struggles of their teammates, Akinori Iwamura and Carl Crawford gave their best efforts to pick up the slack. Iwamura went 3-for-4, while Crawford added a home run. However, their effots were not enough to carry the team to victory, as the Rays fell into a 1-0 series deficit. Read more »

Who said that the Philadelphia Phillies would have trouble dealing with pop ups and fly balls getting lost in the dome and catwalks of Tropicana Field?

Who said that the Phillies would have difficulty fielding grounders on the terrible artificial turf that the Rays have played on for 88 games to date?

No one must have told this to the NL Champions as they took home field advantage away from the Tampa Bay Rays with a Game 1 victory last night. The Phillies overcame a week-long layoff to put themselves in the driver’s seat for this year’s Fall Classic. Read more »