Rays vs. Phillies!

Well, I'm thrilled! Major League Baseball and nearly all of the elite baseball journalists wanted Red Sox/Dodgers in the series, but instead, they're going to get Rays/Phillies. The league wanted Red Sox/Dodgers for the ratings -- undoubtedly, that pairing would have been higher rated than what will actually happen now. The writers, on the other hand, wanted Sox/Dodgers because of all the built in storylines. In other words, they didn't want to actually have to work to come up with compelling stories -- or, heaven forbid, to let the game sell itself. I know that I'm a fan of storylines -- but I think this Rays team (and the Phillies, for that matter) have plenty of them.

I'm also delighted about this win because it defied expectations. The Rays weren't supposed to be able to beat the Red Sox in a 7 game series because of their inexperience. Forget that. Then, they were supposed to fold like a paper bag after they collapsed in Game 5 (I admit that I bought into this idea a bit). Never mind. The big, bad Red Sox were supposed to have the better starting pitching (nope), the more fearsome hitters (nope again), and the experience necessary to push them through to yet another World Series (guess not). To me, the Rays are a far better story than the Red Sox would have been. I'm rejoicing tonight.

Another thing -- I'm proud of Matt Garza (after all, he started off his professional career as a Twin), and I'm pleased that Jason Bartlett was picked up after his 8th inning error (he didn't deserve to be the goat of the off-season, which would have happened if the Sox had come back in that situation).

So, I guess the sports writers had better get busy; they're not going to be able to rely on the same old tired, worn down stories they've been using so much since the Red Sox finally figured out how to win in the post-season. I wouldn't have it any other way.