The Rays are heading to the World Championship Series, and they had to go through the Boston Red Sox to do it.  One week earlier, after game 3, it looked like the Rays would have an easy time, the Sox were not the Sox of last year.  Mike Lowell would leave the series because he was in too much pain to play, and Josh Beckett, well he was no “Josh Beckett.”  But, the Rays faltered a bit, and the Sox showed how they got there before. In the end, though the Rays persevered, and didn’t clinch against Beckett, they clinched against the Sox best pitcher, the guy who seemed magically blessed, the guy who was throwing a no-hitter through the first 4 innings, they clinched against Jon Lester.   Once the no-hitter was over, it was a like a light bulb went on, and the Rays played their game and finished off the reigning world champions.

I just thought to check Curt Schilling’s blog and though he hasn’t posted about the loss (yet), he did post about the comeback in game 5 and he said some very interesting stuff.  He spoke about what was most likely happening in both clubhouses and on the team planes on the way to Tampa that night.  Its a great picture, and if you read much of the  comments from Joe Maddon prior to Game 6, you know that both are telling you the truth no matter what a sideline reporter says thats different.  Mindset and experience count for a lot, but now, with hindsight, we know they don’t count for everything.

There are now only three franchises that have never been to the World Series, the Mariners, the Nationals/Expos and the Texas Rangers.  We might also add the Cubs back to the list, now that they have passed the 100 years mark.  There isn’t much baseball news in Dallas, but there is an interesting blog post from John Hickey about the General Manager decision that is getting close.  Apparently, a few of the top candidates have backed out, and my bet from the list that is left Kim Ng finally gets the shot to be the first female GM. She is the most respected candidate among those that are left, and deserves the shot.