Off-Day Blog: This Sox Fan Gives Rays Props

I want the Sox to win the division. It will give them home field advantage, at least in the ALDS. The team that is standing in their way: The Tampa Bay Rays. That said, as a baseball fan, I can't help but admire how the Rays have played this season. When they were sitting on top of the division at the beginning of the season, I got a pretty good laugh out of it. It's only April, I thought, they'll take their place down near the bottom soon enough. As the months went by, however, the Rays still stayed on or near the top. Predictions of a second-half fade came and went. Now it's September and they have taken four out of the six games against the Sox in head-to-head competition. They have an excellent chance of not only having their first winning season, but their first division title and post-season appearance as well. After the Sox came charging at them with bomb after bomb on Monday night, making mincemeat out of their ace Scott Kazmir, they didn't bow out meekly and concede the division to the Sox. Instead, Sonnanstine and the Rays' bullpen outdueled Beckett and the Sox bullpen to win game two in the last at-bat. On Wednesday night, they vanquished the Sox in a dominating 10-3 win and claimed the season series. The Rays are a tenacious team, as Sox fans have learned this season. These aren't the Devil Rays of seasons past. If anything, exorcising the "Devil" from their name won them major points with the baseball gods. This season, they finally have the pieces they need to win: A strong, young rotation, a very solid and often shut-down bullpen, and even if their offense does not rank near the top, they have some very good hitters in Carlos Pena, Dioner Navarro, and rookie Evan Longoria, among others, and a strong defense. The very young team has survived the rigors of a long season and they show no signs of falling on their faces at the eleventh hour. The Sox are a great team too, but they can no longer afford to take the Rays for granted. They will have an uphill battle ahead of them in the final week of the season to wrest the division away from the rolling Rays. However, the Sox have to play like they want that division title badly. That means solid pitching, timely hitting, and sharp defense. With many of their power hitters hurting, they need major contributions from the rest of the team.

LET'S GO RED SOX!!!!