Rays Win the AL East

[ViviTheMage]

Go Twins

 

[BeauJangles]

Yeah, the Yanks are quaking in their cleats at the prospect of facing the Rays, their proven post season champs and the franchises long record of World Series success. Why, just the sight of all those banners hanging in the Tampa Bay shithole ought to terrify a team with as few championships as the Yankees. Boy, the last time the Rays won the World Series was truly awesome, what a juggernaut! Maybe they can play highlights to even further discourage the Yankees. I'll even download the torrent and do it for them. What year was that again? Trying to find the footage and I'm drawing a blank.

If I were the Yankees, I'd be afraid of facing a lot of teams considering how mediocre their starters have been. And, considering that they lost the season series (albiet, not by much.. they allowed 97 RS and scored 90), I think it'd be stupid for the Yankees to write off anyone in the postseason, especially the Rays.

 

[Blackjack200]

So i went to the airport last night to welcome the team back, got to high five evo and crawford. Cool Story Bro Inc.

Do the players ever ask the fans for autographs there?

With 20 million people, the Spankees should sell out every game. Adjusting for area population,the Rays are #7 in attendence.

I guess that's what happens when you give away thousands of tickets?

 

[Capt Caveman]

Yeah lol, they all did last year.

That's b/c MLB bought up the remaining tickets. When the team has to buy 20,000 tickets and give them away free, there is no support for a MLB team in FL. The Marlins and Rays should be relocated to somewhere that people care.

 

[drebo]

I'm a Yankees fan and I'll be hugely surprised if they even get to the ALCS this year. They're not nearly as good a team as last year, and Girardi doesn't know how to manage to their strengths (Gardner is a MUCH better leadoff hitter than Jeter is, right now). Girardi is so stuck on "matchups" and what players used to be able to do that he's incapable of seeing what his players are CURRENTLY CAPABLE of.

 

[BeauJangles]

That's b/c MLB bought up the remaining tickets. When the team has to buy 20,000 tickets and give them away free, there is no support for a MLB team in FL. The Marlins and Rays should be relocated to somewhere that people care.

Actually, they should just contract them. The Marlins could be a decent franchise if the ownership cared, but they only care about making money.

While MLB is at it, they should shave 25 games off of the season and reform the playoffs so that the division winners get to play all of their first-round playoff games on their home turf. That would make things interesting.

 

[RavenSEAL]

Yeah, and..? Last year we didn't have Halladay, Oswalt and an effective Hamels as our 1-2-3. Last year the NL didn't have home field advantage. Last year we didn't have Polanco, highest average on the team, in the 2 hole. Last year Lidge was horrible, this year he's not his old self but still worlds better than before.

Excuses, excuses....

See a pattern here? They were good enough to get to the WS last year and now they're better, most wins in the MLB in fact. GG

By 1 win? Good one.

 

[KeithTalent]

I just want the Yankees to lose, it's all I'll be cheering for since I do not have a horse in the race.

KT

 

[RavenSEAL]

I guess that's what happens when you give away thousands of tickets?

The rays gave out the tickets because it was the last game of the season...

And for all the other BSers about the Rays not having a fanbase, quit talking shit. There is a huge difference between having to walk 4 blocks and driving 45 minutes to a baseball game. The Rays attendance issues have anything and everything to do with the location of the stadium, and the freaking mayor of St.Pete keeps bitching every time someone attempts to move the team closer to the MAIN fanbase...in TAMPA...where the YOUNGER people live. If you're 65 or older, you should know everything about St.Pete, you probably own 2 condos there.

These are the directions from google maps from my neighborhood to the trop. add traffic on top of that+finding parking lot, right around 45-50 minutes.
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&sou...5758,135.263672&ie=UTF8&t=h&z=11&layer=c&pw=2

 

[mwtgg]

The rays gave out the tickets because it was the last game of the season...

And for all the other BSers about the Rays not having a fanbase, quit talking shit. There is a huge difference between having to walk 4 blocks and driving 45 minutes to a baseball game. The Rays attendance issues have anything and everything to do with the location of the stadium, and the freaking mayor of St.Pete keeps bitching every time someone attempts to move the team closer to the MAIN fanbase...in TAMPA...where the YOUNGER people live. If you're 65 or older, you should know everything about St.Pete, you probably own 2 condos there.

These are the directions from google maps from my neighborhood to the trop. add traffic on top of that+finding parking lot, right around 45-50 minutes.
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&sou...5758,135.263672&ie=UTF8&t=h&z=11&layer=c&pw=2

Hey bud. Me again. I'm 33mi away from Citizens Bank Park. It takes 45mins with no traffic. If you believe that most Phillies fans live in Philadelphia proper, you're fooling yourself.

Point is, twenty THOUSAND tickets were given away for free because Rays players were complaining about the lack of fans. It's a shame the Rays have to bribe fans to show up.

And yeah, who's making excuses now?

 

[RavenSEAL]

Hey bud. Me again. I'm 33mi away from Citizens Bank Park. It takes 45mins with no traffic. If you believe that most Phillies fans live in Philadelphia proper, you're fooling yourself.

Point is, twenty THOUSAND tickets were given away for free because Rays players were complaining about the lack of fans. It's a shame the Rays have to bribe fans to show up.

And yeah, who's making excuses now?

I'm just talking about season avg attendance. I'm sure if you were a season ticket holder, you wouldn't like driving 45 minutes a day for 80something days just to watch baseball. On the weekends, the Rays games sell just fine as a matter of fact. But when the games are at 1, 4 and 7 on WEEKDAYS, thats an issue for the MAJORITY of the fans. Because the majority of the fans have to deal with the HORRIBLE HORRIBLE peak hour traffic in the area that is sp.pete, the bridges and i-75/275/375. Not to mention a LOT of the streets around the stadium are one way. Again, i don't want to make excuses, but if the stadium was in a more formidable location, i could easily see a great increase in attendance, even with 1pm games on weekdays. Trust me, you would have to live in tampa to understand.

 

[mwtgg]

I'm just talking about season avg attendance. I'm sure if you were a season ticket holder, you wouldn't like driving 45 minutes a day for 80something days just to watch baseball. On the weekends, the Rays games sell just fine as a matter of fact. But when the games are at 1, 4 and 7 on WEEKDAYS, thats an issue for the MAJORITY of the fans. Because the majority of the fans have to deal with the HORRIBLE HORRIBLE peak hour traffic in the area that is sp.pete, the bridges and i-75/275/375. Not to mention a LOT of the streets around the stadium are one way. Again, i don't want to make excuses, but if the stadium was in a more formidable location, i could easily see a great increase in attendance, even with 1pm games on weekdays. Trust me, you would have to live in tampa to understand.

I'm a Sunday ticket holder and have gone down on weekday games (which sell out by the way). Ask anyone in the Philadelphia metro area, but I-76 and any routes leading to it are total disasters.

Look, just admit the interest isn't there down south. I went to a Braves game last season and the place was empty. Any Braves fans that were in attendance were more likely to wear the gear of their favorite college football team, as opposed to the Braves. Just being able to sell out on weekends isn't really a sign the location of the stadium is bad, it's a reflection of the area. Florida is full of transplants who are going to root for their "home team". They won't show up until the games are big, i.e. playoffs.

Oh, and if I were a full season ticket holder, I would make it down for a large majority of the games. Then again, fans up here are just different.

 

[TheToOTaLL]

Go Twins

:thumbsup::thumbsup:

And it's not just because we have the best field in the nation that we sold out pretty much every home game (in response to the fact the Rays were GIVING away tickets).

See you all at the World Series