The Series is Here (+McAlister)
Snuggle up, folks: there’s not much baseball left this year. What remains begins tonight, as Scott Kazmir takes the hill for the Rays against Cole Hamels for the Phillies.
I haven’t seen enough of the Phillies to really get a gauge on how they’ll perform here, but my gut tells me that the Rays’ combination of starting pitching and top-to-bottom offensive production should be pretty tough to beat. That analysis doesn’t run terribly deep, I know, but I haven’t seen anything that tells me it’s wrong.
I also want to mention and talk about the strange saga of Chris McAlister. If you watched the Ravens game on Sunday you no doubt noticed that McAlister didn’t factor. Instead, Frank Walker got most of the snaps. There’s some more info over at MASN if you need to catch up, but the gist of it is this: something very strange is going on.
Coach Harbaugh claims that he was simply putting his “best 11″ on the field, but that’s ridiculous. Everybody seems to think this is a disciplinary issue, but nobody (including McAlister) will come out and say it.
So what we’re left with is something that strikes me as dangerous. Harbaugh seems to be taking a page from the Belichick playbook here, playing coy with the press and hoping he can keep his issues “in house.” Except that we all know he can’t keep it there. It’s going to come out one way or the other, and when it does the lies and obfuscations will make him like an asshole (sorry, Coach, but it’s true).
Whatever the reason for benching McAlister, Harbaugh had better put this story to rest as soon as possible. If he doesn’t, the damage he’ll have done to his relationships with his team and with the fans might linger for longer than anyone would like.
I, too, love the Rays in this series, but I have a nagging feeling the Phillies can make an actual series out of this for the first time in a long time. Which is great, I’ll be watching most of every minute of it (I’ll miss Saturday’s game, as I’ll be on a bus trip back to Rochester from New York during the game). But yes, I’ll say Rays in 7.
The Phillies should put Baltimore on their road jerseys. That they have “Phillies” on there is why their attendance sucks.
When Matusz was drafted I heard him in an interview use Cole Hamels as a comparison when asked what pitcher he is most similar to. (crossing fingers now)
lol @ AiR.
Rays, baby. Ryan Howard is a chump who hits the ball a long way. They absolutely toyed with him.
Game 3 goes to Garza.
Quiet around here recently.
I agree Harbaugh needs to sort this shit out because the media is only going to pester him about it more. Still, who cares about McAlister – he gave up on a half dozen plays in Indianapolis and I like that Harbaugh isn’t about to play guys just because they’re paid a lot of money. If you dogging it, you can go to the dog house, but let’s just be a little more DT about it and come out and say it.