Go Rays! (2)

Jeff at Lookout Landing has got to be the best baseball blogger in the country and maybe one of the best baseball writers, period.

His latest piece is a send-up of old school baseball guys' obsession with "experience"--specifically, playoff experience. This is parody done right. It's so good, it's almost indistinguishable from the real thing, which, I suppose, is the definition of good satire, right?

An excerpt:

Picked by many to fall short at the hands of the veteran, more experienced Boston Red Sox in the American League Championship Series, the Tampa Bay Rays have used solid pitching and timely hitting to jump out to a surprising three games to one series lead. The developments have stunned fans and media members alike, and journalists across the country have begun to search high and low for an explanation for young Tampa Bay's sudden, unexpected success against a grizzled giant of a foe.

It is a complicated question. But the answer, as it turns out, may be as simple as one hypothesis put forward by Chip Caray during the Tuesday night broadcast. The Tampa Bay Rays aren't fazed because they don't understand the magnitude of their current situation. For the Tampa Bay Rays don't even know they're in the playoffs.

Tour the Tampa Bay clubhouse and you don't get the impression that you're seeing a team one win away from its first ever World Series. In one corner, a few pitchers are playing cards in a circle. In another corner, three players are chatting over lunch. In the middle on the floor lies BJ Upton, fast asleep. The entire team is seemingly oblivious to the situation in which it finds itself.

"Playoffs?" responds long-time Ray Carl Crawford to a question from another reporter. "Shoot, what are you talking about, playoffs? It's been ten years and this team hasn't seen the playoffs. We're just trying to play our best and we'll see what happens."

Seattle Mariner fans can take heart. We may not have the best baseball team (also, not quite the worst), but we do have the best blogosphere (thank you LL & USS Mariner).

Go Rays beat the Sox.

(as with every link to LL, beware the language)


If you have tips, questions, comments or suggestions, email me at lybberty@gmail.com.