Tampa Bay Rays fans and DISH TV users-read this!
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If you are like me, A Florida resident, A Tampa Bay Rays fan and a DISH TV subscriber, you need to read this link. Dish Network in 35 hours is going to discontinue the Fox Sports channels along with the FX network on your television. Meh, no big deal this season because the Rays playoff season starts, but you will not get any Rays baseball games next season on DISH Network under this current agreement. You can read all the details of what is happening right here.
If you follow the link and read exactly what is happening, you will find a phone number (1-877-99IPAID) to call and voice your complaints. I really am sick of just how the mass communication companies use and abuse their customers. Enough of this shit already.
I firmly believe that television with it be cable or satellite television, consumers should be able to purchase what channels they want to pay for and watch. I have over 200 channels on my DISH Network service, my family watches maybe 20. I went with DISH because Direct TV doesn’t have the NFL network. This is the wicked game that these companies play on consumers.
I’m a free market kind of guy. Why not have access to all channels, premium or not to all services and allow customers to decide which company they wish to go forward with? This would allow for competition, which is ultimately good for the consumer. All one has to do is to look at Blockbuster Video who ran all the mom and pop video rental stores out of business and they were forced into bankruptcy by the creation of Netflix and other services. Blockbuster and their board believed that they were going to be the premiere brand that consumers would rent movies from and failed to adapt. Failure to adapt to the marketplace results in ultimate business failure, hence Chapter 11 for Blockbuster.
If you are a Tampa Bay Rays fan and a DISH TV subscriber, please pick up the phone, invest 2 minutes of your time and voice your displeasure.
Rays lock up playoff berth, still work to be done
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The Tampa Bay Rays locked up their second trip to the playoffs with a 5-0 win over the Baltimore Orioles last night but there is still work to be done for the Rays. Their magic number is now 5 in order to capture the division title, so any combination of Rays wins and New York Yankees losses which add up to 5 gives the Rays the AL East.
David Price was brilliant last night, pitching 8 very strong innings without allowing an earned run and striking out 8. Price recorded his 19th win of the season and strengthened his bid to become the AL Cy Young award winner after the season.
Tampa got solo home runs from Carlos Pena (28) and Carl Crawford (17) and improved their record at home. When the season started, the Tampa Bay Rays were red hot on the road, but their home record hovered around .500, that changed in the second half of the season. While their road record continues to be the best in baseball, the Rays play at home improved significantly. Since July 1st, the Rays are 29-12 at home, second best in the majors.
Wednesday’s game will be the final regular season game played at the Trop this season. The Rays will finish the season playing four games against the Kansas City Royals. Today’s game features Jeff Niemann (11-7 4.49) going up against Kevin Millwood (3-16 5.29) for the Orioles. Millwood has only 1 win in his last 14 starts.
Tampa Bay’s front office decided in the regular season finale, that they would give away 20,000 free tickets for tonight’s game, so if you are in the Bay area, come over to the Trop tonight and cheer for your hometown Rays!
AL teams not looking sharp heading towards playoffs
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The start of the playoffs are a wwk away and the teams in the American League don’t appear to be playing very good baseball right now. The Tampa Bay Rays and the Texans Rangers are the only two AL teams which have played .500 ball in their last 10 games. The Minnesota Twins are in the midst of a 4 game slide and the New York Yankees are winners of only 4 of their last 10 games.
Last week, it appeared that the Minnesota Twins might wind up with home field advantage in the playoffs, but they ended up getting swept by the Detroit Tigers, and lost a 10-8 slugfest to the lowly Kansas City Royals last night.
Tampa Bays magic number to clinch a playoff berth remains at just 1 game after being shut out last night by the Baltimore Orioles of all teams. Heading into Sunday’s game against the Seattle mariners, Tampa held a 1 1/2 game lead over the Yankees but let another game slip away, losing 6-2 to the Seattle Mariners.
The New York Yankees aren’t playing any better either. New York defeated the Boston Red Sox on Sunday 4-3 to snap a four game losing streak. The Yankees have not had a very good month, and will end September with a losing record. Currently, the Yankees have 11 wins and 14 losses for the month of September.
You would hope that your team would be playing a bit more inspired baseball at this time of the season and not struggling to finish the month at .500. Tampa is 12-12 for the month so far with two games to go.
I realize once the playoffs start, the intensity level is ratcheted up to the next level, but you also are disappointed to see your team playing so poorly against teams they should easily beat.
Rays lose to Mariners, lose a game in standings
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The Tampa Bay Rays dropped a game yesterday to the Seattle Mariners 6-2. It was a very costly loss as the New York Yankees defeated the Boston Red Sox and picked up a game in the race to the AL East division title.
James Shields continued his up and down season, on a down note, giving up five earned runs and 8 hits in 6 innings. I certainly hope if Shields is in the playoff pitching rotation, he is the number three pitcher if the Rays go with a three man rotation.
As Joe Maddon shuffled the lineup prior to the start of the game, Tampa did manage to collect 9 hits, but were only 2-7 with runners in scoring position.
This evening the Rays will be taking on the Baltimore Orioles. Baltimore is on a 4 game losing streak and comes in with a 61-94 record. The Orioles will be sending Brian Matusz (8-12 4.59) to the hill against Wade Davis (12-9 4.13) for the Rays. Matusz comes in to the Trop on the back of a 4-0 1.91 ERA in his last 6 starts, but the Tampa Bay Rays have enjoyed hitting his pitching as he owns a 6.23 ERA against the Rays for his career.
Tampa Bay is 10-5 for the season against the Baltimore Orioles this season. A sweep of Baltimore would be nice as the New York Yankees will be taking on the Toronto Blue Jays and their high powered offense for the next three games.
Tampa Bay Rays sit Carl Crawford on Sunday
The Tampa Bay Rays magic number is 2, and there is a chance that the Rays could secure a playoff berth today but they are going to have to achieve that feat with one of their best players. LF Carl Crawford is getting the day off as is Ben Zobrist. Desmond Jennings will be starting in left for Crawford.
Today’s lineup-
Upton cf
Bartlett ss
Aybar 3b
Baldelli rf
Pena 1b
Shoppach dh
Rodriguez 2b
Navarro c
Jennings lf
Shields, rhp
