SportsDystopia

The World Series begins Wednesday night in Tampa Bay at Tropicana Field.  The 10-year old Rays have quickly risen to the status of heavy favorites over the Philadelphia Phillies, a team with history as heavy as any in the league.  Philadelphia’s game 1 starter, Cole Hamels, has been as sharp as anyone in these playoffs.  His opponent, Scott Kazmir, turned in a sharp outing his last time out, but has experienced control problems at times this postseason.

I’m picking against the odds when I say I believe the Philies will win this series.  They played very clean, timely baseball against both the Brewers and the Dodgers, and rust factor or not, they’re the only team not to display any glaring weaknesses thus far.  Though it was indeed impressive that the Rays refused to allow their game 5 collapse haunt them, the series showed a bullpen that wasn’t as airtight as advertised.  The offense lived large off the home run, but if Hamels comes out dealing in game 1, the Rays could have trouble getting on the board.  Joe Maddon was reluctant to play small-ball against Daisuke Matsuzaka in the ALCS opener, and it cost Tampa.

The pitching matchups have also been announced.  In game 2, Brett Myers will face Scott Shields, game 3 will feature Jamie Moyer for the Phillies (and he has looked utterly hittable in his 2 outings this postseason) against Matt Garza, the ALCS MVP.  Game 4 will see Joe Blanton face the Rays’ Andy Sonnanstine, who has looked very confident in his 2 starts, winning the clincher against the White Sox, then game 4 over the Red Sox.

The Rays clearly have the deeper rotation, but the bullpen is definitely facing questions.  If Scott Kazmir isn’t able to go deep in Wednesday’s opener, we’ll get some of those answers.

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