Tampa Bay has had series sweeps before, but today the Rays just finished their first ever home sweep of the Red Sox with a 3-0 win as James Shields went the distance on just 98 pitches.
The Rays did sweep a two-game series from the Red Sox in Fenway on June 30 and July 1, 1999, but overall Boston leads the alltime series with Tampa Bay by 111-61 margin. 1999 was the only year that Tampa Bay won the season series against Boston.
Tampa Bay also won despite striking out 15 times against Josh Beckett and Manny Delcarmen. The only other time Tampa Bay won a 9-inning game while striking out that many times was back on May 6, 2000 when Tampa Bay eked out a 1-0 win against Pedro Martinez of Boston. Yep, Steve Trachsel outpitched Pedro Martinez for one game.
The ability of Boston and NYY to get to the post-season virtually every year is based largely on their ability to gorge on the sad sacks in their division. I always new that in the back of my mind, but that cumulative record for Boston against TB (50 games over .500!) really drives it home.
So, presumably and predictably, Tampa is no longer a doormat, at the very least. That changes everything, doesn't it?
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Looks like they will be competitive a year early and they still have Price, Davis, and McGee waiting for their turn.
Mr. Longoria your future awaits you.
http://sullybaseball.blogspot.com/2008/04/exorcism-worked-devil-has-been-cast-out.html
I had previously tried to come up with 10 franchise highlights
http://sullybaseball.blogspot.com/2007/05/ten-greatest-moments-in-tampa-bay-devil.html
So, presumably and predictably, Tampa is no longer a doormat, at the very least. That changes everything, doesn't it?
Comment status: comments have been closed. Baseball Toaster is now out of business.