Bloggin' Through the Playoffs - Game 1 of the ALCS

Can you believe we are actually talking about Rays baseball in Tampa on October 9th? Well, believe it, because it's true.

I just stopped in Publix to pick up a few things and bought this shirt. Click on the image for a larger view.



I love shirts by these guys, http://www.smackapparel.com/

I have a little bet going with one of my co-workers. Our company is based in Boston and we agreed that for whichever team makes it further in the postseason, that team's apparel would be worn by the other fan for a day. I'm thinking the shirt above would fit nicely on my friend Dave in Boston.

It really is a neat time here in the Tampa area. It reminds of the Super Bowl run by the Bucs in 2002 and the Stanley Cup run by the Lightning in 2003-2004. The entire city is really behind one cause, and that's the Rays. It's hardly even being mentioned around that there is a huge college football game on Saturday in Gainesville between the Gators and LSU, the Lightning home opener Saturday night, the Bucs big division rivalry game Sunday against the Panthers... it's all Rays, all the time.

Doing some quick analysis of the game tonight leads me to believe that we can probably jump out quick against Dice-K as he does walk a lot of batters. With our speed, if we can get 1 or 2 on early, we can probably get ahead. I don't look for Shields to have many jitters, he seems like a big game pitcher and shouldn't have any problems with the magnitude of this game.

We are going to try to arrive as early as the gates open today and take it all in... I'll provide an update tomorrow morning on the atmosphere of the game.

Go Rays!!!
- Steve