Rivalry Redirect

From our inception as Boston Red Sox fans, we have been taught to despise the New York Yankees, to hate anything and anyone associated with them, to worship arguably the greatest rivalry in sports. After so much anguish at their hands – 1978, the 1999 ALCS, the...

The Buchh Stops Here

The Red Sox are up two games to none on the Tampa Bay Rays in the ALDS, and they have yet to use their best starting pitcher. This is something you already know, of course, but it’s incredible enough that it bears repeating. What’s perhaps more notable is that this...

The Advanced Scout: ALDS – Tampa Bay Rays

It’s the American League Division Series! And just look who the Red Sox have to play again! Meanwhile, listen to this badly overplayed Fall Out Boy song while you contemplate the first game today. TAMPA BAY RAYS – 92-71, finished in 2nd place in the AL...

Three Rays I Fear and Three I Don’t

The long wait is nearly over. After clinching the American League East on September 20, and the American League’s best record on September 28, it took until October 2 to finally learn the Red Sox Divisional Round opponent for the 2013 playoffs.  Once again, a familiar...

The Advanced Scout – Tampa Bay Rays

It’s pretty much come down to this, folks. The Rays are falling way behind in the pennant race, and the Red Sox have gladly widened the gap. Their only chance to get back in the race? A tussle with the team at the top of the division. The Red Sox will gladly...

The Advanced Scout – Tampa Bay Rays

Sort of an “out of the frying pan, into the fire” situation for the Red Sox here, huh? They just finish with a hard-fought series victory over the New York Yankees only to run into the magma-hot Rays from St. Pete. We always want more baseball, and this...

The Advanced Scout – Tampa Bay Rays

After losing two of three to Toronto, the Boston Red Sox (22-16, third place in the AL East, 2 games back) travel to St. Petersburg, Florida to face the Tampa Bay Rays (19-18, 4th place in the AL East, 4.5 games back) in a three-game series. The Red Sox are a woeful...

The Advanced Scout – Tampa Bay Rays

After losing two of three against the Orioles, the Boston Red Sox (5-4, tied for first in the AL East) finish their homestand with a four- three-game series against the Tampa Bay Rays (4-5, one game back in the AL East). The Rays usually get by with pitching and...

Know Thy Enemy 2013: Tampa Bay Rays

Tampa Bay Rays 2013 Season Preview As you may recall, it began on June 5, 2008. The night prior, Coco Crisp had slid questionably hard into the knees of Rays’ second baseman Akinori Iwamura. Words were exchanged, but the teams shortly thereafter went about their...

Dreaming Big II

The Red Sox are going to need the ball to bounce the right way – a lot – if they want to win the American League East in 2013. Last week, we highlighted three things the Sox will have to do well if they want to take the division. The list included bounce-back...