Lee Leads Rangers to First Series Win

Cliff Lee and the Texas Rangers win the ALDS and franchise first series win, against the Tampa Bay Rays 5-1. This was also the first season in which the road team won every game.

Coming into the game the series was tied at two games apiece and with the being the deciding game both teams had their ace on the mound; Cliff Lee for the Rangers and David Price for the Rays. Coming into the game Lee had a 3.98 ERA since joining the Rangers and Price had a 2.72 on the season.

Lee came out on top as he threw a complete game. He also struck out 11 men and only gave up six-hits and only allowed one run not allowing a walk. Lee threw 120 pitches 89 of which was strikes and he threw 73% of his first pitches as stirkes. This is his fourth post season game where he struck out at least 10 batters and he also remains undefeated in the post season. When ask his thoughts about the game Lee said:

“It was a lot of fun, I know that much,” Lee said. “We had our back against the wall today and we came out and performed.”

That is exactly what they did the Rangers struck early and off often as they scored one-run in the first, one in the fourth, one in the sixth and two in the ninth. The two runs in the ninth were score off second basemen Ian Kinsler to insure that the Rangers came out on top.

As for the Rays they only scored one run when Ben Zobrist singled into center field to allow Sean Rodriguez to go home. Pitching for the Rays was also a difficulty as they went through four different pitchers but starting pitcher Price went six innings while he struck out six batters and gave up three runs. While closer Rafael Soriano gave up three hits and two runs in the ninth inning alone but the lose goes to Price.

Most teams after winning a series especially the first one in the teams franchise want to celebrate with their teammates with champagne and beer but not the Rangers. Out of respect they wanted to celebrate this as a team with outfielder Josh Hamilton, who sit out the celebration when the team clinched the division because he is a recovering drug addict and alcoholic. So out of respect the team celebrated with ginger ale instead of alcohol. Pitcher C.J. Wilson was also able to celebrate with the team as he does not drink as well. The idea was came up with by the equipment manger.

“It was a great idea,” third basemen Micheal Young said. “Josh and C.J. are a big part of our ballclub, and we wanted them to be able to celebrate with us.”
Hamilton was excited to take part in the celebration and said;

“This stuff burns your eyes, too,” Hamilton said. “But for them to adapt the celebration to this, it really says a lot about our organization.”

The team would later celebrate in normal fashion after those two guys left but they wanted to show the respect to wait.

With the Rangers winning this game they will move on to face the New York Yankees on Friday at 8:00 PM at home in the ALCS. The starting pitchers for this game will be C.C. Sabaitha for the Yankees and Wilson will take the mound for the Rangers.

Patriots Trade Moss Back to Vikings

There has been an extreme change of events that has happened in the last 24 hours. Today I planned to prepare for the MLB playoffs but I check my phone on the way to class to see that the New England Patriots have traded future Hall of Famer Randy Moss to the Minnesota Vikings for a third-round draft pick.

The drama with Moss started after the week one game when he addressed the media for the first time to discuss wanting a new contract with New England. Which lead to a meeting to discuss his actions with head coach Bill Belicheck and Moss giving an apology interview with the Boston media. This was the beginning of the end of his time with team, which may have lead to his poor performance on the field and his extremely poor performance in the Monday night game on ESPN this could have been the last straw for the team who was willing to give him away for nothing but a draft pick which could be key as that makes the team have eight draft picks in the 2011 draft two per round in the first through fourth rounds.

This will be Moss seconded stint with the Vikings who have had a poor season at this point in the season as they are 1-2 on the season coming off of the bye-week this should be a huge Improvement for the team as it will give quarterback Brett Farve a new target in the back field which could be what the team as they have several players with injury some that keeps them off the field for the season and some that just prevents practice so this is a relief for the Vikings.

This could be an exciting but rare midseason trade in which Moss will get to meet up with his former team on Halloween night.

Madness is Here in the Bluegrass

It's that time of the year in Kentucky the leaves are changing colors and the temperature is starting to drop and what does that mean? That means it is time for basketball season to start in the bluegrass as big blue nation has set up camp at the Joe Craft center on the UK campus waiting for their shot at tickets to the biggest basketball event in Lexington to true blue fans Big Blue Madness.

Big Blue Madness is the first official practice of the season and will be part of an ESPNU event this year. It has been a record breaking event for the school in the past and they are excepting it again for the event. Tickets are available tomorrow morning at 7 am and will be gone extremely quick so it's a battle for the fan to get the ticket but it is well worth it end.

I have been lucky enough to attend the event three times in my life and it is one of the most exciting events for a fan in how it is put together. The team looks at this as a way of honoring the faithful fans giving them a good show and preparing them for a winning season and it is never disappointing the fans that show up. They do different things to wow the crowd some include bringing back a former player the fans love to take part sometimes a dunk contest they actively involve the fans and they always add something new to wow the crowd.

The team has been involving the fans all week by stopping by as signing autographs for the fans and even stopping by early in the morning to deliver them a warm breakfast from the teams official sponsor McDonalds it a special event all Kentucky fans should experience once in their life as a fan I hope to try my luck at the Holy Grail of tickets tomorrow wish me luck I'll keep you posted on how it goes.