The Back Alley Archives

I told you the Rays are going to make the playoffs. Although, with Percival going down, that might hurt. That running shit is for the birds.

Percy's injury sucks. We already had to put him on the 15 day DL with that hamstring injury once, then it started bothering him again against the Marlins. Hopefully, we can make it through to the All-Star break without him and let him rest up.

Going into the Bottom of the 8th...Rays lead 2-1...BoSox just left 'em loaded in the top of the 8th.

Rays won it, 3-1. Outstanding game. They're now 2.5 up on Bahstahn.

Hater alluded to this earlier, but they were talking on the local sports talk radio today about the fact that Boston and New York have to face each other next, while we go into a much softer portion of our schedule, starting with Kansas City. He made the point that there is the potential for Tampa Bay to have a double digit lead in games ahead of the Yankees by next week. Just throwing that out there.

Get em Rays!

chickens all hatched?

just sayin'

Get em Rays!

werd.

I've always wished well on the Rays (being in the state of Florida and not having any impact really on the Braves) and I would consider my "favorite" AL team.

Though I am, and will always be, a Braves fan, I have and will support the Rays this year. They're really fun to watch. Whereas the Braves are downright aggravating.

Good thing we got our tickets to tonight's game early, because that thing is officially SOLD OUT! The Trop is gonna be rocking tonight!

a1, how was the game?

Must've been an awesome crowd to watch the sweep

Katie and I watched it on Espn and that place was going ape shit. Great to see the crowd get into it and not have the usual pro-Boston thing going on in St.Pete. Go Rays

Holy cow, you wouldn't believe how awesome it was last night! The place was packed. We were sitting with in an area with a lot of Sawks fans and every time they would try to start up with chants, the whole stadium would rev up and shout them down. It was freaking crazy! All of us were totally hoarse leaving out of there last night.

Down 4-1 going into the 7th, when the Rays started up the rally that whole place went totally insane. It was one of the greatest things I've ever seen. Especially when the Boston fans started packing it in and leaving. I'm so glad we got those tickets--that game is something I'm going to be telling my kids about. It was absolutely freaking amazing! The whole night was electric.

P.S. Evan Longoria--Rookie of the Year, Bitches!

And let me just add the fact that Red Sox Nation is the dumbest group of people you will ever encounter, this side of Georgia fans. Taunting them is incredibly satisfying. Sending them home, even more so. Suck it, Manny Ramirez!

Sounds like a great freaking time Josh.

Toddy, I wish you all could've been there with me. It was like a college football game. That's just how crazy it was. I've sat through two seasons of the Rays sucking, so it's that much more sweet seeing the Tampa Bay area get on the bandwagon. And that's become a big theme in the area with some of these fans of other teams--you live here now! Support your town's team! One of my friends I was with last night, in fact, moved here from New York and is a life-long Yankees fan. Last night, she was out in full Rays gear and I think that game might have flipped her for good. We were all screaming for them last night. Doesn't hurt that she already hates Boston with a passion.

I wonder if it will be the same when they have a losing streak and lose 8 out of 10 or something. It happens to all teams, will they still pack it in and show the love?

Well, I'll still be out there. I sat through last season. I watched them tear through the toughest schedule in the major leagues and come out with the best record. Now I'll be watching them go through the weak part of their schedule. Plus I get to watch the Sox and Yankees go at each other this weekend. Win-win, baby!

I wonder if it will be the same when they have a losing streak and lose 8 out of 10 or something. It happens to all teams, will they still pack it in and show the love?

still not really fair to compare them to the Yanks/Sox/Cubs yet...they've only been around for 10 years and this is the first time they've had reason to be excited. If they can keep this up for more than a season they will build a respectable fan base that will still show up for slumps.

I wonder if it will be the same when they have a losing streak and lose 8 out of 10 or something. It happens to all teams, will they still pack it in and show the love?

still not really fair to compare them to the Yanks/Sox/Cubs yet...they've only been around for 10 years and this is the first time they've had reason to be excited. If they can keep this up for more than a season they will build a respectable fan base that will still show up for slumps.

Don't throw the sox in with the Yankees and Cubs. Pre 2004, there were about 17 rs fans. Since then, they are everywhere. rs nation is a joke. Let them go back to losing and see how many of them you find.

I'm kinda liking that the conversation about the Rays has gone from "When will their fans start showing up at the games?" to "When will their fans STOP showing up at the games?" That's a nice change.

Valid question none the less, J.

If the Rays were in a different division than the Yankees, I would route for them.

What were you playing on routing?

Alls I know is that I've been in the park when there've been 12,000 people there and I've been in the park when it's sold out. Any question that starts with "What if they start to lose?" is a nice one to be dealing with.

For now, though, first place!

cheep cheep cheep

you can count those chicks now.

I wonder if it will be the same when they have a losing streak and lose 8 out of 10 or something. It happens to all teams, will they still pack it in and show the love?

still not really fair to compare them to the Yanks/Sox/Cubs yet...they've only been around for 10 years and this is the first time they've had reason to be excited. If they can keep this up for more than a season they will build a respectable fan base that will still show up for slumps.

Don't throw the sox in with the Yankees and Cubs. Pre 2004, there were about 17 rs fans. Since then, they are everywhere. rs nation is a joke. Let them go back to losing and see how many of them you find.

You've probably got more knowledge about the subject (Red Sox) than I do, but I always seem to remember Boston always being talked about as having a large (albeit depressed) fan base.

I know the Cubbies had a large following, I've been to Wrigley when the Cubs sucked and they still had 75%-80% attendance.

Inside Boston, Jimmy. They always have had good attendance numbers at Fenway. I am talking about the millions of fans outside of Boston that suddenly appeared.

Cubs fans are different. They have been around forever and you can find them all over.