21 October 08
It's All In The Name
The Tampa Bay Rays are going to the World Series, having clinched the American League pennant by beating the Boston Red Sox 3-1 in the seventh game of the ALCS Sunday. This game was quite a pitching matchup, and ended in thrilling fashion when the Rays brought in a young pitcher named David Price who had only seen action in five previous major league games to get out of a bases-loaded jam in the 8th inning and get the final four outs.
Not only was this the first time Tampa Bay has made it to the World Series, it’s the first time they’ve had a winning season, the team having finished in the cellar of the AL East 9 out of the 10 years the team been in existence. (The one year they weren’t last, 2004, they finished second-to-last.) It must have been their name: in all those prior years they were the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. This season they dropped the devil from their name, and major success follows.
On the other side of the theological divide, the Angels’ name has gotten clunkier over the years. Initially they were the Los Angeles Angels, then in 1965 they changed their name to the California Angels, then became the Anaheim Angels in 1997, and most recently changed their name in 2005 to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Ka-chunk. I suppose that’s to differentiate them from their cross-town rivals the Los Angeles Angels of Fontana. :)
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“On the other side of theological divide . . .” Too funny; and you nailed the idiocy re the LAAatA mouthful. And despite the ho-hum attitude of some sportswriter toward this year’s Series, I like this one. Not a lot of superstars, just a bunch of good ballplayers. I thought the first game was a good one, nice low-scoring duel. Didn’t get to see last night’s, but having the series tied 1-1 makes for outstanding nail-biting on all sides. Me, I’m rooting for the Phils; it’s time for the National League to get a win, and besides, Pedro Feliz is now with the Phillies. No matter how much I used to cringe when he came to the plate at a Giant, I always liked him, and he’s a pretty darned good third baseman.