Well, I’ve had a couple of days to think about that disheartening loss in game 7. I tried not to post immediately after the game for a couple of reasons. One, instead of typing I might have just thrown my computer across the room. And if I did manage to push any keys, the post would have come out looking something like “Fuckjldfi;LongorialkdjdswhiGarzasdfjdfsjkloffensethatcan’tdoshitjklfkl.” I figured waiting a day would be more coherent.

So now that I’ve had time to think about it a bit, I’ve concluded the following things. Most importantly, Wally’s rally cap can’t fix everything. He tried, he even loaded the bases in the 8th and brought our hottest hitter, Ms. Nancy Drew to the plate. But that only leads me to my next point, that Brian Gorman fucked us. Drew’s 2-out, 2-strike check swing was just that, a check swing. You’d think that Gorman and his 17 years of major league experience would teach him that in a game and count of that magnitude you APPEAL THE FUCKING CALL. The first and third base umpires are there for a reason, use them!

OK, now that I’ve got that off my chest, I’ve got to give the Rays credit (and finally, for the first time this season acknowledge their new Satan-less name). Every pitch they hit for an RBI was a GOOD pitch from Lester. These were no mistakes. Longoria’s RBI double in the 4th was at least 6″ off the plate. Baldelli’s RBI single was below his knees, and Aybar’s HR was also low. Lester pitched well, the Rays just hit better.

And when your offense continues to have Mark Kotsay and Jason Varitek leave the population of Rhode Island on the basepaths in this series, it means the rest of the team has to bring their A-games. Sadly the ball Papi crushed in game 5 and the single in game 6 were both aberrations. Combine that with Alex Cora in the lineup and you’re playing five against nine. It’s hard to beat any team in the ALCS, but trying to do it short-handed in near impossible. It was a valient effort, but in the end, the best team won.

So congrats to the Rays, you certainly earned it. And in case you missed it, fuck you Brian Gorman.