Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

I'm much calmer about this than I'd expect. I guess that it's because, in spite of this being an amazing season that wasn't really expected at the beginning, I'm so used to everything they've done over the whole year that now they're simply doing what I would expect them to do.

Congrats Rays and fans.

Shout-outs to Upton and Baldelli.

Congrats Jim, Brickhaus and any other BTF Rays fans. Hopefully, from my POV, we'll see an all-AL East ALCS.

Congrats Jim (and any other Rays fans here) and nice job, Tampa. I (most certainly) don't need to say this, but that's a real fun (and real good) club.

I'm not too frustrated with the Sox loss. Overall it's been a very enjoyable season. We got to see a close-to-MVP type season out of Quentin, a great year (and some spectacular individual performances like the one-game playoff against Minnesota) from Danks as well as the emergence of quality young pieces like Ramirez and Floyd. That's a solid base of young talent. I also think Swisher will be much more like the Swisher of Oakland rather than what we saw this season. Furthermore, the farm system has also improved by getting a couple of first-round talents in Jordan Danks and Gordon Beckham in the draft, but also from the emergence of (mainly) Aaron Poreda and Brandon Allen. There's also the two picks the Sox will get from Cabrera's departure. Kenny did a helluva job this past winter and the transition from the 2005 team to the next set of contending teams now looks a whole lot clearer.

The Sox played Tampa (relatively) close all four games and managed to not get swept. Considering they were without Quentin and a nice complementary piece in Crede, I don't think much more could've been expected.

Now, onto hockey. Let's go Hawks!

Congrats to the Rays, and also to the White Sox, who had a much better season than I (and I think a lot of others) expected. A Rays vs. BoSox/Angels LCS should be a good one.

Outstanding. Just a pleasure to watch.....

Even as a Red Sox fan, I like watching the Rays. I can't help myself.

9=2

Hey CWS, how good is Danks really? I saw a lot of him this month, and he looked huge. So how's that mesh with the rest of his year, and what's that lead you to expect next year?

How can you not love a bunch of kids who flash the leather like that?

Go Rays!

So how's that mesh with the rest of his year, and what's that lead you to expect next year?

The Danks of September was (more or less) the Danks we saw the whole season. He pumps that fastball anywhere from 91-94, has developed a really good cutter and also has a nice change-up (that he didn't seem to use a whole lot down the stretch, mainly because (I think) he was starting to leave it up in the zone more and more). The biggest change from this year to last season was the addition of the cutter -- it helped raise his GB% from ~35% last season to 43% this season, and also improved his k-rate. Guys just weren't squaring Danks up a whole lot this year, as evidenced by opponents slugging just .371 against him.

As far as what this means for next year and beyond, I don't see why he won't remain solidly above average, provided he stays healthy. Of course, that "health" thing might turn out to be an issue. Ozzie did his best to limit Danks' innings towards the end of the year, but he still ended up pitching over 200 innings, almost 50 higher than his previous total.

Many reasons it's great to keep the Angels out of the LCS, and for us long suffering East Coast fans, the best thing is that the games in LA will start at 5:00 local time. Make those f*ck*ing Dodgers fans listen to the game on the radio while driving home from work. Of course if they work like they watch games, they probably all get off work at 2:30 anyway, and they won't miss a pitch.

Well said Keith. My feelings exactly (except for the hockey line). I couldn't be happier with the development of Danks and Floyd and the revelations of Quentin and Ramirez. At the beginning of the season, it looked like we were in line for a half-decade of futility. Now we have pieces to base a contending team upon. There's still a lot of work to do, but we are in much, much better shape.

Congrats to the Rays, even though they spoiled the many early wake-ups I endured this past week+ (beginning with the Sox - Tigers game... woke up at 3:00 AM to listen to that one).

They deserved to win it over the Sox. Again, congratulations.

I'm much calmer about this than I'd expect.

It hasn't hit you yet. I was quite calm after Maggs hit the game-winner against Oakland in '06; it wasn't until the next morning I realized: Damn, my team is in the FREAKIN' WORLD SERIES!! Then in the Series itself, of course, the Tigers' pitchers started airmailing the ball 20 feet over the first baseman's head, and...

The Danks of September

...is a helluva good band name.