The Blue Workhorse

Ten years ago, there was no Tampa Bay (no longer Devil) Rays feel good story in the American League East. No, on this day 10 years ago, the Devil Rays were a mere 45 games back with a 61-91 record.

There wasn’t even a pennant race as everything had already been signed, sealed, and delivered at the top of the division. The Red Sox had a respectable record (86-66), which would be good enough for a five game deficit this season. However, in 1998? Five game deficit? Try 20!

That’s right. Boston was 20 games out of first place September 18, 1998 even with 86 wins.

How?

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As I flipped the channel to FOX at about 8:00 pm, I had no idea that tonight would be one of the most intriguing All-Star Games in recent memory.

With the great opening ceremony linking the former greats with the present stars, I had a feeling this might be a special night and a special game.

The only thing that surprised me about the opening ceremony was the Steinbrenners brought the ceremonial game balls in a brown paper bag. C’mon guys, you’re the Steinbrenners, you can do better.

Before I get to the game:

5 quick reasons I hated the All-Star Game

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Major League Baseball’s All-Star Break is great for many reasons.

Getting to see the collection of baseball legends along with the current stars on the field at Yankee stadium was a truly special moment.

In addition to the festivities, I have always enjoyed the game itself. Watching stud pitchers give maximum effort for an inning, both leagues assembling a numbers-packed studly lineup, and the overall atmosphere of the game is a great treat midway through the baseball season.

Another great reason for the game: we all get a break from fantasy baseball. A mental break is nice from the leagues we have been keeping up with since late April.

Since we have one-more day of the All-Star Break, I want to give some props to players who brought the wood, and others who fell off the baseball map:

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“I got chills,” Josh Hamilton said of hearing his name being chanted by the Yankee Stadium crowd Monday night during the Home Run Derby.

No Josh. You gave us all chills.

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Earlier today, Major League Baseball announced the rosters for the 79th All-Star Game being held at Yankee Stadium, which is only appropriate since this is the final season for the historic ballpark.

The starters were determined solely by the fan vote once again, unfortunately.

Nevertheless, we wanted to do what we hadn’t seen anywhere else and break down the selections team-by-team, so that you could easily see who was selected from your favorite team (starters are in bold):

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The date was December 21, 2007.

The Cincinnati Reds and Texas Rangers decided to make a trade. A winter trade that was not necissarly significant at the time. The experts said there would be bigger ones, and there were right. Johan Santana, Erik Bedard, and Dan Haren were just a few names to hit the market this past winter and help change the landscape of the American and National Leagues.

However, who could have predicted the outcome of that late December day?

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After Thursday night’s melee in Boston between the Boston Red Sox and the Tampa Bay (no longer Devil) Rays, Red Sox centerfielder Coco Crisp called out his Rays’ outfield counterpart in a post game interview.

The basis of Crisp’s assessment of the bench-clearing brawl was that Carl Crawford employed some less than masculine tactics when the teams went down to the ground duke it out on the pitchers mound.

The Boston/Tampa brawl can be seen here: RedLasso.

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While #2 overall fantasy player Hanley Ramirez’s statistics are impressive, no one is that surprised after he was a top 5 pick in nearly every fantasy draft, but when Nate McLouth puts up similar numbers and is ranked as the #7 fantasy player overall…eyebrows are raised.

The McLouths and Cliff Lees of baseball is exactly what this list celebrates - the players who produce tremendous statistics considering the value they cost their fantasy owners, whether that be a late round pick or a timely pick up off the waiver wire: