How To Win In Baseball With A Small Payroll And A Big Heart

The Official Site of The Tampa Bay Rays | raysbaseball.com: Homepage. By now, you are aware of the Rays incredible comeback to win a spot in the playoffs. If you are a baseball fan, you already know this. If you are not, you should be after last night. In a week when Moneyball is a hit movie, Joe Maddon and his reliance on computer generated picks and tendencies decided to hit Dan Johnson, the most improbable of heroes, on a hunch. Then, Evan Longoria, who is supposed to win games, hits the winning home run, over a five foot wall in left field (a wall, by the way, that used to be eight feet tall, until Carl Crawford came to town, and it was lowered so he could catch balls that were hit there), which winning home run clears the wall at six feet high, and minutes after Carl Crawford failed to catch a line drive for the Red Sox, creating the winning run for the Orioles. I mean, give me a break, Hollywood wouldn't write that script. All of this has been done by a team with a payroll several hundred million dollars less that the Yankees and the Red Sox. The Rays don't play Moneyball. They play Heartball.

Comments

[Tom Brey]

I think September 28th 2011 as a day in Rays history exceeds the day in 2008 when Aki stepped on 2nd base with the last out against Boston. It's close, but I think it beats it.

Go Rays! I'll be there on Monday.

[Richard M. Georges]

Sorry, Tom, but Aki's putout doesn't even come close. Wednesday night's fireworks will go down in history as the most exciting 30 minutes in sports history; and the most miraculous. Several days later, and I am still marveling at what I saw.