September 23, 2011

WC Watch: Rays, Angels Lose

Friday's scores:
Blue Jays 5, Rays 1
Athletics 3, Angels 1
AL Wild Card
Red Sox  88  68  ---  Magic#
Rays     86  71  2.5     4
Angels   85  72  3.5     3
Remaining Games
Red Sox  - 3 at MFY, 3 at BAL
Rays     - 2 vs TOR, 3 vs MFY
Angels   - 2 vs OAK, 3 vs TEX
Cool Standings has the up-to-date wild card chances: Red Sox (95.2%), Rays (3.7%), Angels (1.1%).

13 comments:

Amy said...

Thanks for giving the magic number. I was trying to figure it out myself til my brain almost exploded.

FOUR. Let's make it TWO today and clinch tomorrow!

matthew said...

Love those updated probabilities. Jays are definitely my 2nd favorite team (right now).

laura k said...

Amy, good to see you're down with the magic number! It's going to happen!

laura k said...

I remember Michael Kay's scathing contempt for the Red Sox's on-field celebration when they won the Wild Card, I'm guessing it was 2003.

He kept repeating it - for the Wiiild Card - as if it were so distasteful, he was simply incredulous that such a thing could happen. How dare this team be happy to make the playoffs! How dare they celebrate more than I think is adequate!

Something tells me after 2004 he may have changed his tune.

Amy said...

Yes, four sounds doable. Certainly the Yankees will win at least one of the games against the Rays, probably two. Certainly we will win at least one game against Baltimore, probably at least two. So it may take til the last game, but I can see that light at the end of this tunnel called September.

Obviously I would prefer to sweep the Yankees this weekend and have the Sox and Angels lose at least ONE of their games so that we can all just breathe our way through the last three games, but I am not counting on that.

Now we simply have to hope that when the calendar page turns to October, the pitching improves!

9casey said...

Michael Kay hates everything including small children and ketchup.... He cant like the wild card it would go against everything he believes in...

laura k said...

Michael Kay hates everything including small children and ketchup

And don't forget sushi. (Not that he's ever tried it.)

I remember a similar hideous disdain when NYY happened to be playing in Toronto the day the Blue Jays unveiled a new logo. How dare they!

Michael Holloway said...

Angels (1.1%)

That feels right. Just the Rays left with a fleeting chance. Jays' Ace Romero going tonight; good chance for a Rays loss - Romero's been outstanding of late.

Romero's last 3 starts (2 against BOS, 1 vs LAA):
3W, 23IP, 17H, 8ER, 4BB, 17K, ERA 2.66

allan said...

Kay: You like the wild card?!!? So you also like shoving Jews into ovens?

Michael Holloway said...

"That's not being a professional broadcaster..."

So a broadcaster can't have a spiritual side?

You don't mention the situation because it's fun, it adds to the tension. And there are baseball gods because you can't explain everything that happens in the game - even with all the stats, and replays and 175 years of cultural inheritance.

He's right, the moron on the telephone receives his wisdom - he's never thought critically about anything - apparently - when asked to do so about a subject he loves he dies --- but then I would probably choke too if I had that freak yelling at me...

I don't know why I had to respond to this. :) baseball gods made me do it.

laura k said...

And I can't believe I responded to YOU!

I thought better of it. :)

allan said...

What in the world is "spiritual" about that Kay clip?

Michael Holloway said...

What in the world is "spiritual" about that Kay clip?

I guess I wasn't clear. There is nothing spritual in the Kay clip.

Kay posits the broadcaster should be machine, teletype - just reporting the game. I say broadcasting is theatre - you don't mention the no-hitter because it makes for a better play.

Not being able to break down your argument - it can be argued - can lead to fascist ascendancy. As an allusion in a discussion about the art of broadcasting, it is extreme hyperbole - which is boring.

So yes, there is nothing spiritual in the clip - except perhaps here at the very tip of the 'long-tail' of it.

:)

Good luck today.