Baseball In The Daytime: 9-23-08

This regular season really just refuses to die. I love baseball with all of my soul, but Jesus this is unbearable. No one cares. No one.

We have a marginal day game today, a game that has a potential for postseason implications. The Bay-Rays of Tampa have a magic number of five for clinching the Al East. Try and wrap your brain around that one, smart guy. Barring a Mets-like collapse, the FUCKING DEVIL RAYS are going to WIN THE AL EAST.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that Joe Maddon should win Manager of the Year. Baseball should then take that award and throw it in the God damned garbage for about a century or so. Retire that shit. It is impossible to imagine any manager for the rest of my life coming remotely close to the job Joe Maddon has done this year. Sure, they've got some great young players--Andrew Friedman has cashed in on his draft picks and built a hell of a roster. And they've been lucky with injuries and the bullpen has coalesced and blah, blah, blah. Joe Maddon is either a god or a demon, but he has otherworldly powers. That much is certain.

Tampa @ Baltimore, 3:05 Mountain Maddon has selected James Shields to start this game. He may have done so via mental telepathy, or he may have used a pen and a lineup card. Shields will face Garrett Olson at Camden Yards, and he'll try to drive one more spike into the chances Boston wins this division. Have a crab cake and Play Ball!