The other day I took my Jeep in for a routine oil change and alignment check.
While I try to be good about coming in every 3,000 miles or so I am occasionally tardy in my duties as a car owner and stretch things out to four or five thousand miles between oil changes.
This was one of those times where I was closer to the five thousand mark than three thousand but I figured the car was no worse for it.
Since the mechanic is within walking distance of my house I will often drop off the Jeep and walk home as opposed to sitting in the waiting room watching the History Channel, which always seems to be on when I am there.
A recent surprise flat tire got me thinking about some surprises I would actually like to see this year. Photo R. Anderson
The Tampa Bay Rays never seem to do things the easy way.
But, based on recent results, the hard way seems to suit them just fine.
Playing in their 39th game in the past 41 days the Tampa Bay Rays claimed the American League Wild Card title Wednesday night with a 4-0 victory over the Cleveland Indians.
The Rays have been winning away from home for over two weeks. They finally will come back to the Trop on October 7th. Photo R. Anderson
For the second time in three nights the Rays went into a hostile environment faced with a win or go home elimination game only to arise victorious and celebrate on the field while the home team’s fans looked on with sadness.
Of course the showdown in Cleveland was just one of many stops on the Rays’ late season whistle stop tour.
The Rays have been on the road since September 24th, when they opened a three-game series in New York against the Yankees.
The Rays swept the Yankees.
Then it was off to Toronto, where they lost two games to the Blue Jays before winning the regular-season finale to force a one-game tiebreaker with the Texas Rangers.
The Rays beat the Rangers with a complete game pitching effort from David Price in front of a sellout crowd at the Ballpark in Arlington.
The win in Texas earned the Rays a trip to Cleveland where they once again claimed victory and silenced a sellout crowd.
Fernando Rodney, finished off the Cleveland Indians Wednesday night. Rodney will look to shoot some more arrows starting tonight in the American League Division Series against the Boston Red Sox. Photo R. Anderson
Alex Cobb took the mound for the Rays and allowed no runs on eight hits a walk and five strikeouts to pick up the win.
Despite missing 50 games earlier in the year after getting hit with a line drive and suffering a concussion, Cobb showed no signs of buckling under the pressure created by the sellout crowd of 43,579 rally towel-waving Cleveland fans.
With the Cleveland win the Rays earned another destination and more frequent flier miles.
The Rays will start the American League Division Series against the Boston Red Sox tonight.
The Rays and Red Sox are familiar division foes who were fairly evenly matched during their regular season match ups this year.
Matt Moore takes the mound for the Rays tonight against the Boston Red Sox. Photo R. Anderson
Matt Moore will look to continue the strong pitching performances by Rays starters in game one of the best of five series tonight at Fenway Park.
The good news for the Rays is that on October 7 they finally get to return to Tropicana Field for a home game and some changes of clothes.
A home game would also occur in game four of the series if needed before a return trip to Boston in the event of a winner take all game five scenario.
The Rays will get to add 2013 Wild Card to their banner collection at Tropicana Field. Of course they are hoping for several more up to World Series Champion this year. Photo R. Anderson
Regardless of what happens in Boston the Rays will get to hoist a 2013 Wild Card Champion banner into the rafters at Tropicana Field.
Of course there is room for a few other banners as well as the team has its sights set on a return trip to the World Series.
Now if you’ll excuse me, there is some American League Division Series baseball to get ready for.
The past two times the Tampa Bay Rays went to the postseason they were knocked out by the Texas Rangers.
So on paper when the Rays and Rangers met Monday night for the tiebreaker game to earn the second Wildcard spot and a trip to the postseason it felt like deja vu all over again.
The Rays had dropped two of three games against the Toronto Blue Jays to slip from first place in the Wildcard standings to tied for the second spot with the Rangers. The Rangers on the other hand had won 10 straight games and were hosting the pivotal 163rd game of the season.
Historically Rangers Ballpark in Arlington has not been kind to the Tampa Bay Rays. Photo R. Anderson
The Rangers held a four games to three edge over the Rays during their regular season meetings leading to the Rangers having home field advantage for the regular season tiebreaker.
Momentum and home field advantage were clearly in favor of the Rangers, on paper.
On paper the pitching match up also favored the Rangers as David Price, the defending American League Cy Young Award winner, took the mound for the Rays.
Despite being the defending Cy Young Award winner Price had only defeated the Rangers once in his career and in previous meetings the Rangers and little difficulty scoring runs off of him.
Before the game there were many who looked at Price’s past performance against the Rangers and said that the Rays were foolish to put him on the mound in a win or go home type scenario with the whole season on the line.
Rays Manager Joe Maddon made several player substations that helped propel the Tampa Bay Rays into the postseason Monday night. Photo R. Anderson
But Rays Manager Joe Maddon is not one of those people who does what conventional wisdom says and he put his ace on the mound despite Price only having one victory in his career against the Rangers.
Thankfully for Rays fans though Monday night was not like the previous two meetings as the Rays defeated the Rangers in Arlington to return to the postseason for the fourth time in the last six years.
As for David Price, the guy who the Rangers had managed to dominate the past few years, he pitched a complete game and only gave up two runs.
I guess one could say he balled up that piece of paper that said he couldn’t win against the Rangers in big games.
The Rays face the Cleveland Indians tonight in a win or go home Wildcard game with the winner facing the Boston Red Sox in the American League Division Series.
Alex Cobb who finished the season with an 11-3 mark and a 2.76 ERA in 22 starts will take the mound for the Rays.
Alex Cobb will look to extend the season for the Tampa Bay Rays tonight when he pitches against the Cleveland Indians in the American League Wildcard game. Photo R. Anderson
On paper the teams are pretty evenly matched.
And once again the Rays will be living out of their suitcases as they face yet another game on the road.
Of course, the Rays seem to excel in the face of adversity and hostile crowds so I will place my money on the Rays winning the game.
While there is still a lot of October baseball to be played I would not be the least bit surprised if the Rays make it all the way to the World Series.
Don’t tell me what the odds are of that happening on paper are.
After all, the Rays have shown time and time again that just because it is the conventional wisdom, it is not the way the Rays play.
The Rays are a different team with a quirky manager that gets the most out of his players in every situation and once again they are in the playoffs.
Regardless of what happens in the game tonight the Rays will be remembered as a playoff contender once more.
For Sherlock Holmes, it was Professor James Moriarty.
For the Hatfields, it was the McCoys.
For Inigo Montoya, it was the Six-fingered Man
For Superman, it was kryptonite.
For Batman, it was the Joker
For the New York Yankees, it was and forever will be the Boston Red Sox.
History and literature are full of examples of epic rivals facing off.
Usually the best of these rivalries occur when both parties are equally matched and either one could secure victory on any given day.
Over the past four seasons the Tampa Bay Rays and the Texas Rangers have been familiar rivals in the quest for the postseason. Both teams are currently tied atop the American League Wild Card standings. Photo R. Anderson
For the past three years another rivalry has been quietly building between the Texas Rangers and the Tampa Bay Rays.
For those who question the Rangers and Rays as rivals consider this, the path to the postseason for each team for three of the past four seasons has come down to a battle between them.
In 2010 the Rays faced the Rangers in the American League Division Series and lost two games to three.
In 2011 the Rays once again found themselves facing the Rangers in the Division Series and this time only managed a single victory in the series.
Although the Rays were defeated by the Rangers in two consecutive years they can take some solace in the fact that the Rangers went onto the World Series both years. After all, somehow losing to the eventual pennant winner provides some small comfort.
Both teams were shut out of the postseason in 2012 which brings us to this season. Currently the Rays and the Rangers are battling each other for the top seed in the wildcard race.
After splitting a four game series in Tropicana Field this week the Rays and the Rangers remain tied for the top Wild Card spot.
It is highly probable that the Rays and Rangers will meet in the winner takes all Wild Card game this year marking the third time in four years that the road to the World Series runs through them.
So while the Rangers and Rays have not been rivals for as long as some of the historic rivalries in sports, it should certainly not be discounted in terms of intensity.
Tomorrow marks the 25th anniversary of the release of a movie about the ins and outs of Minor League Baseball.
The movie that is causing all of the hoopla is Bull Durham, or as I like to call it the base of the Kevin Costner baseball movie triangle that also includes Field of Dreams and For Love of the Game.
While Bull Durham enjoyed modest success during its theatrical run, it gained wider popularity in the years following to the point that celebrating the quarter century mark since it was released is kind of a big deal.
Tomorrow marks the 25th Anniversary of Bull Durham and people have been quoting lines from it ever since. Photo R. Anderson
While each of the sides of the Kevin Costner Baseball Triangle are good in their own ways, I have always identified more with the comedy infused Durham.
I still watch both Bull Durham and Field of Dreams each year at the start of the baseball season, and both still make me laugh and cry in various ways so many years later.
I suppose Bull Durham resonates with me so well because while I was never a Minor League Baseball player I was very much a Minor League Baseball fan and was attending games around the same time that the movie came out.
So, the movie showed me the parts of Minor League life that I didn’t see from my view in the stands.
The movie also provided several concepts that I use even today as part of my daily life.
The concept of creating your own rain delay when the grind gets to tough and you just need a day to catch your breath is a theme that I have embraced from the movie.
Although I have never turned on the sprinklers in the office, I have certainly found ways to give everyone a rain day here and there.
The movie also provided many timeless quotes with some of them being appropriate for repeating and some best left to the professionals.
In that respect, the current members of the Durham Bulls, the real-life team that inspired the team in the movie, made a hilarious video reenacting some of the crazier lines from the film.
What makes the video of the players recreating the lines so funny, and perhaps makes the rest of us feel a little old, is the fact that many of the players were not alive when the movie first came out.
There is something for everyone in the Kevin Costner Baseball Triangle. Photo R. Anderson
Another interesting aspect of the real life Durham Bulls is that they serve as the Triple-A affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays who were 10 years away from existing at the time of the film’s release.
As a bit of trivia the Bulls were a Single-A affiliate at the time the movie was made and were owned by one of the filmmakers.
But enough about things that weren’t around when the movie came out. It is time to focus on something highlighted in the movie that is no longer around.
In the movie and in real life, Max Patkin was the Clown Prince of Baseball. For over 50 years Patkin went to Minor League ballparks across the country and Canada performing his baseball clown act.
I was fortunate enough to see Patkin perform during an Orlando Sun Rays game at Tinker Field. Patkin’s act was shown in several scenes and Patkin himself got a dance to himself later in the movie.
While it was clear that Patkin was closer to the end of his performing career than the beginning by the time Bull Durham came out, to this day when I watch his performance scenes it is like I am right there watching him in person and trying to avoid getting sprayed by his water trick.
Although he died in 1999, Patkin will forever live on in his scenes from Bull Durham. That is both a testament to the man himself and to the filmmakers for recognizing the important role he played in conveying the essence of Minor League Baseball.
Another staple of both the movie and Minor League Baseball in general is road trips on a bus. Unlike the Major League players who travel in first class chartered planes, the Minor League players arrive by bus for all of their road trips.
Not much has changed with the Durham Bulls logo since Bull Durham came out. It is still one of the more iconic and recognized looks in the Minor Leagues. Photo R. Anderson
When Michael Jordan tried to make it as a baseball player in the late 80s, he bought a luxury bus for the Birmingham Barons to use.
Still, despite the “luxury” bus features it is hard to picture Air Jordan traveling through the cities of the Southern League in a bus.
As for the bus that was used in the movie, that was purchased by a man named Dale Earnhardt Jr. Dale Jr. is someone who knows a thing or two about motorized vehicles.
While Bull Durham has stood the test of time for 25 years, every once in a while a rumor surfaces about a potential sequel being made. Sequels can certainly be tricky business as few ever really are as good as the first or meet the lofty expectations set for them.
But, even with all of that being said, I would still watch a sequel to Bull Durham. Do I think it could ever be as good as the first movie? Probably not.
But, it does not have to be as good as the first movie. It just needs to help show where the characters ended up some 25 years after we left them on the porch and field.
I have my own ideas about what happened to the characters. So, if a sequel is never made I will still carry on my version of the story in my head. But it would be nice to see the cast get back together for one more trip around the bases.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I am off to swing for the fences and see if I can hit the bull to win a steak. And remember “This is a very simple game. You throw the ball, you catch the ball, you hit the ball. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, sometimes it rains.”
Copyright 2013 R. Anderson
Observations from the cheap seats, the beach seats and everywhere in between
