Who Wins the Battle of the Fans, Red Sox or Rays?

Anyone who has watched (or attended) Red Sox games hosted in Tampa Bay has been shocked, awed, and even overwhelmed by the huge amount of Red Sox support in "enemy territory". It is a similar situation in Baltimore, but not to the level that it is in Tampa.

You've all read various articles about the lack of enthusiasm of the Rays fan base, and their late arrival to the show. According to Ballparks of Baseball, Tropicana Field has a seating capacity of 43,772. If that is true, get this. The publicized attendance for the first two ALDS playoff games in Tropicana Field were 35,041 and 35,257. More people attended a mid-September game against the Red Sox (September 17 - attended by 36,048). That means the first two playoff games ever for the Rays had approximately 8,000 empty seats!!!

2008 is the very first season that the Rays have made the playoffs, and did it as AL East Champions. I for one, and very impressed, and if I were in Florida, I'd be incredibly excited about playoff baseball meaning something in my own home town. Where are all the Rays fans? Perhaps there are only 35,000 fans in total, who knows?

Anyway, what I am curious to see tonight, is whether or not the influx of Red Sox fans to the game fills the park, and what the ratio of Red Sox to Rays fans is. Don't you think it would be incredibly embarrassing to get overwhelming cheering and support for the Red Sox that drowns out the local support for the Rays in their own park?

To be honest, I wish that would not happen. It's just not right. The Rays have done something incredible this year, and deserve strong home crowd support. They should not have to suffer through an enormous cheer going up when a Sox player (JD Drew tonight?) hits a home run, or when a Rays player strikes out to end an inning. Not on their own field. Until the Rays fans can muster enough support to sell out a home playoff game, they do not deserve the title.

I know there are good Rays fans out there (at least 30,000 or so). Get out there and support your team!

That all said, a brief moment of business. I'm looking forward to these first two games. Dice-K is strong, healthy and rested. No excuses. He needs to pitch well, keep them in the game, and hopefully get through at least 6 innings, if not 7. Then, the big question will be how Josh Beckett looks in game 2. If we see the Beckett of last year's playoffs, we'll be in good shape. If he pitches like he did in the ALDS, I'm worried. We need to win at least one of those two games, and then return to Boston for 3 straight. We've played the Rays well in Boston, and we would have a chance to turn up the pressure. Losing both in Florida would not be fatal, but would turn this into a slow tug of war as they even it up back at home.

Let's get it on!

Red Sox Went to Fight, But the Rays Never Showed Up

Someone needs to call down to Tampa Bay and send the message. This is the height of the playoff race. Now is the time to get down to business. The Rays have impressed everyone all season, never more so than taking two out of three games from the Red Sox last week in Boston. Now is the time for them to drive the nail home and take what they have fought for all season long. I was looking forward to a real battle between these two teams yesterday. Scott Kazmir against Daisuke Matsuzaka, both teams vying for possession of first place, late September drama.

What did we get? We got a spring training game. Kazmir opened the game walking the first two batters on 8 straight pitches, then surrendered a 3 run home run to David Ortiz. That was just the beginning. Mike Lowell hit a solo home run to put the Sox on top 4-0 after one inning. Home runs were the theme, with the Red Sox hitting a season high 6 home runs last night to score 13 runs. By the 5th inning, with the Sox leading 11-1, the game was over. In the 6th inning, Terry Francona started getting all his backup in the game for extra work and gave his starters some rest. The Rays sent Mitch Talbot out to replace Kazmir in the 4th inning. This was Talbot's major league debut - being sent out to take one for the team! Mitch pitched 3 innings, and allowed 4 more runs to score. He save the bullpen some wear and tear, but did not have a distinguished start to his career.

I guess Terry Francona felt a little sorry for the Rays, and rather than have the gave get too out of hand, he send in a Chris Smith present for them (pronounced Christmas). Chris Smith brought gifts of two run home runs, surrendering one in each of the two innings he pitched. But, driving up the score from 13-1 to 13-5 will not show up on Red Sox radar, so no worries there.

The only real Red Sox concern was Daisuke Matsuzaka, who remains a bit of a mystery. He get the win, setting the single season record for Japanese born pitchers at number 17. He also only allowed 1 run on 3 hits and two walks, and struck out 7 batters in 5 innings. Pretty good, right? Absolutely. But, did you know he needed 101 pitches to do it? 101 pitches to get through 5 innings, but only allowed 1 run? That worked last night, but in the playoffs, I'd sure love to see him get deeper into the game than that!

Maybe the problem for the Rays is a lack of fan support. I am excited at the emerging talent on the Rays, and I would vote wholeheartedly to get them moved to someplace that cares. Maybe the Rays took two out of 3 in Boston last week because they could feel the playoff intensity in the air. Last night, possibly the biggest baseball game played to date in Tropicana Field, only 29,722 fans bothered to show up. The seating capacity at the Trop is 43,772. That means the dome was only 68% full! Of those 29,722 fans, at least 10,000 were Red Sox fans. How can a team truly get into playoff mode in that atmosphere? Just sickens me.

(Photos Courtesy of ESPN)