remember me?  =)

we are about a third of the way through this 2009 baseball season.

i remember comin to this site during the series and (inevitably) got into some heated debates with some of you guys.  first, i can tell already that tampa is becoming one of the better baseball towns in all of the MLB.  you guys are committed with passion, but more importantly, knowledge.  it seems as though u guys educated yourselves quickly, or simply flew under the radar as a fanbase.  either way, kudos to all of you for changing the landscape of baseball fans across the country. 

now to the brass tacks...

i remember (but am unable to find the exact article(s)) that most of our 'debates' revolved around two players.  

raul ibanez & pat burrell...

uhh, i told u so?  jk!!!  (i actually agreed w/all of u and was incredibly skeptical of ibanez heading into this season, lets just say i'm very pleasantly surprised...)

in this early season i think it's safe to say that ibanez was the better offseason pickup...  he leads the NL in homers w/15... and also RBI's with 40...

burrell is currently on the DL, and is performing w/a .250 average, 1 hr and 17 ribbies...

we all know that you guys will turn your record around and contend for the playoffs... although the phils are currently above .500, 7 of those wins are against the lowly nationals, so i think they are really playing like a .500 team.  we'll see how they fare against the yanks tonight...

great series folks... great series

you guys had an awesome year, and likely many more to come...

i chalk this win up to one thing: experience... all of your studs are still ascending to their primes... all of ours are in their prime...

i was at game 5 last night and it was the most electric atmosphere i've ever been apart of.  i would love for us to win every year but my logic has just kicked in and tells me it isn't possible.  i could only imagine how loud you guys would be in that dome of yours and now with a solid foundation of a team to actually cheer for. 

side note - celebrating last night was awesome, tomorrows PARADE will be even better!  but some of our phans are complete douchebags and for them, i apologize... i was NOT one of the 44+ thousand booing selig (even tho i'm not a fan of him)... why?  out of respect.  i expect similar reactions in any major metro area after the local team becomes a world champ... take it easy on us phans and i promise the majority of us will treat you with equal respect.  thanks! 

WHOOOO!!!

Home plate umpire Kerwin Delaney (Danley?) is about as a good of ump as Tim Donaghy was an NBA ref. 

I can 100% understand Ray's fans getting upset over the so called balk that was missed in game 1.  That being said, what was the deal with Rocco Baldelli's check swing strikeout - err, i mean- walk?  Delaney CLEARLY called it strike three then proceeded to award him 1st base!  BUSH LEAGUE...

While I'm on the subject...  Jimmy Rollins was CLEARLY hit by that pitch (even the Rays loving Buck and McCarver agreed).  That considerably changes the face of the game, right?  2 on no out as opposed to 1 on 1 out... 

To re-iterate the headline... I now hope you guys are way past the blown 'balk' call.