Team Continue to Add Missing Pieces

With most teams reporting date for pitchers and catchers about a month away, teams continue to sift through the free agent bargain bin, looking for players to fill out their empty roster spots.

To say the least, this has not been a banner year for free agents around the league.

The New York Mets finalized their contract offer to Tim Redding. Redding, who led his club in wins last season, was released by the Nationals after finishing 2008 with a 10-11 record and an era of 4.95. Redding, 31, threw 182 innings last season and struck out 120 batters.

Good news for Mets fans; Redding was 3-1 against the World F*cking Champions last season.

The reigning AL Champs signed free agent outfielder Gabe Kapler to a one year deal worth $1,000,018.

We're assuming that Kapler isn't a pompus ass by requesting the extra $18. We're also assuming that he's going to use that $18 (to pay for a ticket) the first time he tries to get into Tropicana field because nobody knows who the hell he is.

Rays Continue to Strengthen Roster

The 2008 defending World Champs had decided to let longtime outfielder Pat Burrell walk via free agency, and it looks like the runner ups have decided to pick him up.

The Tampa Bay Rays and Pat Burrell have agreed, in principle, on a two year contract worth $16 million.

Burrell (.250/33/86 last season) will most likely take over the DH spot in the Rays lineup.

This move comes a few days after the Rays bolstered their bullpen with the acquisition of Joe Nelson.

Managers of the Year Announced

Congratulations to Tampa Bay's Joe Madden and Chicago's Lou Pinella, both were named Managers of the Year in their respective leagues.

Joe Madden's selection was all but guaranteed after leading the 2007 last place Rays to their first ever AL East and League crowns, as well as the franchises' first ever World Series appearance. Madden received all but one of the first place votes, with Minnesota's Ron Gardenhire receiving the solo vote.

Lou Pinella beat out Phillies manager Charlie Manuel to receive his third ever Manager of the Year Award. Pinella led the Cubs to another playoff appearance, but Manuel's Phillies went on to win the World Series.

Rookie of the Year Awards Announced

Congratulations to Tampa Bay Rays third baseman Evan Longoria and Chicago Cubs catcher Geovany Soto; both won their respective League's Rookie of the Year Award today.

Soto and Longoria each helped propel their teams to playoff appearances, with Longoria's Rays advancing all the way to the World Series before they were eliminated by the Phillies.

Soto batted .285 with 23 home runs and 86 rbis while playing in 141 games for the Cubs.

Longoria batted .272 with 27 home runs and 85 rbis while playing in only 122 games for the Rays. Longoria started the season in the minors, and spent a few weeks on the DL late in the season.

World Series Game 5 Preview

Scott Kazmir, LHP (0-1, 4.50)
Rays
Cole Hamels, LHP (1-0, 2.57)
Phillies

Scouting Report:
Rays: Kazmir pitched well in Game 1 when he held the Phillies to three runs on six hits in six innings at Tropicana Field, but he took the loss. The left-hander has now pieced together two quality starts in his last two postseason outings -- including Game 5 of the American League Championship Series when he scattered two hits over six scoreless innings, though he did not get the win as the Red Sox erased a 7-0 deficit after Kazmir left the game. Kazmir has been using his slider more lately and the results have been encouraging.

Phillies: Hamels will not only attempt to pitch the Phillies to their first World Series title since 1980 Monday against the Rays, but he'll be attempting to do something no other postseason pitcher has ever done -- go 5-0. Hamels is 4-0 with one Division Series win, two NLCS wins and the Game 1 World Series win in which he held the Rays to two runs on five hits over seven innings. In Game 1, Hamels threw 102 pitches, 38 of them changeups. Since 27 of his 66 strikes came off the changeup, that clearly was his most effective pitch.

World Series Game 3 Preview

Matt Garza, RHP
Rays
Jamie Moyer, LHP
Phillies

Scouting Report:
Rays: Garza was simply dominant en route to his ALCS MVP award. The offseason acquisition from the Twins posted a 1.38 ERA in two starts. In Game 3 at Fenway Park on Oct. 13, allowed only one run over six-plus innings of the Rays' 9-1 victory. In the pennant-clinching victory Sunday night, Garza again allowed just one run and two hits over seven dazzling innings of work. The 24-year-old right-hander has a mid-90s fastball that sinks, a curve, a slider and a changeup.

Phillies: Concern followed Moyer after he endured his year's worst outing in the National League Championship Series, allowing six runs over 1 1/3 innings in Game 3. And that occurred eight days after he lasted just four innings in a Division Series loss to the Brewers. The Phillies have lost two games this postseason, and Moyer has started both of them.

World Series Game 2 Preview

Brett Myers, RHP
Phillies
James Shields, RHP
Rays

Scouting Report:
Phillies: Myers has proven to be a better pitcher at Citizens Bank Park, where he produced a 3.01 ERA in the regular season and two wins in the playoffs. On the road, by contrast, he was 3-8 with a 6.21 ERA. Yet manager Charlie Manuel chose to start Myers on the road in Game 2.

Rays: Shields was 0-2 with a 3.46 ERA in two ALCS starts. In Game 1 on Oct. 10, the right-hander allowed just two runs over 7 1/3 innings, but he was outdueled by the Red Sox's Daisuke Matsuzaka, who allowed only four hits in seven-plus scoreless innings of the Rays' 2-0 loss. In Game 6 at Tropicana Field on Saturday, Shields surrendered four runs on nine hits over 5 2/3 innings in Tampa Bay's 4-2 loss. The 26-year-old right-hander's best pitch has always been his changeup, but he also has a plus fastball and curve and he's added a cutter that has helped him throw inside to left-handers.

Rays Eliminate BoSox, Headed to World Series

Look out Fox Broadcasting Company, with the Rays eliminating the Red Sox and advancing into the World Series for the first time in franchise history, your ratings just went straight to hell.

In what may possibly be one of the most "ho-hum" World Series in the recent playoff history, the Philadelphia Phillies are anxiously awaiting the AL power house Tampa Bay Rays.

Any one West of the Mississippi River will probably tune this one out, as two East Coast teams will battle for the Commissioner's Trophy, leaving much of Baseball America searching for something else on the television.

The best match-up for Fox would have been the lovable Dodgers (or Cubs) vs the Boston Red Sox. Instead, thanks to the Baseball Gods giving us the middle finger, we'll be the recipient of countless cut away shots to Dick Vitale screaming his bald head off and the Phillie Phanatic, launching a hot dog into the seats/blowing something up/sexually violating a sting ray.

Playoff Picture Coming Into Focus

by Chris Lima
108 Red Stitches

With the Red Sox victory over the Cleveland Indians last night, the BoSox eliminated the New York Yankees from post season contention. With the win, three of the four playoff slots in the American League have been filled (LA Angels of Anaheim, Tampa Bay Rays, Boston Red Sox). The current Twins-White Sox series should determine the fate of the AL Central Race, with the White Sox leading the division by a game and a half.

The National League, as always, will most likely come down to the wire. The Cubbies are the only team to lock up a playoff spot, as the Phillies and Mets jocky for first place daily and even with a three game lead over the Diamondbacks, the Dodgers are really only safe from the Giants and Padres in the NL West.

The Yankees were unable to give their beloved Stadium a proper send off, as they failed to make the playoffs for the first time since the '94 strike shortened season.

And apparently, according to ESPN, the Rays are playing in the NLDS this post season....

Eighth Sign of the Apocalypse Draws Near

by Chris Lima
108 Red Stitches

Football season kicks off tonight with the defending Super Bowl Champion New York Giants taking on the Washington Redskins.

Many New Yorkers will turn to football as a way to drown out their lost hopes they held so dear for their New York Yankees. The last season at the Stadium, and the team can't even come close to adding one last page to its exalted history book.

While New Yorkers turn to football as a much needed distraction, they're going to miss the last and final Sign of the Apocalypse.

We here at 108 Red Stitches know a thing or two about the Apocalypse; our tag line is: One Blog in the Post Apocalyptic World of the New Home Run King. We're constantly on the lookout for signs of impending doom. And now, we're officially worried.

Whoever is in charge of the Apocalypse has skipped right over the frogs, nasty bugs, plagues, fire and brimstone, and sacrificing of firstborns. They've skipped right over to the Eighth and Final Sign: Boston Fans Routing for the Yankees.

My wonderful girlfriend pointed out to me yesterday that Mike Schweitzer, a lifelong Boston Red Sox fan, had indeed, posted on his Facebook wall this quote:

"Let's Go Yankees!"

After spitting out my cookie cake and milk, I sprayed us and the surrounding area with Holy Water and grabbed the only set of Rosary Beads I could find. This was surely the end.

I never thought I would live to see the day that a die hard Red Sox fan would be cheering for the Yankees, until I realized that, if the Bombers beat the Rays, the BoSox would move closer towards first place in the AL East.

After sadly realizing that all that is left for my beloved Yanks is a role they haven't played in almost two decades (spoilers), only one thought remained in my head.

"Let's Go Rays".