Comments on: Matt Moore dominates as Rays cruise to Game 1 victory

By: raysfaninsrq

raysfaninsrq — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 18:50:50 +0000

Gamesmanship! To what end? They aren’t going to face Matt Moore again in the ALDS, so “gamesmanship”, as seemingly used here, goes out the window. Hamilton’s comments are at best self rationalization, or worst a bunch of excuses.

Further, if Hamilton’s comments were genuine, why didn’t the Rangers start hitting Moore after the first time through the line-up, or at least the third. Not to mention that the only two hits off of Moore were by Hamilton, so if he knew how to hit Moore, how come the rest of the team did not? IMHO, it wasn’t because the Rangers thought Moore was a “little erratic”, it was because Moore was much better than eight of nine players in their line-up.

Way to go Matt Moore, and Joe Madden for being smart enough to put him on the ALDS roster over Neimann.

One vote here for Maddon, Manager of the Year!!

By: hittfamily

hittfamily — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 16:42:19 +0000

To claim he has a flat fastball and doen’t have command of his offspeed pitches after he just shut out your team is foolish.

Basically what Hamilton said: This guy isn’t very good and we should have ripped him.

By: raysfan1

raysfan1 — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 15:47:09 +0000

epic, not rpic. really need to learn how to type better.

By: raysfan1

raysfan1 — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 15:45:50 +0000

Every rpic collapse requires both a team that needs a collective Heimlich maneuver and a hot team. I’m just happy I happen to root for the hot team in this scenario this time.

By: bobdira

bobdira — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 15:39:47 +0000

So let me get this straight. Pouilot is taking a shot at the Rays for not bringing up Moore earlier? Didn’t the Rays have arguably the best starting pitching in baseball? And didn’t they bring up Alex Cobb who did a stellar job to give the starters some rest mid season so they would be rested for the stretch? And didn’t they get solid starting pitching for that stretch run (a couple exceptions here, but who’s countin)

Talk about nit-picking. Sounds like they did what they needed to be one up in the ALDS, como no?

The only way to substantiate that comment is by saying the rest of the league had inadequate or suspect starting pitching, but he didn’t make that argument, he just took a shot at the Rays way. Must be a sox fan.

By: pisano

pisano — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 15:21:41 +0000

I think that was a little gamesmanship on Hamilton’s part, thinking they may have to deal with Moore again. I saw his first start against the Yankees, and he did the same thing to them. This kid is the real deal, sure once the league gets a line on him he probably won’t be quite as dominate, but no one is going to make a John Lackey out of him either. What a future he has ahead of him, barring injuries he should be a top of the rotation guy for a long time.

By: hittfamily

hittfamily — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 15:02:25 +0000

Just saw this quote from Josh Hamilton after the game about Moore:

“We talked about it in our meetings that he’s a little erratic. But he didn’t seem that way today,” Hamilton said. “That might’ve caused us to not be as aggressive as we normally are at the plate. … His fastball was pretty straight. Not much command of his offspeed. It was out of character for us to not jump on the pitches we saw.”

I thought Hamilton was better than that. It reminds me of being in the dugout at 13 years old, and hearing from other teammates how the guy is throwing meat, and we should be ripping him. What a jackass.

By: hittfamily

hittfamily — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 13:39:14 +0000

I really believe this is a team of destiny. Not in a god given sense of the word, but a team that can not be beaten when they need to win. They know what their destiny is. Too many improbable things have happened, From Sam Fuld batting .400 when Manny left, to Joyce hitting .370 til august, to Kotchmann hitting .350 through August, to Shields going from a zero to a hero, to Dan Johnson hitting 2 homeruns all year (the game winner for their first win after starting 0-6, and his last, tying it in the 9th of their final win), to Desmond Jennings having an OPS over a thousand when Joyce and Kotch tailed off. The Red Sox had the greatest September collapse ever, but the Rays helped them out with that collapse, taking 6 of 7 in September. The Red Sox didnt hand them anything. They took it. Their ace got shellacked, only to have a no name bullpen throw 8 shutout innings in the season finale. The season was capped with the Rays best player hitting 2 homers in the most crucial regular season game in the team’s existence.

Matt Moore, a guy with 1 start under his belt, 2 hits the Rangers on the road, and Kelly Shoppach gets 5 RBIs. He had 22 all year!!! The most impossible, improbable things keep happening, again and again. This team is capable of anything, and probabilities get thrown out the window when this team takes the field.

By: indaburg

indaburg — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 11:16:31 +0000

Great job by Matt Moore. I hope to see him pitch again before the season is over. Was anyone else as impressed by the kid’s composure? Game 1 of an ALDS, 2nd start of his career, and he looked as carefree as a boy playing catch with his dad. Great job too by the Rays hitters to finally overcome CJ Wilson, who has owned the Rays thoroughly in the past.

By: 5thbase

5thbase — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 05:35:55 +0000

The Red Sox needed two more wins, not one. Otherwise, I agree with your point, but one win would only have gotten them to a playoff game in which they would have lost and would still be the massive failures they are currently.

By: Old Gator

Old Gator — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 03:37:29 +0000

Sure they were. Especially after Wednesday night’s season closer – which will be a bona fide classic in the annals of the game, even for a designatedhitterball game – I think folks, me included, have realized that we’ve been underestimating this team all season long. I never thought they would recover from the beating they took during last orfseason with a migration of free agents that looked from the air like the annual departure for their grazing grounds of the wildebeest herds.

But by the same token, let’s face it: the Beanbags had only one more game to win and they couldn’t do it. It took an implosion the magnitude of the collapse of the Roman Empire to clear the space for the Razed to slip through. Seen from both sides, it really looks more like destiny interposed herself into the proceedings and both teams were dancing to the same dissonant, mystical tune down the stretch.

By: jimeejohnson

jimeejohnson — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 01:22:15 +0000

Boston was so overrated that Tampa Bay was not given nearly enough credit for their late season run.

By: hittfamily

hittfamily — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 00:32:34 +0000

kudos to Moore pitching an absolute gem. Kudos to Maddon for believing he would.

By: raysfan1

raysfan1 — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 00:21:46 +0000

Woo Hoo!

By: pisano

pisano — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 00:17:50 +0000

I have to admit I thought this kid would get slammed by the Texas offense, but it goes to show that the old baseball line holds true, that good pitching will stop good hitting. Mr. Moore, my hats off to you, good job.

By: bigleagues

bigleagues — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 00:14:20 +0000

Simply unbelievable.

Shoppach and Damon that is – not Moore