Tampa Bay Rays Clinch The American League Wildcard!

Anyone who questions the pure determination of our Tampa Bay Rays simply does not understand what we know about this team! During off season this year, Tampa cut an insane number of our premiere players in order to drastically cut the payroll. Such stars as Carl Crawford, Carlos Pena, Matt Garza and Rafael Soriano were sent on their way.

But behind it all, Joe Madden led the team through cherry picked replacements such as Matt Damon, Casey Kotchman and some strong rookie muscle to our bullpen. All of the players know Madden never looses his confidence or his calm... creating an environment that makes the players enjoy the game with a highly competitive spirit.
September has been a stellar month for the Rays! Struggling to find consistency within it newly patched together team, they began September 9 games behind the Boston Red Sox vying for the American League wildcard spot! This is where Madden and his team began to pull it together and game by game decrease that spread. By last night, they were neck and neck with Boston... and we were playing the Yankees! Boston was playing Baltimore. Depending on the score of those two games, there would either be a wildcard winner or a tie-breaker to be played on Thursday!

When the Yankees came out fighting, The Rays saw a devastating 0-7 score facing their wildcard race... at the same time keeping up with the Boston game (they were winning 3-2). Most people would think that was pretty bleak... but the 8th inning changed the game and the deficit was narrowed to 6-7. In the bottom of the 9th inning, with 2 outs on the scoreboard, Madden brought in Dan Johnson as a pitch hitter. As the announcer said, "Johnson is here for one reason and one reason only." And sure enough he pops one out there tying up the game and leading the team into extra innings.

In the bottom of the 12th inning, the word came up on the scoreboard that the Baltimore Orioles had beat the Red Sox!! Cheers roared in the crowd... if we could win this game, the AL wildcard belonged to the Rays. And Evan Longoria's dramatic homer did just that!

This team simply does not lose its spirit and they never give up even when the odds are stacked against them. Play offs begin Friday against the Texas Rangers... GO RAYS!!!