Joe Sheehan of Baseball Prospectus blogged today about the relative importance of Game 1 toward winning a World Series. He writes: Winning the first game of a World Series is a strong indicator of future success.

  There’s not a whole lot else to talk about in baseball at this time of year and if there is, it better be pretty huge news to overshadow the World Series. So Boston couldn’t do it. Manny couldn’t do it

Did the Tampa Bay Rays’ victory over the Red Sox last night in Game 7 buck history and destiny? As King Kaufman pointed out in his column today , teams that come back after a 3-1 deficit to force a Game 7 usually win the deciding game of the series: Such teams were 11-3 in seventh games before Sunday and they’d won five straight.

If you are a fan of small-market teams or the underdog, then the 2008 World Series featuring the Rays and Phillies will be a great one for you. Media people, however, are probably grinding their teeth into flour.

I just have to say that watching Shane Victorino play this post season has been a pleasure. This guy does so much for his team, the Philadelphia Phillies, that can ever be communicated through a box score or a stat sheet.

…let’s take a tie game in the bottom of the 11th inning and put in a relief pitcher who’s really blown opponents away with a 1.68 WHIP and all the control of the local softball ace after happy hour. This was not a game that the Rays won, it was a game Terry Francona lost. He lost it in the 8th inning when Coco Crisp doubled to center to put the winning run on and left Jacoby Ellsbury try to break his 0 for 5 night instead of pinch-hitting Drew, and he did it when he put Timlin in the game over Tim Wakefield or Paul Byrd

If you haven’t been following Major League Baseball’s League Championship Series , then you should. It’s full of great events, like Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Brett Myers 3-3 night against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Last night he also tallied three RBIs and two runs, while keeping his team in the game during their 8-5 win over Los Angeles.

Sorry for the blog vacation last week. I took the family to Disneyland and Legoland, which means I missed most of the baseball games last week. However, I did watch the last two Sox-Angels games