SCOTT JACOBS

We talked to Harvey back on April 1st, an interview you can listen to here.  Here’s an excerpt from what I wrote back then about his book, Remembering Fenway:

“The book which came out on March 1st is a fascinating trip down memory lane.  Starting with 1912, the year Fenway opened, and working all the way to present day, Frommer’s story-telling, along with entertaining and insightful excerpts from Red Sox players, employees, fans, and even governors coupled with a breath-taking array of old black and white pictures — one in particular, an overhead shot in the 1920’s of the fans all dressed in nice suits and hats is particularly telling– makes for one hell of a 100 year celebration. The book is fantastic.  I’m not just saying that because I interviewed him.  It really is a work of art.”

That was then, this is now. Here in it’s entirety, my conversation with Harvey Frommer.

Photo: Getty

SCOTT JACOBS

Harvey Frommer has written 41 sports books and knows baseball like the back of his hand.  In 2008 he wrote a book, Remembering Yankee Stadium, to commemorate the end of the House that Ruth Built.  It was a hit.  “A triple,” as he put it to me.  With Fenway’s 100th anniversary coming up he decided to write a book about “the opposition” — the hated Red Sox and their historic park.

The book which came out on March 1st is a fascinating trip down memory lane.  Starting with 1912, the year Fenway opened, and working all the way to present day, Frommer’s story-telling, along with entertaining and insightful excerpts from Red Sox players, employees, fans, and even governors coupled with a breath-taking array of old black and white pictures — one in particular, an overhead shot in the 1920’s of the fans all dressed in nice suits and hats is particularly telling– makes for one hell of a 100 year celebration.

The book is fantastic.  I’m not just saying that because I interviewed him.  It really is a work of art.  But enough about my opinion.  Here is my chat with the man who has all the knowledge, Harvey Frommer himself.  It’s a Juiced Sports exclusive. Enjoy!

SCOTT JACOBS

Contact Disney, start sending them the scripts. This is officially a Hollywood story.

The Tampa Bay Rays knocked out the champs, and now they’re four wins away from being the champs.

Ten years of futility? Forgotten.

Ten years of misery? Gone.

The Tampa Bay Rays erased ten years of epically bad baseball in one season, and guess what folks: they’re still chugging.

Game one of the World Series opens Wednesday in Tampa Bay.

Phillies-Rays, and isn’t it fitting that Tampa Bay has to knock out another Philadelphia team en route to a championship? In 2002 they took out the Eagles in the NFC Championship game. In 2004 the Lightning knocked out the Flyers to win the NHL’s Eastern Conference. And now in 2008, Tampa Bay has a chance to triple the city of Brotherly Love’s misery.

But that’s another story for another day.

Tonight the story was the same story that has shocked baseball throughout 2008: The Rays rise to prominence.

And ya know what? We shouldn’t be shocked by anything this team does any more.

Rays win wild game two 9-8 in 11 crazy innings to tie their ALCS with Boston 1-1

SCOTT JACOBS

Fans were sleeping. Heads were slouched, yawns aplenty. On the surface, this didn’t look like the closing moments of a crucial game two. It looked more like the 2008 All Star Game, that kept going and going… and going. And what a marathon this game two was.

It took five hours and twenty seven minutes to finish this dandy. And when it was over, after pinch runner Fernando Perez slid safely into home on a shallow right field popup in the bottom of the eleventh with the bases loaded and an 0-2 count on B.J. Upton the Rays found themselves back in this thing. After the 400 plus pitches were thrown, the Rays found this roller-coaster ride of a season alive and thrillingly well. 1-1 going back to Boston. It’s a split Tampa Bay will gladly take.

So, instead of staring at a devastating 2-0 series deficit and the prospects of losing the first two at home, heading back to Boston for three, the Rays had to win this game. Nine runs later they did.

This one had it all. Seven home runs tied a post-season record. And that was with Scott Kazmir and Josh Beckett pitching. Twenty four hits. A brilliant three and a third scoreless relief appearance from the Rays Dan Wheeler. And lest we forget the rookie David Price stepping in during the 11th inning with one out and one on, and getting out of the inning unscathed.

The Red Sox weren’t as fortunate. Mike Timlin who had last pitched September 28th took the loss in his 45th post-season appearance. Maybe he just wanted some sleep! It was 1:35 a.m. when the Rays got the game winning run home.

David Ortiz has really struggled in this post-season without Manny Ramirez. Ortiz is just 4-23 in these 2008 playoffs.

It looked like the Rays had control in the 8th inning leading 8-7, but a wild pitch allowed Dustin Pedroia to score. And on and on we went into the wee hours of the night and into the morning.

Rays 9 Red Sox 8.

We’ve got a series folks.

This one’s got a long way to go.

SCOTT JACOBS

Goodbye laughingstock, hello final four.

If there was ever a doubt that the Tampa Bay Rays were for real, even as we entered the post-season, those doubts have been put to bed. If there was ever a wonder if these baby Rays could hang with the big dogs, those questions were put to rest. If anyone thought this team was a mirage, guess what? They’re still here. The Tampa Bay Rays once upon a time were the team that could only dream of playing post-season baseball. Now, they’re one Red Sox win away from hosting the ALCS.

After an impressive, scrappy series win over the home run happy White Sox, the Rays proved once and for all that they’re for real. And they’ve got another huge thing going for them. They’re from Florida. Once just a crazy efficient stat, there’s now something to this whole Florida teams in the playoffs thing.

Seven for seven.

Florida teams don’t lose in the post-season.

The Marlins christened both of their trips to the postseason with World Series titles, and the Rays look like they may be on their way to keeping that crazy string of Sunshine State success going.

Something in the water or something. Kind of astonishing if you think about it. No state, no pair of franchises has been more successful percentage wise in winning post-season series. Okay, so the Rays are still drinking from the sipee cup considering this is their first go around, but whatever they’re feeding those guys keep it up.

O and there’s this: maybe the Rays are just really good, and that their 97 wins were the true story. They survived a tough AL East to secure the second best record in the AL, and now their young guns are psyching themselves up for the ALCS. 9=’d 8, but today, 9=4, and maybe, just maybe, it equals 1.

Windy Worst Nightmare

And just like that Chicago is wiped right out of the playoffs. The Cubs bowed out quietly to the Dodgers on Saturday in their second consecutive sweep to the NL West winner. The White Sox at least got a win before being punched out by Tampa today. And just like that the dream is dead. South Side. North Side. How about no side? With both teams already out there will be no Chicago party this year. There is however still the possibility of an LA-LAA Fall Classic. When Juiced Sports went to press the Angels had just started game four of their series with the Red Sox.

How about a Dodgers-Phillies NLCS? Well, we’ve got it. The Dodgers hadn’t won a post-season series since 1988, and the Phillies hadn’t done anything in October since 1993, so the NLCS presents a matchup of two playoff success starved teams and it should be a good one. As you may know Philly’s sports teams haven’t won a championship (sorry Arena League doesn’t count) since 1983, a curse commonly known around the city of Brotherly Love as the Curse of William Penn. They haven’t been to the Fall Classic since Joe Carter belted them right into elimination and history in 1993. The Dodgers haven’t been to the Fall Classic in 20 years. Someone’s going to get back there in 2008.

And a Rays-Red Sox ALCS would be bon apetit. It’s about time the Yanks-Sox rivalry takes a back seat. What better matchup then the new rivalry growing between the Sox and Rays. And just sort of a funny fact: if the Red Sox advance to the ALCS, the Rays will have to beat both Sox to make it to the World Series.

Sock it to ‘em Tampa Bay! Beat Sox=Fall Classic? Could be a catchy t-shirt Joe Maddon.

SCOTT JACOBS

The only thing more frustrating then the start of these 2008 MLB playoffs is the bombardment of annoying Frank TV ads that we the sports fan have to suffer through every other commercial. O yeah, there’s also been the stunningly boring play taking place on the field.  This post-season appeared to set up as the most wide open field in some time.  Instead, a few days in, we’re almost already out of the first round and into the league championship series.  Why?  Because every series is 2-0.  Every single one!  Last year we had three sweeps (and one four game series), and that was as anti-climatic as we’d seen in some time.  This year, we could be looking at a foursome of sweeps.  Get out the brooms, no one’s safe.

Not the Brewers, who have proven to be a one man wrecking machine that now just looks broken, after their ace was pummeled in game two.

Not the Cubs, who are once again on the verge of another disheartening playoff exit, just moments into what looked like “the year.”

Not the White Sox, who have given the South Side little to cheer about.  Sure, they’ve taken the lead early, but they couldn’t hold on, and a pair of two run leads in successive games has gone all for not.  After the week they had, having to play two games after the season had ended, it’s excusable for them to be on the verge of being swept, but the Angels?

The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, might as well be renamed the “Who cares what they’re named, the Red Sox own them.”  Seriously, the Red Sox have taken the Angels, who won 100 games, and looked like clear cut favorites to win another world championship, and they’ve just knocked them down every time the Angels look like they’re trying to get up. It’s incredible.  Make it eleven consecutive post-season wins for Boston over LA, a new major league record.

The Angels had eleven hits, and one was an extra base hit.  The Halos scratched and clawed back from a 5-2 deficit early on, but once again, like the Spurs owning the Suns, Boston put away what is no longer even the best team in Southern California.  That distinction right now would go to the Dodgers.

That series looked like it would be the best of these four (and it has been, for whatever that’s worth), and at least a pair of these series looked like good bets to go at least four.  But that looks unlikely now.

With the Brewers reeling, and their offense held at bay, Philadelphia looks like they’ll get the knockout blow Saturday.  Milwaukee’s lack of hitting has cost them dearly, and now that C.C. Sabathia is off the list, the Phils can feel it.

The Dodgers will look to finish off the shell-shocked Cubs Saturday when the series shifts to Los Angeles.  If the Cubs have anything going for them, it’s that the Angels couldn’t win in LA, so maybe the same will go for the Dodgers.  But not likely.  In fact, look for the Dodgers to complete the sweep tomorrow, officially putting Cubs fans out of their misery for the umpteenth time.

The Rays will look for the sweep at U.S. Cellular, and boy has that bullpen been impressive.  Those young kids over in Tampa Bay have proven to be real gamers, and you can’t help but think a Red Sox-Rays ALCS would be absolutely riveting theater. Not quite Yanks-Sox, but certainly a compelling matchup nonethless.

So that’s where we stand.  Tonight’s Red Sox-Angels game was a thriller, but Boston just oozes with confidence.  They may no longer have Manny, but the defending champs are still incredibly clutch.  And how about Jason Bay, homering in his first two post-season games.  Not a bad pickup, was Bay, who looks incredibly comfortable in what looked like a tough role to fill.

So that’s the story this post-season.  Both teams in the mega Manny swap look well on their way. All they have to do is win one game at home, and they’re golden.

The Brewers and White Sox get to go home, but neither one of their chances looks all that great.

I’m not sure that this has ever happened, but could we be looking at FOUR sweeps in one round?

It certainly looks like a realistic possibility.

SCOTT JACOBS

It’s the only sport for months, and then football comes along and it gets buried. The excitement wavers. The anticipation dies down. It’s only natural for there to be a drop-off in concentration, when football pile drives into the picture. So the good folks at JSB sort of put baseball on the backburner amidst all the hoopla that football brings each year. But hey, we’re back. We hope you don’t think of us any differently.

Ned Yoast=Toast
When your team is in a pennant race with 12 games left in the season and you’re team is tied for the division lead you would:

A. Fire your manager
B. Shock even your own players
C. Blame Whitey
D. A & B (Not so much on C, although Yost is white. Hmmm…)

Answer: D.

Yup, the Brewers stunned the baseball world by axing their manager out of the complete blue. Sure, the starving for a playoff trip, please let our fans piss their pants Brewers have been free-falling down the stretch. Sure, Milwaukee is now nine games back of the division leading Cubs, and the Brewers are actually now a half game back of the Wild Card leading Mets (more on that in just a sec), but to fire your manager this late in the season, it’s just, it’s… desperate. Okay, so Milwaukee has now lost 5 in a row, and they’ve won a pitiful 2 out of their last 10, but look on the bright side: they could always be the Rays (Announcer whispers in ear: okay, so I guess that one doesn’t apply to this year). Still, did someone confuse baseball for hockey? That’s where coaches get fired out of the blue for no reason. Yes, it’s true: we made a reference to hockey. How you going to act? Yeah, keep reading. That’s what I thought!

The Collapse: Part Two?
Okay, so the Mets didn’t own a 7 1/2 game lead with 17 to play like they did last year, but everything was rolling around smoothly (sans the whole Billy Wagner nightmare) and then this happens. What’s this you ask? This, is the sky falling around the Mets. New York’s other team closing out a stadium this year is still 16 games above .500 but they’ve lost three in a row. Now, they trail the Phillies by a half game in the NL East. With a horrendous bullpen that is a question mark every time they take the mound, the Mets have to be chalk full of nerves with the end of the season in sight. And this wasn’t supposed to happen. Remember all that money they spent on that Johan Santana fella? Wasn’t he supposed to make this all go away? But hey, the Mets finish the season with Florida for a three game set. O wait a minute, wasn’t that the team the swept the Mets the last weekend of the season last year? Yeah, I do believe it was. And, with the Marlins coming on strong, is it possible that the Fish could be vying for a division crown too when the two kick off a crucial three game set at Shea?

Do you believe in the Rays now? If you don’t, well you’re just anti-family
It’s gonna happen. No, not the Cubs winning the World Series, though that could happen. No, the Rays are going to make the playoffs. It’s a done deal. Mathematically there’s that small window of losing every game the rest of the year, but there is no way that happens, so I’m going to proclaim it now: Congratulations Tampa Bay! Your fans can come out of hiding now, it’s okay to root for the Rays now. Amazing, Baseball Prospectus proclaimed the Rays would win almost 90 games and I thought they were crazy. And look at ‘em now, high fiving each other, taking turns buying each other steak dinners. Damn you Baseball Prospectus for being so damn smart. The Rays have 89 wins and a one game cushion on the Red Sox in the AL East, but more importantly, they have an eight game cushion on a playoff spot. Next year, Tampa Bay will probably not be ashamed to put “Tampa Bay” on their uniforms. You hear that Baseball Prospectus? That’s my bold pick for next year, and I’m making it right now!

Other tid bits…

Why Milwaukee for a team playing in Houston? There was nothing closer? Nothing at all? Nothing at least on the West side of the country?

Don’t look now, okay, so you can look, but the Marlins have won six in a row.

The Dodgers are rolling to the NL West crown. I’d say Arizona’s collapse has been stunning, but when you hover around .500 for most of the year, is blowing a recent 4.5 game lead that shocking?

The White Sox and Twins are battling it out for the Central. Meanwhile, Detroit’s season was an epic failure.

But hey, I did predict the Yankees to fail to make the playoffs. 14 years and counting, that steak is over. Now I just have to look up who’s next in line with the longest streak after this year. My guess? The Angels, maybe.

Speaking of the Angels, barring a terrific finish, they won’t win 100 games. When did it become so hard for anyone to do it?

Cause I wasn’t told.

I told you at the beginning of the year: Diamondbacks-Indians World Series! And boy was I not even close.

It’s the eve of the biggest series in the history of Tropicana Field and the whole town is, well, basically going crazy for the Rays.

Except for the approximately 1 billion transplanted New Englanders who live here, myself included.

For us exPats we’re caught in the crossfire, torn between our loyalty to the team we grew up loving and the region we’ve adopted as our new home.

Not that we’re rooting for the Rays, who just recaptured first place in the AL East on Sunday when they won a 4-3 decision over the putrid Pirates and the Sox dropped a 3-2 heartbreaker to the lowly ‘Stros.

But for the first time in over a decade us Boston transplants are feeling like the minority in our new home, and this series that starts Monday night could be the first one ever in which the home team’s fans outnumber those wearing the red, white and blue of the defending champion Red Sox

Don’t get me wrong I’m not looking for symapthy or wishing there weren’t any Rays fans at the games, but even the most diehard longtime “D” Rays fans (yes, there are some) will admit that it’s going to be pretty strange to see the loyalties at the teflon Trop divided down the middle.

After all Tampa Bay has earned the right to be proud of its team after wallowing in 10+ years of less-than-mediocre baseball only to suddenly have a bona fide division challenger in its backyard.

Even if most residents don’t want to think of South St. Pete as “their back yard.”

Making matters all the more interesting will be the reverberations of the beanbrawl that took place at Fenway a few weeks ago, the latest in a long line of dustups and brouhahas between these two division opponents.

In that series Sox center fielder Coco Crisp took offense to an objectionable tag by Rays shortstop Jason Bartlett, but instead of taking his frustrations out on Bartlett Crisp used his next time on base to retaliate on second baseman Akinori Iwamura’s package.

The next day Tampa Bay starter James Shields did what everyone who has ever watched baseball knew he would do – plunked Crisp on the leg – but instead of taking his base Crisp charged the mound, inciting an MMA-style event on the field.

Eight players were suspended for their roles in the Raysbrawl, including Crisp who will miss this series as he sits out his five game penalty, so we won’t be treated to Crisp/Shields II when the Rays righthander opens the series Monday night.

But either way the stakes are high and the tensions will be too in what should be a knock down, drag out three games to see which team is the beast of the East.

And then Boston will go on to play its real rival, the hated Stankees.

SCOTT JACOBS

Baseball it seems more then any other sport, always has the cheesiest slogans. The Marlins for years have put dreadful teams on the field with Triple A players yet their marketing gurus always make them sound like the greatest product ever. Well, JSB is getting down and dirty, and that means slogans for all 30 teams. No sugar coating allowed.

RED SOX- Now returning virtually the entire team intact from our 2007 title team. Cause that worked out really well for the 2007 Miami Heat!
YANKEES- Like Hockey? Because not even A-Rod’s 300 million dollar contract could buy us the last game at the House that Ruth Built, and Money Tore Down.
BLUE JAYS- Be patient loyal fans, we’ve petitioned baseball to move to the NL Central. Maybe the Pirates will switch?
RAYS- Is our new nickname about the fish under water or the sun shine above our heads? Come to the ball pack and try to figure out why we’re too ashamed to put Tampa Bay on any of our new uniforms!
ORIOLES- Good players at great prices guaranteed. Anybody can be had, and we mean anybody.

—-

INDIANS- Come watch C.C. Sabathia pitch his last season at the Jake (we mean The Prude) afterall, it’s not like we can afford to resign him for 2009!
TIGERS- Come watch the All Time Marlins team compete for a World Series. Now starring Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis as the most recent guys a rich team like us could pry away from the fish for a bag of prospects.
WHITE SOX- 2005 was only three years ago. Wait, how is that possible?
ROYALS- Watch Gil Meche and Alex Gordon and the rest of our beloved Royals battle out the Twins for fourth place supremacy in the Central!
TWINS- Coming soon a new stadium. Now playing: a horrible team without Johan Santana.

—

MARINERS- Last year was no fluke, and to prove it, we traded a bunch of guys for that “get us over the hump starting pitcher” that you had never even heard of until ESPN hyped the crap out of him. But thanks ESPEN.
ANGELS- Forget Torre. We’ve got a better Torre, and he only cost us $90 million. We might even ask him to manage a few games (Just kidding, but seriously, we might).
RANGERS- Nolan Ryan’s back. O crap, he can’t pitch anymore. Or can he?
ATHLETICS- We’re like that acne medication ProActiv: we get a lot worse, like really really bad, and then slowly we start to get better. And then before you know it, we move to Fremont!

—

METS- Now made with real bits of Johan Santana, so you know we’ll be good. Not to mention collapse free since 2007.
PHILLIES- Start waving those playoff white towels now, because they’ll be no post-season for your fighting Phils in 08. Unless of course somebody, uh, you know, collapses?
BRAVES- Welcome to a brave new world of mediocrity. Our new blue alternative jerseys should keep you distracted for at least a few weeks as we meddle through another playoff-less year. But by all means, don’t stop that Tomahawk Chop!
NATIONALS- To show our commitment to winning, not only did we build the nicest ballpark in 2008, we didn’t let anyone corporately sponsor it. And with great views from anywhere on the field you don’t have to watch our boring ball club.
MARLINS- I just saved 30 million dollars on my team payroll by switching to prospects!

—

CUBS- Don’t get your hopes up: it’s not like we’re going to win a World Series in our 100th year of futility. But hey, 2018 is always a possibility.
BREWERS- Everyone will pee their pants if we make the playoffs. And who doesn’t want to see urine stains on grown men’s jeans? (You don’t have to actually answer that question).
REDS- Who did we get that made us everyone’s sleeper pick in the NL? Who ever it was, fire them, because having expectations is a very dangerous thing, for a very mediocre baseball team.
ASTROS- Vote now if you’d like to see Roger Clemens pitch for the Stros in 2038. In the meantime watch Miguel Tejada and steroid allegations plague an old and declining team.
PIRATES- Did you know that there was a hockey team with our same name and colors from 1925-1930? That ought to distract you from the fact that we’ve been post-season free since 1992.
CARDINALS- The fall from grace is complete, but at least you can watch it in the second newest ballpark in baseball.

—

DIAMONDBACKS- Josh Bynes bobblehead night coming soon: he saved our team from purgatory and now we’re championship contenders. God bless former Red Sox executives.
ROCKIES- If we were indeed a fluke in 2007 (we weren’t) then we were sure as hell one heck of a fluke to watch. This year we go for 22 out of 23. Can we do it? Come get a mile high with us to find out.
DODGERS-It’s been fifty years since we tore out Brooklyn’s hearts, and we plan to celebrate that by wearing a patch all year.
PADRES- We’re relying on Mark Prior to get us over the hump. Wait, what the F***!!!
GIANTS- Now that Barry Bonds is gone there is officially no reason whatsoever to watch us play. Seriously, stop televising us.

Just missed the cut:
RED SOX- It feels great just to be like every other team again.
RAYS- Should we sign Bonds? Should steroids be legalized? You fans get to vote!
MARLINS- If you need a player, truck, or stadium who you gonna call: the Marlins!
MARLINS- Be there Opening Day 2008 to watch a real team: the New York Mets!
CUBS- We’re not special anymore if we win one