After a disappointing Game 4 loss, the Rays knew they had to make something happen in Game 5. Unfortunately, Kazmir did what Kazmir does and he managed to give up two runs in the first inning straight away to Shane Victorino (Kaz has given up 8 runs in the first inning this post season). So the Rays were down 2-0 for a while until Peña and Longoria did what they’re supposed to do. The both of them had gone a combined 0-30-something this World Series, but this time they managed to get on base and Longoria batted in Peña. 2-1 ...

Deep from the trenches, it’s time for your Monday video feature: Embedded Reporter. Gametrailers is at it again with not one, but two retrospectives this week. With Fallout 3 and Wrath of the Lich King coming out soon (Fallout 3 a lot sooner), they’ve put out their one part Fallout retrospective and part one of what I’m guessing to be a three or four part Warcraft retrospective. Enjoy!

Game 2 went precisely how I wanted it to, which leaves today’s matchup, Garza vs Moyer, particularly big and important. It’ll probably be the coldest, temperature-wise, game the Rays have ever played, for one. There’s also that alarming statistic about dome-teams having a hard time beating non-dome teams in the postseason that needs to be proved wrong. The big important points for the Rays: -Score early -Help Garza manage the Phils and keep them off of base. -If previous fails, hope Garza doesn’t give up a home run -Stop letting the Phils get into scoring position. They may be 3-28 or some ridiculously low number like that, but this is baseball and they’ll start performing when you least expect or need it. ...

Insert another credit, because it’s time for your weekly video game news and you’ve just hit the Game Overview screen. With every Final Fantasy game there exists great (and not so great) teams of heroes bent on saving the world from some sort of evil force. While we could take a look at those heroes, let’s instead take a look at the evils that motivate these heroes to do what they do. ...

We’ve reached the home stretch for the baseball season, so those of you who get bored of reading about baseball should only have a few more days left. Game 1 did not go quite as well as I’d hoped, with the Rays losing to the Phillies 2-3 in a game that was well-pitched by both sides, just a little better by Hamels. Kazmir’s loss was sealed more or less early in the game after an Utley 2-run blast in the first and a Carlos Ruiz infield RBI that brought in Shane Victorino. He didn’t allow anything else, but the damage was done. ...

You’ve probably heard the saying that hindsight is 20/20 on Monday morning, so just imagine how well I can call ’em two days later on Wednesday. That’s right, it’s time for Wednesday Morning Quarterback, your weekly sports round-up. Listening to the Baseball Today podcast, it becomes very apparent that half of this World Series matchup doesn’t make sense. TV execs were hoping, nay, wishing for a Dodgers/Red Sox World Series. Torre vs. Francona. New Manny vs. Manny’s old team. Two huge market teams going at it for all the glory. Heck, they would have even settled for a Phillies/Red Sox series, with all those big names and big guns on both sides. Not to mention a Cubs appearance on their lucky 100th year of losing. ...

Hey Sarah Palin! I’m a real American. Don’t think for one second that there are multiple classes of Americans based on who does or doesn’t agree with you. This country was founded on the basis of free speech, intellectual discourse, and differing viewpoints and I guarantee you that I’m just as American as Joe Sixpack, even though I don’t live in a small town. Hey Rush Limbaugh! You’re being offensive and shortsighted to assume that Colin Powell only supports Obama due to his race. Obama is an agent for change from the Bush years and as a Bush dissenter, I would think that it makes sense for Powell to support him. ...

I tell ya, it’s been a good long while since I’ve had to write a post that’s not really about baseball and it’s got me rather at a loss of what to do. Instead of focusing on one topic today, instead let’s look at a variety of things going on that I care about: Peter Molyneux has got a problem. You see, he’s one of the movers and shakers in video game design and his ideas have more or less shaped the industry as a whole. For example, while you can argue that Ultima or Fallout did it first, Peter and his boys at Lionhead popularized the whole good vs. evil aesthetic that so pervades the medium right now with his landmark title Black & White. You can’t really argue that his game made it cool for the visual look of a character to change dynamically with alignment that Bioware eventually used in their epics Knights of the Old Republic and Mass Effect. ...

The Rays have finally gone and done it. In order to make the series more interesting, they let the Sox tie it up at three games a piece, but in Game 7, Matt Garza and the Rays showed the world that they were capable of going to the series and beating Boston in their 25th showdown this year. It started out looking a bit rough for the Rays with a Dustin Pedroia homer that put the Sox up, but it started to turn around with an RBI double by Longoria, RBI single by Baldelli, and a homer by Willy Aybar, putting the Rays up 3-1. There was also that dicey moment where the relief squad kept the Rays safe in a bases loaded situation, all combining to bring the Rays their first world series berth ever. ...

Deep from the trenches, it’s time for your Monday video feature: Embedded Reporter. What happens when you choose the wrong best man? Take a look: Worst Best Man Ever @ Yahoo! Video Whether or not this is staged matters not to me, it’s still funny.