Here at Prayers For Blowouts we love to let our members spout off their opinions on anything and everything. Recently we asked for their thoughts on what should be changed with the World Series. Here’s what they had to say:

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There’s not much you can do about the games going into November, especially with the multiple rounds of playoffs. And you can’t do a whole lot about the games starting late; TV ratings are everything these days. We can, however, fix the issue of conflicting league rules when it comes to the Designated Hitter. The answer is simple: abolish the DH in the American League. (And, yes, I still oppose the DH rule even though the Yankees lost a pitcher on the base paths this year.)

The real World Series issue that needs to be addressed is how we can keep Tim McCarver from announcing the games. The person with a solution to that problem deserves his own federal holiday.

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I think it’s ridiculous that these games start this late. Most blue collar Americans have jobs that require you to get up at a pretty early hour. I really feel bad for kids though. I can just imagine parents telling their 7 year old, “We’re sorry, but after the fifth inning it’s bedtime.”

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I think we need to fix the games being played in frigid weather, and creeping into November.

We can fix this with more double headers.

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Most definitely the late starting times for the games. With our ever-more shortened attention spans, baseball is a tough game to watch start to finish even for a Series game and if the start times were earlier, more people could tune in for potential late-inning drama, increasing the games’ relevance via the watercooler effect (more people actually talking about what they watched rather than just catching the summary on espn the next day).

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The first thing I would change is the home-field advantage rule. I’m just not a fan of giving home-field advantage to the winner of the All Star game. I know, I know: it makes the All Star game more exciting; the players won’t bother trying (or even coming) if there’s nothing at stake; etc etc.

I recognize these as valid reasons in favor of the current rule. I just think the reasons on the other side–the reasons against letting the All Star game determine home-field advantage–are stronger. Much stronger.

First, everyone knows that making the starting lineup in the MLB All Star game is the equivalent of winning a high school popularity contest. I don’t think there’s any need for me to rehash examples of fan all-star balloting run amok.

This obviously shapes the game in a big way. Simply put, the best players don’t always make the team. How can something as important as home-field advantage in the Series be decided by ‘all stars’ who aren’t even the best in the league at what they do?

Second, I don’t care what anyone says, most guys who play in the All Star game still aren’t going to give their 100% maxed-out all. How often do you see players sprawl out at full speed for line drives in the All Star game? Or throw themselves into the stands chasing a foul? Hardly ever. And to be perfectly honest, I’m not sure we can blame them. A good number of them already have a pretty solid idea that their team isn’t headed for the Fall classic. Why risk injury so the Red Sox or Yankees (or whoever) get to play an extra game at home in October? You know that if you were an all star from a bottom-dwelling team, that question would probably be popping into your mind …

There’s just too much at stake here; home field advantage in the Series is important. At least important enough to justify a less ad hoc method of determining who gets it. Here’s a scandalous thought: Let the team with the best record (gasp!) have home-field advantage in October. Nuff said.

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If you’d like to become one of the elite Prayers For Blowouts Members, just send your name, favorite team, and a headshot to prayersforblowouts(at)gmail.com. Membership is still free for anyone who loves sports, so what are you waiting for? We want you to hear what you have to say!

Congrats to the Philadelphia Phillies on winning their 2nd World Series Championship, congrats to the city of Philadelphia on winning its first Major Championship in 25 years, and congrats to the Matt Redman Phillies for winning our ridiculous World Series of Worship Leaders!

I’d write something up about the game and the World Series, but let’s be honest, everything’s already been written. The ratings were low, the weather was cold, and having Game 5 split over 2 days was bizarre. In the end, it was the Phillies pitching that won it for them. (It always is, isn’t it?) Philly relievers combined for 1 walk in the 5 World Series games. The Rays bullpen? 10 free passes.

Oh, I almost forgot the Brad Lidge interview right after the game, in which he thanked, among other people, Jesus Christ in his thank yous. I thought it came across as heartfelt and spontaneous, and gave it a thumbs up. Did you catch it?

Now everyone go out and buy yourself a Phillies T-Shirt and a Matt Redman CD!

“Rain rain on my face. It hasn’t stopped, raining for days.” – Jars of Clay

Good morning everyone. This is Bryan Allain reporting live from my desk about 30 miles outside of Philadelphia. As of 9:42am DST this morning, it is 40 degrees and raining hard. The chances of the Phillies and Rays resuming game 5 tonight, in my opinion, are a coin flip. Then again, my meteorology degree is from the school of make believe, so what do I know?

Actually, that’s a good question. What do I know? Let’s run with that…

I know that it was MISERABLE last night. Sure, anyone could see that watching on TV, but I live an hour or so from Philly, and after watching the first 5 innings up the street at my brother-in-law’s house, I ran home to watch the rest of the game. Wow, was it nasty. It took me 30 seconds to get home, but by the time I walked inside I was soaked and freezing. I can’t believe they were attempting to play baseball in that weather. Worse yet, I can’t believe people were out WATCHING baseball in that weather.

I know that the MLB had decided already that the game would go a full 9 innings. You’ve probably heard the reports already, but MLB execs met on Saturday with execs from both teams and decided that the game would go the distance no matter the score. What we don’t know is who else knew. Apparently the players weren’t in the know (at least not all of them).

I know I mostly agree with Bill Conley, who came down hard on baseball this morning for even attempting to play the game. They should have been all over the weather situation, and when they saw that the strom was stalled and intensifying, they should have called it instead of crossing their fingers that they could finish it out.

I know the Rays must be annoyed that they got kicked out of their hotel. They were already checked out, anticipating a flight to Tampa no matter the outcome. But the weather forced them to stay in the area, and unfortunately their hotel rooms were already booked for a conference. The solution, stay in Wilmington, Delaware and wait it out.

I know the local weather man just came on the radio and said, in his opinion, there’s a 60% chance the rain will taper off and they will be able to have the field ready for tonight. So there you go, it’s essentially is a coin flip.

I know I agree with ticked off Phillies fans that stopping the game in the middle of the 6th inning was wrong. Why make the Phillies pitch and play defense in the 6th but not the Rays? If you knew you were going to resume the game anyway, why not just end it after the 5th? It seems to me that Selig was hoping the Rays would tie it up in the top of the 6th and that the Phillies would not score in the bottom of the 6th. Then he could suspend the game after 6 innings with it tied. He got the first half of his wish, when Pena singled in Upton with 2 outs, but when the Rays came out for the bottom, the field was laughably unplayable. He had no choice but to halt play. To me, the decision came 3 outs too late.

I know Philly fans are hoping they don’t play tonight. If the finish of Game 5 gets pushed to Wednesday, it could push a potential Game 7 back far enough where Cole Hamels could potentially start it. That is, as long as his left index finger didn’t get busted on his bunt attempt last night.

I know most people will blame a lot of this on television. I can’t blame them.

I’ll tell you what, these Philadelphia fans have been waiting a long time for a championship and just when it looked like they were on their way, [clever] things got muddy [/clever]. However this ends up playing out, you can expect baseball to address this in the off-season with a rule that says all World Series games must be played into the 9th inning. And hopefully baseball learns their lesson and is quicker to halt play when players are swapping their cleats for galoshes.

The season is so long as it is, they might as well wait an extra day or two to ensure the games are played in decent conditions. That’s my take on it. What about you? Do you think baseball handled this well?

PS…It’s 10:20am now and it’s still raining.

We started with eight hopeful worship leaders, but only 2 remain.

The Lincoln Brewster Rays blew a huge lead in historical fashion in Game 5, failed to win Game 6, but came through when it mattered in a memorable Game 7 contest.The Hillsongs Red Sox had abundant chances to break through in the final game, but failed to do so in almost every instance. Jason Bay mastered the art of the check swing strikeout, Jason Varitek flailed at a ball in the dirt to strike out with the bases loaded, and Matt Garza spit his way to winning the LCS MVP.

As a Red Sox fan, it was a brutal game to watch in that the Sox had so many opportunities to break through and never could. It would have been easier to have been down 4 or 5 runs, or to never have had runners in scoring position. But as it was, the Sox sent a handful of batters to the plate in those last 3 innings with a chance to turn the game, and none of them could do it. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not wishing we had been down more, I’m just saying it was a tension-filled game, and that sucks when your team never comes through. Especially when there’s 40,000 screaming fans wearing brand new Rays jerseys banging on cowbells. Where were all these people for the past 10 years? I know it’s cliched to be annoyed by that, but I don’t care, I still found it annoying.

But on the whole, I can’t be too upset. Yes the 04 and 07 championships ease the pain on some level. (without them, that loss last night would have been exponentially more sickening.) But as anyone who watched the series knows, the Rays were the better team. (Although with Mike Lowell in the lineup instead of Mark “I’ll swing at anything I think I can get my weak bat on” Kotsay, we might have been able to push through a few more runs when we needed them.) I am thankful that the Sox fought back in Game 5 and gave me that memory. And I’m proud of them for fighting until the end. You can’t win them all. Congrats to the Devil Rays.

Moving on, in the National League the Matt Redman Phillies beat up on the Paul Baloche Dodgers and advanced in 5 games. You might not remember it because it happened 3 weeks ago, but trust me, it did.

So here’s your matchup heading into the World Series, which starts Wednesday night. The Matt Redman Phillies against the Lincoln Brewster Rays. You’ve got the power of one of England’s finest worship leaders against straight up American Fender Strat Rock. In my opinion, the Phillies are the better team heading into this clash, but the Rays have home field and no time to get rusty. In the end, I’m going with my heart on this one: Tampa Bay broke my heart, so they get my wrath. Not to mention that I interact with too many miserable Philly fans on a daily basis. These folks need a championship.

I’m taking the Phillies in six.

What started with eight hopeful worship leaders has dwindled to four.

The Chris Tomlin Angels might have come into the playoffs with the best record in the league, but their inability to record a hit single with runners on base in big spots killed them time and again. Other than Mark Texiera, who might have been the toughest out of any hitter in the first round of the playoffs, the Angels never looked like they were in control of the series. The Hillsongs Red Sox got two great performances out of Jon Lester and some timely hitting from Jason Bay and JD Drew to win the series in 4 games. If I would have told you that Dustin Pedroia would go 1 for 17 in the series, would you have given the Sox a chance? Not sure I would have, and yet they are moving on.

The Lincoln Brewster Rays continued their amazing turnaround story defeating the Shane & Shane White Sox in 4 games. The Rays were the better all-around team during the season, and they were the better team in this series. Let the praises ring!

In the NL the Paul Baloche Dodgers manhandled the David Crowder Cubs, the only series that ended in a sweep. Quirky hair and 100-year old anniversaries are one thing, but only scoring 6 runs in 3 games will do you in every time. With that, the odd couple of Joe Torre and Manny Ramirez advance on.

Finally, Matt Redman and his Phillies powered their way to a 3-1 series over the Desperation Band Brewers. Shane Victorino’s grand slam off of CC Sabathia set the tone for the series, and Pat Burrell’s 2-homer game in Game 4 ensured the Phillies wouldn’t have to face Sabathia in a Game 5.

So here’s your matchups heading into the LCS (NL plays Thursday night, AL kicks off on Friday)

We’ve got your 2008 MLB Playoff coverage right here…only we’ve got it with a bit of a twist.

Baseball has given us 8 teams ready to play into October, and in return we’re giving you 8 worship leaders that are at the top of their games right now. Who’s going to stand alone as World Champions in a few weeks? Let’s take a look at the contestants:

The Chris Tomlin Angels: The only team in the majors to win 100 games this year is paired with the current king of the CCLI charts. They’re the best right now, but the question is, can they continue the success when it matter most?

The Hillsongs Red Sox: Hard to argue with the recent success of these powerhouses. In the last 5 years they’ve combined for 2 World Series titles and well over 10 CD releases among their many franchises.

The Lincoln Brewster Rays: 2008 might be the best year yet for both of these up and comers. The Rays went from perennial AL East doormat to division champions this year, while Lincoln’s recently released CD, “Today is the Day”, went to #1 in the iTunes Christian section. Are they just happy to be here, or are they focused on winning it all?

The Shane & Shane White Sox: This would have made so much more sense if the Twins would have won the play-in game against the White Sox. Just when I have a great visual gag setup, Ozzie Guillen foils me again.

The Paul Baloche Dodgers: Few teams can combine the historical legacy and current relevance like Paul Baloche and the Dodgers. Paul’s been involved in worship ministry for over 25 years, and the Dodgers have 6 World Series titles under their belt. Besides, don’t you think Paul would look great in Manny Ramirez’s dreads?

The David Crowder Cubs: When you’re trying to break a 100-year drought you have to get a bit unorthodox. Who better to do that than the worship leader with the funky hair and uncanny knack for taking everyday language and using it to glorify God.

The Matt Redman Phillies: The guy who has penned some of the most familiar worship songs of the past 10 years gets paired with the city who hasn’t won a championship in any sport since 1983. If he has his way, the city of Philadelphia will be singing “better is one day with a championship than thousands without one”.

The Desperation Band Brewers: Is the whole greater than the sum of it parts? The Desperation Band consists of Jon Egan, Jared Anderson, and Glenn Packiam, a trio of songwriters with a bright future in the industry. Similarly, the Brewers troika of Sabathia, Braun, and Fielder hope to make some beautiful noise of their own in October.

The brackets are set and the games are ready to begin!

Who do you think has the edge in this battle of congregation leading musicians? Leave your predictions in the comments.

Though this isn’t the typical fare here at PFB, I had to make mention of the amazing day I had on Saturday while spending the weekend with my folks in Massachusetts. My brother Josh, who manages at The Paradise, got us guest-listed at Theo Epstein’s Fundraising Sports Roundtable, which was being held at Fenway Park. The event itself was amazing, as I got to hear from Epstein, Brian Cashman, Bill James, Scott Boras, and Peter Gammons on the state of Boston sports and baseball.

There were a few highlights for me. First off, I got to shake hands with Peter Gammons, which was an honor. Secondly, I got to meet Theo Epstein, a personal hero of mine, and thank him for doing his job so well. That was fun.

I also donated $25 to Theo’s “Foundation to be Named Later”  in order to be able to pose for this picture, which I was more than happy to do.

Yeah, I’m still smiling.

The World Series is over and the Boston Red Sox are your World Champions (although, my wife asked me last night why they called themselves the World Champions when they don’t play teams from outside North America and I didn’t have a good answer. It is a bit of a misnomer)

Though most people have already put the baseball season behind them, for the sake of closure we need to take a look at my pre-game predictions that i posted last night. I have a feeling I’m going to come out looking like a genius on this one.

1. When the Rockies scored in the first inning, they knew they had a chance to win this one. It was actually the Red Sox who plated a run in the first, and it seemed to happen in about 13 seconds. The Rockies never led in Game 4.

2. How about that one inning where Pedroia made all 3 outs? – Didn’t happen. Dustin made a handful of outs, but he scattered them throughout the game.

3. Manny’s hits > Hawpe’s hits + Helton’s hits. – Manny pulled an 0 for 4, Helton had 2 hits and Hawpe had the homerun. Wrong again.

4. The Red Sox put up runs in more innings than the Rockies did – The Red Sox scored a single run in 4 of 9 innings, with the Rockies only scoring in the 7th and 8th.

5. Not surpisingly, the Rockies used more pitchers than the Red Sox.- Not surprisingly, I’m wrong again. The Red Sox used 5 pitchers, Colorado only used 4.

6. Also not surprisingly, the Red Sox saw more pitches than the Rockies.- Also not surprisingly, I’m still wrong. The Red Sox hitters saw 112 pitches from the Rockies, while the Rockies saw 160 pitches.

7. Tulowitzki’s total bases > Lugo’s TB + Lowell’s TB- Wow. My endorsement is the kiss of death in these prediction pieces. Tulowitzki had zero total bases. Lugo had 1 on a single, Lowell had 6 on a double and homer. 0 is not greater than 7, unless you’re talking about your golf handicap.

8. Double Double Toil and trouble, the Red Sox out-doubled the Rockies again.- Each team had 2 doubles, the most important of which might have been Ellsbury’s to lead off the game.

9. Jon Lester gave up more runs than he had strikeouts.- Lester had 3 strikeouts and gave up no runs in 5 and 2/3 innings. He pitched a great game.

10.Joe Buck impaling Tim McCarver in the temple with his microphone was fascinating, if only for the sound.- Joe and Tim take a hefty beating from the sports writers online, maybe more than they deserve. McCarver does drive me crazy sometimes, but overall it was palatable.

11. Amazingly, the second out recorded in both halves of the sixth inning was on fly balls to center field.- i was half right. Ortiz grounded out to short and Helton lined out to left for the second outs in each of their sixth innings.

12. The Rockies will have more 2-out RBI than the Red Sox have HRs- It takes a lot of talent to be this consistently wrong. The Red Sox had 2 HRs while the Rockies scored all their runs with less than 2 outs.

13. The number of half innings in which 0 runs were scored will be less than 10.- Wrong. Zeroes were put up 12 times.

14. The Rockies were running from the get-go, stealing more bases than the Red Sox.- There were as many stolen bases in this one as there were streaking pigmen. Zero.

15. Manny Ramirez’s helmet fell off his head while running the bases, tripping the runner behind him and causing Tim McCarver’s brain to explode out of his head.- I think even Tim and Joe couldn’t get mad at Manny by the end of the series. Manny taking off his helmet while running to first base left them snickering and speechless.

16. The Rockies will leave more runners on base than the Red Sox have hits.- The Sox had 9 hits. The Rockies left 7 on base. I have 1 prediction right so far. Joe Buck would be disgusted with me.

17. Aren’t back to back homers fun?- They are, but there weren’t any in this game.

18. Can you believe the Patriots took the field in the 9th inning and outscored the Rockies 28-0?- It didn’t happen, but if it did, the Redskins would probably cry about that too. Listen, NFL players shouldn’t be complaining about teams running up the score. If you don’t want them to score again, stop them. It’s up to you. (and no, I’m not a Pats fan.)

19.The Red Sox walked more times and struck out more times than the Rockies.- These predictions I’ve made are historically bad. The Red Sox had 1 BB to the Rockies’ 3 and 4 Ks to the Rockies’ 7.

20. The Red Sox are your World Series Champions!- What do you know, I got the most important one right. I guess I did come out looking like a genius.

Enjoy your non-stop Yankees coverage on ESPN all week!

I made 20 Post-Game comments before Game 2 started last night. Let’s see how they panned out:

1. Schilling’s line wasn’t bad…4 earned runs over 5 and 2/3 innings. - try 5 and 1/3 innings and only 1 earned run.

2. Who would have thought Brad Hawpe and Willy Tavares would combine for more hits than Kevin Youkilis and Manny Ramirez? – i was close. both tandems combined for 1 hit.

3. Manny’s helmet flew off his head again. Dude needs to switch to a L from that XL. – yeah, no surprise here. As he went first to third on Mike Lowell’s RBI double in the 5th, Manny lost his hat again.

4. Thank you Willy Tavares for earning me a free taco on October 30th with that stolen base in the 6th inning. – What i meant to say was, “Thank You Jacoby Ellsbury for getting me a taco with that SB in the 4th inning.”

5. Ubaldo Jimenez was throwing some laser beams, hitting 100 MPH on the gun more than once. – He was hitting the mid 90s consistently, but I didn’t see anything above 98 MPH.

6. Boston outhit Colorado for the second straight game. – barely, though. 6 hits for Boston, 5 for Colorado.

7. Jiminez not only struck out more batters than Schilling, he also walked less. Nice outing for the rookie. – Um, wrong and wrong. Ubaldo struck out 2 and walked 5. Schilling struck out 4 and walked 2.

8. That catch by Ellsbury was amazing. – No it wasnt. He did only have one catch, but it was routine.

9. The Red Sox laid down more bunts than the Rockies tonight. – Actually, i think it was 1 each. could be wrong about that one though.

10. Ellsbury stealing third caught everyone off guard…including me. – It caught Ellsbury off guard too, because he didn’t do it.

11. Big Papi’s home run almost landed in Colorado. – The one from batting practice. I guess i should have specified that.

12. Manny wasn’t really hustling on that play. – this one was true the moment i typed it. No references needed.

13. I never thought I’d see that day that Manny Corpas would walk out of the bullpen with no pants on. – and i still haven’t, thankfully.

14. Papelbon struck out more batters than he left on base. – 2 Ks and 0 LOB thanks to the pickoff that no one saw coming.

15. Can you believe John Kerry streaked naked onto the field like that? – funny thing was, first he ran out there, then he came back to his seat, then he ran out there again. Poor guy just couldn’t make up his mind.

16.Matt Holliday busted for using a corked bat? Who would have thought. – dude went 4-4, but i just missed this one. The bat WAS corked, he just didn’t get busted for it. (i kid, of course).

17. J.D. Drew’s Strikeouts + Mike Lowell’s Walks = Torrealba’s base hits + Helton’s doubles – Lowell’s lone walk was the only non-zero in this equation. 1 = 0? not today it doesn’t.

18. Varitek hit for the cycle! amazing! – Only if we redefine “the cycle” as: Strike out looking, strike out swinging, fly out to Left Field, and a Sac fly to Center.

19. Garret Atkins should be suspended for all of next year for tripping Pedroia as he rounded third. He should be suspended for 5 years after that for pulling out a tazer and tazing Dustin multiple times in the small of his back. - Don’t taze me bro!

20. The team with the most runs won the game. – I hit this one right on the head! When you’re good, you’re good.

If I’m feeling Nostradamic this weekend, maybe we’ll do this for Game 3 or 4.

The fun begins tonight around 8pm, when the Rockies return to action against the Red Sox of Boston.

Five Thoughts on this series, and a prediction:

1. Anything bad that happens to the Rockies in Game 1, whether it’s errors in the field or poor at-bats, will be blamed on “rust”. While I agree that 8 days is a long time off when you’ve been playing baseball 6 days a week since March, let’s not go crazy with this. It’s not like their coming back from Christmas Break and have been off for two weeks eating candy canes and ham. They’re professional ballplayers who have waited all their lives for this. Let’s take it easy on the rust.

2. That said, I’ll tell you right now that if the Rockies lose in Game 1, I’m betting it will have more to do with Josh Beckett than with the layoff. In that regard, there might be more pressure on Boston to win this first game. With Beckett on the mound they’re expected to win, and if they fall into a 0-1 hole after a Beckett start, there will be a lot of people jumping onto the Colorado bandwagon.

3. If Joe Buck says the word “jub-jub” during one of the telecasts, Conan O’ Brien will donate 1000 to a charity of Buck’s choice.

4. Will Leitch over at Deadspin has been playfully calling the Rockies “God’s Team” every chance he gets lately. I wonder if the FOX announcing team will touch on the subject at all? I’ll also be interested in seeing how the Rockies’ handle post-game interviews. Personally, I’m hoping those on the team that are Christians don’t go for the “out of context Jesus namedrop” just because they are on TV, that always rubs me, and most everyone else, the wrong way.

5. Anyone who tells you that they know what to expect from the Rockies in this series is dreaming. Never has a team been this hot before at the right time, layoff or no layoff. The Red Sox are the better team because of their pitching, but Colorado can slug you to death (like they did to Boston earlier this year). It’s one of the toughest championship matchups to get a feel for in a long time, which should make for some riveting games.

My Prediction:

Red Sox in 7 games.

leave your prediction in the comments and the winner will receive a robot sister like that girl from the Small Wonder TV show.