After ending the regular season with the second best record in the league, the Tampa Bay Rays now look like a lackadaisical team on the brink of elimination. SLAP!

Manhandled by the Texas Rangers, the Rays and are just 9 innings away from an early exit, down two games to none in their ALDS. How ’bout we throw in a backhander too. . .SLAP!!

With their season suddenly on the brink and their fan base long gone; the Tampa Bay Rays are the recipients of the Bitch-Slap-of-the-Week.

How about a couple for their fans too, you know the ones who barely have the energy to jump on the bandwagon of a 96-win team that won the AL East title.

Truth be told, no one should have expected any different from this team… or this area.

The Rays went 5-5 in their last 10 regular season games and were 13-14 in the month of September. Needless to say, that’s not exactly the best way to carry momentum into the playoffs. And I’m sure the call for a ‘plaided out ballpark’ didn’t help either.

It’s one thing to ask your fans to ‘white out’ the stadium to intimidate your opponent, but it’s quite another to ask them to support their team by wearing plaid. That’s about the least intimidating pattern you can pick, besides polka dots.

But Joe Maddon and his plaid dreams aren’t the only ones at fault here; the Rays fans deserve some of the blame as well. Instead of rooting for their team and rallying behind home-field advantage, the Rays ‘fans’ were too busy making Kitty DJ videos (watch below), playing shuffleboard and following Dancing with the Stars.

As if it’s not humiliating enough for these players to call Tropicana Field home, they now don’t even have the support of their own city. Any hope of a bandwagon jump was derailed after the Rays got shut out on Thursday. And now that the Buccaneers have a winning record (2-1), there is no need for Tampa Bay fans to watch baseball anymore. And I completely understand.

Who honestly wants to watch a team that was on the losing end of two no-hitters this year, one of which being a perfect game? I don’t care what your record is, if that happens to you twice in one season, then your fate has already been determined.

And just so we’re all clear on this, throwing a no-hitter like Garza did does not cancel out being the victim of one.

The way I see it, the Rays only have two options in order make this post-season memorable. They can either A) Start hitting the ball and have an epic comeback or B) Wear plaid uniforms for the rest of the series and bunt during every at-bat. Other than that, there is really no hope for this team.

Personally, I would love to see option B run its course. I know it’s a long shot, but anything is possible when you believe.

Used with permission of the author.

Logan Rhoades is a Los Angeles-based writer and contributor to Sports Climax. With an extensive knowledge of ESPN topics and celebrity gossip, he is known for mixing sports and pop culture to entertain his readers. Check out his “Skip to My Logan” blog and Follow him on Twitter @loganrhoades.

Copyright ©2010 Sports Climax, LLC

MLB Commissioner Bud Selig may have just taken the title of worst commissioner in the history of professional sportsaway from NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman and for that he gets the Sports Climax Bitch-Slap-of-the-Week.

In a sports world where the NHL relies on verifying with video footage that a puck is in the net and the NFL that two feet are inbounds on a TD pass, after yesterday’s interview, Selig appears to be comfortable allowing human error to continue to create controversy in his sport.

Selig has been saturated in controversy over the past few decades with many accusing him of ignoring the steroid abuse issues that were prevalent and obvious during the 1990’s when Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa were playing home run derby.

We know how Selig has managed to skirt around issues involving  several other situations including the Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds perjury investigations and the uncovering of A-Rod and several other player’s syringe use.

The more recent issues surround the blatant, game-changing calls that his umpire crews have been making. Some of these blunders, like those made during recent playoffs, have sent hard-working organizations home packing earlier than they should have been.

More recently the Jim Joyce “three-blind-mice- I-have-my-head-up-my-ass” call that took a perfect game from a young Detroit pitcher now has center stage.

That said the buzz about expanding the instant replay had gathered more steam than a locomotive; that is until yesterday when Selig all but squashed the concept.

In an interview with the AP, Selig said he will continue to look at expanding the use of instant replay in baseball, but doesn’t think it will happen this year—if at all. WTF!

“I doubt it, but I wouldn’t ever say never. It’s worked out well.”

SLAP! That line deserves a good bitch-slappin’. What has worked out well? Allowing crews to make blunders that advance the biggest market New York Yankees to another playoff series?

Wouldn’t determining the correct winners for the fans as often as possible be considered working out well?

Making changes that limit mistakes and blunders your blind umpire crews seem to be making on a more consistent basis would be considered working out well.

On another note, these calls have affected our country’s legal gambling systems. Some of these calls have affected the final score or winners as in several MLB Playoff games in the past meaning the people who have wagered on that game have been cheated.

Logical minds who run the NFL and NBA and even Bettman’s NHL have realized how advantageous it is to utilize video replay technology but Selig continues to hide behind some sort of curtain that many of us cannot figure out. How could he not want to reduce those occurrences and limit mistakes?

Selig went on to say in the interview that he “wants to do what I think is best for the sport.”

If that were true Mr. Selig than many people would say then you should resign.

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Copyright ©2010 Sports Climax, LLC

This week marks the first time ever that a team has both delivered the Bitch-Slap-of-the-Week while also receiving the humiliating honor. That team would be Prince’s squad, the Brew Crew.Just days after delivering a record-setting stomping to the Pittsburgh Pirates outscoring them 36-1 over a 3-game sweep, these same Brewers were blown out by the Chicago Cubs 25-4 who brought their brooms from the Windy City for their 3- game sweep and this week’s Bitch-Slap.

Brew Crew hurler Dave Bush came into the final game of the series with a 2.41 ERA in three starts. After his disaster that looked more like batting practice during Sunday’s 12-2 loss, he left the bump with a 4.84 ERA.

His stats, 3 1/3 innings, 10 hits, 9 runs, and 4 homers; let’s toss in a couple of extra backhanded Bitch-Slaps for this performance. Teeing off on Bush for round-trippers were Kosuke Fukudome, Tyler Colvin, Geovany Soto and Derrek Lee. Lee’s blast made it 9-0 and mercifully ended the day for Bush.

Funny how a MLB team can ride out of Pittsburgh on a high horse with a head of steam then totally implode a few days later on their home field, Miller Park.

“This is embarrassing in a way,” Brewer Jim Edmonds said. “We’re just not playing well.”

Ah, yeah . . . you got your asses kicked!

We hate to jump on the dogpile, Brewers, but after that tee-ball performance, you gotta get our Bitch-Slap-of-the-Week.

Copyright ©2010 Sports Climax™

The Brew Crew handed the Pittsburgh Pirates a classic bitch-slapping, squashing them in a three-game series while sending 36 runners across the plate. Milwaukee outscored the listless Pirates 36-1 in the 3-game series with the final game a 25-hit, 20-0 mercy killing.

That loss was the most lopsided in the Pirates 124-year history and BTW, this all happened on Pittsburgh’s home field.

“It was fun and it was special . . . I enjoyed it.” said Brewers Ryan Braun after knocking two over the fence and driving in 5 runs in the 20-0 game.

Yeah, fun and special for the ones laying out the can of whoopass on a group of MLB impersonators. Now ask the Pirates what they thought of the 20-0 disaster.

Pirates’ pitcher Daniel McCutchen (0-2) 14.73 ERA said this:

“Lots of times, it felt like I was throwing batting practice to them.”

Maybe because you basically were . . .

Pirates manager John Russell chimed in with the obvious:

“They came in and kicked our butt.”

Yes they did and they threw in a couple of backhanded bitch-slaps in just for good measure.

This is becoming a part of a pattern for the Pirates who have lost eight times this season by six or more runs while being outscored in those games 85-13.

That 85-13 is not a typo, people . . . it’s just an all out swift kick in the nuts!

20-0 box score on MLB.com

Copyright ©2010 Sports Climax™