Oops. They Did It Again

Jon Lester IS hittable. Two thirds of the Rays had hits by the time Byrd relieved Lester in the 6th with the Rays up 5-0.  Rocco Baldelli tacked on a 3 run homer in the 8th and Carlos Pena added a solo bomb in the 9th to seal the Sox fate. Rays 9, Sox 1.  8 hits off The Unhittable One snapped Lester's 24 2/3 scoreless inning playoff streak. And had Fenway "Faithful" headed for the exits in droves well before the last pitch.

And Garza. Other than a few distracting smacks from Pedroia, Kotsay and Cora, he shut down the Sox.  Youkilis just couldn't figure him out. The bullpen came through again. JP Howell dealt red hot Dustin Pedroia a double play ball with 2 on in the 7th and pitched a scoreless 8th to quash the Red Sox attempted comeback.  Jackson showed he didn't need a three inning warmup for his heater with a 1-2-3  9th inning. 

It's Wakefield vs Sonnanstine tonight. Whiffleballs vs. Every Other Form Of Deception. Could be an interesting night for hitters. Ellsbury and Ortiz are way overdue. Could be an interesting night for Rays pitchers. But as long as we end up with one more run than the Beantown Boys, it's all good.  9 home runs between Upton and Longoria in October. A roster full of singles, doubles, stolen bases and go ahead runs. Best defense in the American League. I like our chances.

There will be more post-season baseball at the Trop this year.  The only question is whether the next ball thrown in St. Pete will be in Game 6 of the ALCS or Game One of the World Series. Believe.

A + B = C

A ll but Long-o hit. Aki goes yard. Aybar 2 for 3 with a Sac. Aye!
+ B ullpen blows away the Sox
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C an they do it in 3?

Rays win 6-2 and are up two games in a best of 5 series. Believe.

October baseball is a blast. Let's do it again next year. PTownJr saw the new stadium in the 2008 Rays Media Guide and thinks it's awesome. Gotta agree. Time to start looking at colleges in Florida.

The White Sox had a chance to blow the game wide open in the first as Kazmir loaded the bases with the first 3 batters he faced. Chicago only managed 2 runs out of a hit batter, a walk, 3 hits, a sac fly and 37 (!!!) pitches. Could have been carnage. Kaz settled in and threw 5.1 pretty good innings, allowing just 2 more hits. Maybe seeing Price stretching in the rear view mirror pumped him up. Not quite a Special K night, but much more the K-K-K-Kaz we're gonna need the rest of the way.

But the pen got it done, retiring 9 of 13 in 3.2 scoreless innings. Three of the four Sox JP Howell faced in the 8th left the box with bats still on their shoulders and chins in the chalk. Wicked nasty. Bradford got the call to close. Jermaine Dye won a 13 pitch battle on a controversial call. After fouling off 8 pitches in a 2-2 count, he lined one to short. The ball glanced off the heel of a leaping Bartlett's glove. He grabbed the ball and made a quick but teensy bit high throw to first. Aybar came down with the ball and put a solid tag on Dye's back a step in front of the bag as Jermaine whizzed by. First Base Blue, Ron (Mea) Kulpa's view was blocked and he ruled Dye safe. No worries. Konerko grounded into a double play on an 0-2 pitch, and Thome air conditioned the Trop on an 0-2 count to give the fans a second cowbell crazed win.

Everyone hit last night, except Longoria. But he gets a pass for the 3-3 effort with two home runs in game one. Aki's opposite field two run shot put the Rays ahead in the 5th. Navi manufactured runs with his clutch hitting and Rocco got some post season glory with a two out RBI single in the 8th. Willy Aybar has done a great job filling in for Pena, who will likely return for game three.

On to Chicago. Go get 'em boys!