Rays 3 Red Sox 1

Oh heck, you guys all know what happened, that was a great game and a fun series. Matt Garza pitched the way he pitched against the Blue Jays 4 times this season, 7 innings 2 hits, 1 earned off a solo homer in the first and 9 strikeouts. Jon Lester was almost as good, he seemed to tired in the middle there in the middle of the game for a bit, but he gutted out 7 strong innings, his team just didn't get the big hit at the right moment. The comeback came just that short this year for the Sox.

Canadians and former Jays in the game: Jason Bay was 1 for 3 with a walk, considering the Sox only had 3 hits that's pretty good. Gabe Gross got in the game as a defensive replacement, the way he's been swinging the bat, that's likely his role for the World Series. Eric Hinske still hasn't appeared in the playoffs.

Rays of the Day: Garza (.263 WPA), David Price (.204, 1.1 innings of no hit ball for the save), Willy Aybar (.169, 2 for 3, a homer, 2 runs and an RBI), and Evan Longoria (.111, 1 for 3 and an RBI). Suckage Ray B.J. Upton (-.122 and no home runs for a change).

Red Sox of the Day: Jason Bay (.113). Suckage Sox: Mark Kotsay (-.182, 0 for 4), Jason Varitek (-.177, 0 for 4, looking terrible at the plate), Ortiz (-.131, 0 for 3) and JD Drew (-.119, 0 for 3). Special Suckage Sox award to Coco Crisp who had he slid straight to the bag in the 8th would have been safe and who knows what would have happened after that. Crisp totally misread the play, thinking he had to take out Bartlett to break up a double play, when there was no chance at a double play. He should have gone straight for the bag. They could have been down by 1 with runners on 1st and 2nd with 1 out.

Jason Varitek sure didn't raise his value going into free agency, striking out 3 times and hitting .050 with the 1 homer for the series. I wonder if he'll be retiring rather than becoming a backup somewhere.

Congratulations to the Rays. The World Series starts Wednesday in (I wonder what the Vegas odds were before the start of the season) Tampa Bay. I think our Jays should take some credit for this, if we hadn't played so crappy against the Ray none of this would have happened.

Boston 4 Tampa Bay 2

Do you get the feeling the Sox don't start getting interested in a playoff series until they are a loss away from from being eliminated? They were terrible this series until the 7th inning of game 5 when they seems to decide "ok we are down by 7 with 3 innings to go, it is time to start playing".

Today, Beckett still didn't look right but worked his way thru 5 innings and only gave up the 2 runs on solo homers. Okajima, Masterson and Papelbon pitched the last 4 innings and didn't give up a hit.

Offensively Youk drove in 2 with a solo homer and a ground out with runners on 2nd and 3rd. Varitek came out of a deep slump (season long) long enough to hit a solo homer and Ortiz drove home 1 with a 2 out single. Crisp went 3 for 4 with a walk and was picked off once. Ortiz and Drew each went 2 for 4 with a walk.

For the Rays James Shields fought thru 5.2 innings with poor control, gave up 9 hits, 4 runs, 3 earned and 3 walks. The Ray's pen shut down the Sox for 3.1 inning, but by then it was too late. Offensively, other than Upton (man is he amazing or what) and Bartlett's (??) solo homers they did nothing.

Canadians and former Jays: Bay went 0 for 3 with a walk and looked bad at the plate. Gross was 0 for 1 with a strike out, looked awful in the field and was removed for a pinch hitter his second time up. He has been terrible this series, I very much doubt we'll see him tomorrow. Trever Miller, who pitched for the Jays a few years, back got the final out for the Rays. Hinske still hasn't appeared in a game.

Sox of the Day: Ortiz (.178 WPA), Okajima (.097) and Masterson (.093). Suckage Sox (Sock?) Lowrie (-.090). Ray of the Day: Bartlett (.265). Suckage Rays: Iwamura (-.143), JP Howell (-.098) and Longoria (-.096).

Tomorrow night, Game 7, has Jon Lester, who was thumped in game 3, against Matt Garza, who was great in the same game and who we saw way too much of against the Jays this season. It should be a great game.

Boston 8 Tampa Bay 7

So the Rays win in 5 and are going to the World Ser.....what? Sox won? No no.....Rays were up 7-0, Sox couldn't hit anything. Fangraphs had it as a 99.3% chance of Rays win, nobody comes back from that. Course nobody comes back from down 3-0 against the Yankees either.

Kazmir was great, pitching 6 innings of 2 hit ball, walking 3 and striking out 7. But to start the 7th Grant Balfour came out to pitch, he was terrific all season. Today? Well, Jed Lowrie lead off with a double, but Varitek and Kotsay each hit fly outs. Crisp singled, Pedroia singled and the Sox had their first run. Then Big Pappy, in a deep slump, hits a 3 run homer. 7-4 Rays. Dan Wheeler comes in and gets Youk to end the inning.

In the bottom of the 8th Wheeler walked Bay, then JD Drew hit a home run and it was a 1 run game suddenly. Lowrie flied out and pinch hitter Sean Casey struck out. Kotsay doubled, then in a 10 pitch at bat Crisp singled to right. Gabe Gross' throw home was....well it was awful, I have no idea where he was throwing it. He had to throw home, it was the tying run and it should have been a close play. Instead it wasn't. Crisp was thrown out at 2nd but he had to think the throw was going home. So after 8 it is tied, how can you let a team come back from down by 7?

In the Ray's half of the 9th Jason Bartlett led off with a single, I figured we'd see a bunt but Iwamura flied out to left instead. Upton walked, considering he had hit 3 home runs so far this series, not such a bad thing for the Sox but then Pena batting behind him had 3 homers too. But Pena hit into a double play to end the inning.

Bottom of the 9th Sox fans had to think this was their chance with Pedroia, Ortiz and Youk to bat, but 2 quick outs and it didn't look so good. Youk hit a soft grounder that Longoria made a nice pickup on but then threw it away, Youk to 2nd. They walked Bay intentionally, yeah I likely would have done it too. But 3 Straight balls to Drew and he could wait for his pitch, which he drove over Gross' head in right and the Sox win.

Now I don't think the Sox will come back to win the series but, they have done it before. Former Jays and Canadians in the game: Gross was 0 for 3 with a walk, and made that terrible throw that allowed Kotsay to score the winning run. Bay was 0 for 3 with 2 walks and a run. Kevin Cash caught the 9th inning.

Red Sox of the Day: Drew (.554 WPA), Crisp (.211) and Masterton (.143). Francona deserves a nod for bringing Papelbon in in the 7th with the team down by 7. He pitched 2 innings, and stopped the bleeding.....well after allowing a double off the LF wall that scored 2 runs. Suckage Sox: DiceK (-.276), Lowrie (-.097) and Pedroia (-.950).

Rays of the Day: Upton (.251, 3 for 4 with a homer and 4 RBI) and Kazmir (.221). Suckage Rays: Wheeler (-.399) and Howell (-.357).

The other interesting bit of news from the game Schilling threw his first pitch for the Sox today, but was just the ceremonial first pitch. Game 6 is Saturday, Beckett who has been awful in the playoffs, Sox have to hope he finds how to pitch like the playoff hero he once was. James Shields starts for the Rays. Should be interesting.

Yesterday was a good day for teams that won their first ALDS game, as the Rays and Red Sox went 2-0 up on their ALDS foes.  Chicago at least is going home, but the Angels seem pretty much done. 

Tampa Bay 6, Chicago 2:  Tampa beat Chicago behind a good start from Scott Kazmir and solid work from it's bullpen.  Former Bluebird Banter target Akinori Iwamura hit a 2-run home run, Dioner Navarro and Carl Crawford had good days at the plate, B.J. Upton tripled and scored, and Rocco Baldelli chipped in with an RBI single. Toronto media favourite Orlando Cabrera did do a nice job leading off for the Chi Sox, with 2 hits in 4 appearances.  Matt Garza will face John Danks in game 3 on Sunday with the Sox facing elimination. 

Boston 7, Los Angeles of Anaheim 5:  It has been years and I still cannot get over how stupid that name is.  Ervin Santana gave up 4 runs in the first inning to put Boston out on top, but the Angels fought back to tie this game at 5 going into the 9th inning.  Enter K-Rod, perhaps having one of the most overrated seasons for a closer of all time.  J.D. Drew hit a 2-run bomb, Papelbon shut down the Angels, and the Sox won again. Boston and the Angels will also play their game 3 on Sunday with the Halos facing elimination and turning to Joe Saunders.  Josh Beckett pitches for the Sox.