Red Sox vs. Rays
Boston Red Sox -1 1/2 vs. Tampa Bay Rays
With another win Thursday in Boston, the Tampa Bay Rays will clinch the American League Pennant. Let me repeat that. With another win Thursday in Boston, the Tampa Bay Rays will clinch the American League Pennant. Imagine reading that statement in April without falling on the floor and laughing uncontrollably.
Sure, Tampa Bay was predicted to be better this season, but this much better? Plus, pundits have been predicting good things for the team formerly known as the Devil Rays for a couple of years now and nothing had happened.
But 2008 has been a totally different year in the Bay area.
And the 2008 ALCS has been totally different than the 2008 regular season for Boston and Tampa Bay. Boston was 1-8 in Tropicana Field this season and Tampa Bay was 2-7 in Fenway Park, but these trends have flipped in the postseason. The Red Sox won Game 1 and nearly stole Game 2 in St. Petersburg, while the Rays have convincingly won both games in Boston thus far.
Every step of the way this season, the Rays have been doubted. They started the season strong, but stumbled shortly after and everyone buried them. They soared in the middle of the season to first place, everyone said it would not last, surely the Red Sox and/or Yankees would catch them. They stumbled down the stretch, letting Boston get back in the race. "That's it," pundits said, "the only hope Tampa Bay has is for the wildcard." They righted the ship and claimed the AL East crown by playing well against the Red Sox in late season head-to-head matchups. Certainly their lack of experience would doom them in the playoffs, especially against the postseason veterans in Boston's lineup, they all said. Each time there has been doubt, the Rays have answered loudly. Their latest loud response was Tuesday's clobbering of Boston, 13-4, to step into the driver's seat of the ALCS by leading 3 games to 1.
Boston is staying calm and saying the right things. After all, everyone knows, the Red Sox overcame a 3-0 deficit in the ALCS just four seasons ago. They were in a similar spot then as well, with the middle games being in Boston and having to stage the improbably comeback primarily on the road. This will be the case again for the Boston Red Sox as they take it one game at a time, beginning with Game 5 Thursday at Fenway. To get their comeback started, the Red Sox will throw Game 1 starter Dice-K Matsuzaka up against the Rays and hope he will duplicate his success of shutting out Tampa last Friday night to get the series back to sunny Florida.
Meanwhile the Rays hopes of achieving their first ever World Series berth will ride on ace Scott Kazmir, who has been penciled in instead of James Shields, whose turn it was.
