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ALCS Game Seven: Garza Gargantuan As Rays Win Pitcher’s Duel, 3-1… Rays To Oppose Phillies In Franchise’s First World Series Appearance
By Administrator | October 20, 2008
The Red Sox 2008 season came to an end this evening on the Gulf coast of Florida, as Rays starting pitcher Matt Garza pitched a gem against the Sox in Tropicana Field, leading Tampa to a 3-1 win in Game Seven and the franchise’s first-ever trip to the World Series.
The twenty-four year old right-hander allowed a first inning home run to Dustin Pedroia and then shut down the Red Sox for the rest of the evening… after Pedroia’s home run, he held the Red Sox hitless until a one-out single by Jason Bay in the seventh inning. He was removed after the leadoff batter in the eighth inning reached base on an error… in all, he surrendered just one run on two hits and three walks while striking out nine Red Sox hitters in seven-plus innings.
Garza out-dueled Sox lefty Jon Lester, who was VERY good… but not good enough. Lester pitched seven innings, allowing three earned runs on six hits and no walks over seven innings.
Second baseman Dustin Pedroia staked the Red Sox to a 1-0 lead with this first inning home run… but it would be the team’s only run of the evening as the Sox eventually fell to the Rays, 3-1, and lost the series 4-games-to-3. AP photo
After being staked to a 1-0 lead by Pedroia, Lester retired the first nine batters he faced in the game. Rays 2B Akinori Iwamura led off the fourth inning with a line drive single into left field… after Lester struck out B J Upton, Carlos Pena hit a slow grounder to second base which Pedroia fielded and smartly flipped to second base for the force out. But just when it looked like the southpaw would escape the inning with the lead in tact, rookie 3B Evan Longoria lofted a fly ball down the right field line which landed in fair territory for an rbi-double.
In the bottom of the fifth inning, the Rays took the lead for good as Willie Aybar doubled to lead off the inning… he remained at first base when Dioner Navarro reached first base on an infield hit to the shortstop hole. Rocco Baldelli then grounded a single into left field to drive home the eventual game-winning run. Lester retired the next three batters in order to keep the deficit at one run.
The seventh inning was the pivotal inning in the contest — the Sox wasted an opportunity to tie the game in the top half of the inning and the Rays scored an insurance run in the bottom of the frame. After Kevin Youkilis popped out to lead off the top of the inning, J D Drew walked and Jason Bay lined a single into left field… but Mark Kotsay hit a fly out to deep right field (Drew advancing to third base) and last night’s hero, Jason Varitek, struck out to end the threat. In the bottom of the inning, Willie Aybar led off with a long home run to left field to give the Rays a 3-1 lead.
While the seventh inning was the most pivotal of the game, the eighth inning was (by far) the most dramatic. In the top of the inning, Garza’s outing ended when Alex Cora reached base on a fielding error by shortstop Jason Bartlett… thus started a string of pitching changes and a parade of relievers entering the game.
Dan Wheeler entered the game and surrendered a ground ball single to Coco Crisp. Pedroia just missed a fastball and flew out to medium-deep left field for the first out. Reliever JP Howell then retired David Ortiz on a ground ball that Iwamura fielded and, similar to Pedroia, flipped to second base to get the force out on Crisp (NOTE: it is a play that Crisp would have been safe on had he slid directly into second base, but he slid at the shortstop in order to break up a potential double play with the slow-footed Ortiz running).
Rays manager Joe Maddon next pulled Howell from the game in favor of Chad Bradford, the former Red Sox submariner, who walked Kevin Youkilis to load the bases. Maddon then called on hot-shot rookie David Price to face J D Drew… the southpaw out of Vanderbilt struck out Drew to end the inning on a questionable call by the home plate umpire (who called Drew out on a check-swing, rather than get help from the third base umpire).
Sox reliever Hideki Okajima retired Tampa Bay in order - on ten pitches - in the bottom of the eighth inning to give the offense a chance to pull the game out in the ninth inning, but the Red Sox carriage turned into a pumpkin at the hands of Price. Jason Bay walked to lead off the ninth inning, but Price struck out Kotsay on a called third strike (well outside of the strike zone) for the first out… he then struck out Jason Varitek on a swinging strike… and, finally, he retired pinch-hitter Jed Lowrie on a wicked grounder to second base that Iwamura fielded on a bad hop and raced to the bag to force Bay for the final out of the season.
Rays rookie David Price reacted after closing out the Red Sox in the ninth inning to secure Tampa Bay’s 3-1 win in Game Seven… with the win, the Rays captured their first AL pennant and advanced to their first World Series. AP photo
It was the first save of Price’s major league career.
And so, it is the Rays who will host Philadelphia on Wednesday night instead of the Red Sox.
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Rays starter Matt Garza was named ALCS MVP. He was 2-0, with a 1.38 ERA… he pitched 13 innings, allowing two earned runs on eight hits and six walks.
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One of the things that hurts the most about this loss is that the undeserving Tampa Bay fans now get to enjoy the World Series.
These are fans that continually ignored their first-place ballclub ALL season and now will get to ride the bandwagon a little longer… the same fans that caused Rays players to openly complain — as recently as July — about the lack of support from the locals.
In fifteen home games in August, with the team owning the best record in baseball for a good portion of the month, the Rays averaged only 22, 687 fans per game - the month included a three-game span where the attendance was 13,478… 12,678… and then 14,039.
And after tonight’s game, Rays manager Joe Maddon proclaimed: “Thank you, you’ve been with us, supporting us all season!”
Hey, Joe, either you’re senile or you’re pandering for fans worse than John McCain is pandering for votes.
It %&*(%$ hurts that the Red Sox lost tonight… it REALLY %&*(%$ hurts that Rays fans will get to enjoy hosting the World Series on Wednesday. Argh!
Topics: MLB Playoffs, Sox Games, Sox Players |
