Tampa Bay Thwarts Boston Comeback, Faces Phillies in World Series
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Nearly 25 year old Matt Garza outpitched his opponent lefthander Jon Lester, but not by much, in their second meeting of the ALCS and dh Willy Aybar got 2 hits, scored 2 runs including his insurance solo homer as Boston watched Tampa Bay thwart it’s comeback attempt (after coming from 3 games to 1 to tie the series) by a 3-1 score.
AP Sports Writer Fred Goodall recaps the game for Yahoo sports;
The Rays were a 200-1 shot to win the World Series before the season started. Now, they’ll host the Philadelphia Phillies in Game 1 Wednesday night.
Garza beat Boston twice in a week and was picked as the MVP.
“As a kid I think everybody pictures this night,” he said. “Usually it’s Game 7 of the World Series but I’ll take Game 7 of the ALCS.”
Willy Aybar homered and Evan Longoria and Rocco Baldelli also drove in runs to support Garza. Acquired in an offseason trade with Minnesota, Garza limited the Red Sox to Dustin Pedroia’s first-inning home run.
Longoria’s fourth-inning double off Jon Lester tied it at 1-all. Baldelli’s RBI single put the Rays ahead in the fifth after Aybar doubled and Dioner Navarro reached on an infield single.
Garza took the mound for the biggest game of his life with something, perhaps cotton balls, stuffed in his ears to help drown out the noise at sold-out Tropicana Field.
The 24-year-old right-hander struck out nine before shortstop Jason Bartlett booted Alex Cora’s ground ball for an error, leading off a tense eighth.
Boston went on to load the bases when Kevin Youkilis drew a two-out walk. [David] Price, the No. 1 pick in the 2007 draft, became the fifth Tampa Bay pitcher of the inning—quite a spot for someone who started the year in Class A.
[J.D.] Drew, who capped the Game 5 rally with a ninth-inning single, struck out with a check-swing on a 97 mph fastball to end the threat. Price worked around a leadoff walk in the ninth and when pinch-hitter Jed Lowrie grounded out, the celebration began.
“I wanted the ball,” Price said. “I think everybody down there in the ‘pen wanted the ball tonight.”
So the Rays, who finished the 2007 season with an AL-worst 66-96 record, went from worst-to-first in 2008 with their top pitcher James Shields with a 14-8 record and 4 other pitchers with between 11 and 14 wins each, perhaps the most balanced staff in baseball in 2008, but noone hitting near .300 and their leading homer hitter Carlos Pena with 31 and with 102 RBIs.
Game 1 of the World Series is on Wednesday with the first 2 games being played in Tampa Bay followed by a day off and then with the next 3 games in Philadelphia, with the final 2 games, if necessary, back at Tampa Bay.
Just a few comparable team offensive and pitching stats; both teams hit about the same with the Phils at a team BA of .255 and the Rays with a team BA of .260 in the regular season. The Phils hit 214 homers to the Rays’ 180 although the Phils drove in 762 runs to the Rays 735. The Phils scored 799 runs to the Rays’ 779. The Phils pitching staff seems even matched statistically with the Rays; Phillies Team ERA 3.88 vs the Rays at 3.82 ERA.
The Phils have announced their starters games 1 and 2; ace lefthander Cole Hamels starts game 1 and Brett Myers starts game 2. The Rays have yet to name their starters.
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