ALCS 4: Rays 13, Red Sox 4

Rays    - 302 105 020 - 13 14  3
Red Sox - 001 000 120 -  4  7  0

Do you really need (or want) a recap?

Pena and Longoria hit back-to-back home runs in the first and the Rays were off to the races. It was still sort of a game at 6-1 when Tampa Bay battered Delcarmen for a single, a triple, three walks and five runs in the sixth.

Crawford went 5-for-5, with two stolen bases, two RBI and two runs, and Aybar went 4-for-5 with a dong and five RBI.

The Red Sox started to hit the ball with a bit of authority in the seventh and eighth innings. Ortiz tripled to start the eighth and scored on Youkilis's groundout. In the ninth, Lowrie and Pedroia singled and Yook doubled. Kevin Cash's solo home run gave Boston a run in the third.

So the team's backs are to the ALCS wall yet again. It has become a familiar place. We'll see on Thursday if the Red Sox can rally for a third consecutive time in five years.

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The Assassin Has Returned!

Red Sox          Rays
Drew, RF         Iwamura, 2B
Pedroia, 2B      Upton, CF
Ortiz, DH        Pena, 1B
Youkilis, 3B     Longoria, 3B
Bay, LF          Crawford, LF
Kotsay, 1B       Aybar, DH
Crisp, CF        Navarro, C
Cash, C          Perez, RF
Lowrie, SS       Bartlett, SS

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BR Preview
Andy Sonnanstine (Rays 20-12 in his starts)
Tim Wakefield (Red Sox 15-15 in his starts)

Sonnanstine faced the Red Sox twice this season -- in consecutive starts on September 10 and 16. He pitched 13 innings and allowed only two unearned runs, along with seven hits and two walks. He struck out 12 and the Rays won both games.

Wakefield made three starts against Tampa Bay in 2008 - one great, one average, and one shitty. He had a rough September (6.65 ERA in 23 innings over five starts) and did not pitch in the ALDS.

One-third of the Red Sox lineup is hitting -- Pedroia (6-for-11, .545/.643/1.182), Bay (5-for-11, .455/.571/.818 and Youkilis (6-for-14, .429/.429/.786) -- and that is not enough. Ortiz, Ellsbury and Varitek are a combined 0-for-34 and Drew is 2-for-8. ... Crisp (3-for-6) needs to play CF tonight.

***

Somewhere around the third or fourth inning yesterday, Jon Miller of ESPN radio started peddling this clump of horseshit:

Red Sox fans are not that far removed from 86 years of pain and suffering. ... doubts may be creeping in.

I'm dealing with the radio delay to avoid ever hearing Chip "OMG!!11!!!1!1 The Rays Totally Rock" Caray, so this really pissed me off. If anyone is embracing the gloom-and-doom-woe-is-us-maybe-the-Curse-never-really-left meme, go right ahead. Make CHB's day. Just stay away from here.

Winning today will even the series. And we were in a deeper pit less than a year ago before roaring back, obliterating Cleveland and sweeping the World Series. (The Red Sox also came back from 0-2 in a best-of-5 in 2003 and from 0-3 in a best-of-7 in 2004 -- remember?)

Bay Being Manny:

We put up eight runs the other night. It's not the end of the world. And we won the first night [scoring two runs].

And to hell with those people who left before the end of yesterday's game. Loyalty does not mean supporting the team only when they are winning. It's a shame you wasted space in a seat that an actual fan could have used.

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The shots did not work their toasty magic, so we need another source of mojo (though you should keep drinking whiskey). I believe I have found it: Kids playing AC/DC! Here's a 12-year-old kid playing "You Shook Me All Night Long":



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It's also Election Night in Canada. So FU to Stephen Harper.