Tampa Bay has been the best team in the American League.
I watch this game yesterday afternoon.
With high expectation that Jon Lester was pitching.
He pitch so well this season.
Think that he might have got a little nervous there.
This is a big burden on him.
Papi is still in the hole.
Tonight is Tim Wakefield pitching.
He had not been pitching too well.
I hope that they win tonight.
To keep the series interest.
WE will see.
Tampa Bay has been a big surprise this year.
Thou I want the Red Sox to win.
But will wish them luck if they get in the WS.



Tampa Bay Rays’ Carl Crawford runs into Boston Red Sox catcher Jason Varitek as he tries to score in the eighth inning yesterday.




This should not surprise you. The Tampa Bay Rays of 2008 won't let anything keep them down. Not years of futility, not a name change, not a sterile home field, not last year's last-place finish, not a Game 1 American League Championship Series loss and not a 1-1 deadlock heading into Fenway Park.

Tampa Bay's now-characteristic pluck showed up early and never left last night's 9-1 win over Boston in Game 3 of the ALCS. The Rays established an early lead, kept Boston's big bats in check when it mattered most, tacked on late runs and efficiently worked themselves a 2-1 series lead.

The Rays used a walk, single, passed ball and ground out to get the crucial first run. They didn't commit an error. When the Sox finally knocked Tampa Bay starter Matt Garza out of the game in the seventh inning, reliever J.P. Howell ended the Boston threat by inducing a double play ball from Dustin Pedroia, even as Fenway was serenading the diminutive second baseman with chants of "MVP!"

B.J. Upton's three-run home run in the third off Boston ace Jon Lester was grandiose and worthy of highlights, as was Rocco Baldelli's

three-run shot in the seventh that sent the faithless in Fenway to the exits. But for the most part this Tampa win was all about calm and clean baseball in the clutch - Garza's overpowering and straightforward fastball, business-like defense, patient at-bats and control of the moment, not fear of it.

Tampa Bay Manager Joe Maddon was asked about young stars Upton, 24, and Evan Longoria, 23, and why they are so successful at such young ages. His answer was specific to those two players, but it could have easily applied to his young team as a whole.

"They feel like they belong here," Maddon said. "That's why they perform with calm."

The Rays' entire season has been one of rising up - from a league worst 66-96 record in 2007 to a 97-65 mark this year and the AL East crown. But even if you weren't paying attention to the Rays for most of the summer or perhaps assumed they would eventually fade, there were two September series against the Sox that foreshadowed the nerve and guile the pesky Rays have used to take this 2-1 lead.

Tampa Bay came to Boston for a three-game series starting Sept. 8. The Sox won the first game, 3-0, to pull within a half game of the first-place Rays. But the next night the Rays scored twice off Jonathan Papelbon in the ninth for a 5-4 win, their first of the year at Fenway and one of only five blown saves for Papelbon all year. There was more Tampa Bay grit the next night in a 4-2, 14-inning win.

Less than a week later, the Sox were at Tropicana Field for a three-game set. After beating the Rays, 13-5, in the first game, the two teams were deadlocked at the top of the AL East. But again the Rays refused to get down and came back the next night to win, 2-1, on a walk-off single from Dioner Navarro. And the Rays won again the following night, 10-3, to re-establish control of the division.

And make no mistake, the Rays have now established control of this series. That may seem obvious since they need just two more wins to make a trip to the World Series and the Sox need three, but it's more than that.

First, the statistical evidence: The League Championship Series went to seven games in 1985. Since then there have been 12 ALCS tied at 1-1 after two games. Eight of the 12 Game 3 winners have reached the World Series.

The Rays have now taken back home-field advantage. Now, if the Red Sox are to advance to their third World Series in five years, they will have to do it by winning at the Trop.

Not only have the Rays swung momentum, but they've done it against Boston's best. Tampa has now beaten Lester, Boston's best pitcher this season, and Josh Beckett (the Game 2 loser), Boston's best pitcher in recent history, especially recent postseason history.

And it's not just the Sox's preeminent pitchers that have been cut down by the Rays. Boston's 3-4-5 hitters last night - David Ortiz, Kevin Youkilis and J.D. Drew - were 1-for-12 with five strikeouts, no RBI, and they left five men on base. For Youkilis (now 10-for-32 in the postseason), that was an aberration. It wasn't so much for Drew (5-for-22 in the postseason) and certainly not for the struggling Ortiz, who is now 4-for-27 in the playoffs, with one lonely RBI, and he has not had a hit against Tampa.





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