2008 Tampa Bay Rays Season - Summary - Postseason - American League Championship Series: Vs. Boston Red Sox

American League Championship Series: Vs. Boston Red Sox

For more details on this topic, see 2008 American League Championship Series.

The Rays' next round opponent would be their division rivals, the Boston Red Sox. Boston won the American League wild card, and advanced to the ALCS by defeating the team who had finished the regular season with the best record in baseball, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, three games to one in their ALDS series. The Rays won the season series against the Red Sox 10–8. In those 18 games, the visiting team won only three times.

In Game 1 neither team scored until the 5th inning when Jed Lowrie of the Red Sox hit a sacrifice fly that scored a run from 3rd base. Red Sox starter Daisuke Matsuzaka held a no-hitter through six innings until a hit by Carl Crawford ended that bid with a leadoff hit in the 7th inning. Following Crawford's base hit, Cliff Floyd would single, advancing Crawford to a scoring position. The Rays however, could not capitalize as the next three batters were retired to end the inning. In the 8th inning, Kevin Youkilis hit a fly ball to left field for the Red Sox, which went off the end of Carl Crawford's glove, scoring Dustin Pedroia from 1st base and giving the Red Sox a 2–0 lead. The 8th inning for the Rays saw the first two batter reach base to send Carlos Peña to the plate with none out. With three balls and no strikes, Rays manager Joe Maddon gave Pena the green light to swing away, a move which would backfire as Peña flew out to Right Field. Evan Longoria then grounded into an inning ending double play. The Red Sox would hold on to their lead and shut out the Rays by a score of 2–0, taking the first game of the series.

While the first game of the series was a pitchers' duel, Game 2 was the exact opposite. The scoring opened up quickly, as the Red Sox put on a 2-out rally against Rays starter Scott Kazmir in the 1st inning from a Jason Bay double that scored Kevin Youkilis and David Ortiz to put the Red Sox up 2–0. The Rays answered in their half of the 1st inning off Red Sox starter Josh Beckett, with a 2-out home run by Evan Longoria which also brought in Carlos Peña, evening the game at 2–2. Dustin Pedroia hit a solo home run to Left Field in the 3rd inning, which was again answered by the Rays with B.J. Upton hitting a solo home run of his own to Left Field to tie the game back up at 3–3. Carl Crawford would hit a single to score Evan Longoria, and the Rays took their first lead of the night at 4–3. Cliff Floyd went deep to Center Field in the 4th inning to give the Rays a 5–3 lead. The Red Sox would hit three solo home runs in the 5th inning, including Dustin Pedroia for his second long ball of the night, Kevin Youkilis, and Jason Bay, respectively, putting the Red Sox back on top at 6–5. The Rays would also score three separate times in the 5th inning, off of a single from Carlos Peña, a double by Evan Longoria, and a single by Carl Crawford, retaking the lead at 8–6. The Red Sox would not go away quietly as Jason Bay hit a bases loaded single to Center Field and cut the Rays' lead to 8–7. With Dan Wheeler in to pitch for the Rays in the 8th, a wild pitch would score Dustin Pedroia from 3rd base to again tie the game at 8–8. The game would need extra innings, where in the 11th inning, and Dan Wheeler still pitching for the Rays, walked a batter with one out, and rookie David Price came in for the Rays. Price would walk the first batter he faced but stuck out Mark Kotsay, and was able to get Coco Crisp to ground into a force out at 2nd base. For the Rays in the 11th inning, Dioner Navarro walked to lead off, and Fernando Perez came in to pinch run. Ben Zobrist then walked, and a ground out by Jason Bartlett advanced the runners. The Red Sox would intentionally walk Akinori Iwamura to set up a double play chance, but B.J. Upton would hit a fly ball to Right Field deep enough to score Fernando Perez from 3rd base on a sacrifice fly, ending the game in the Rays' favor 9–8, knotting the series at one game each as the series shifted to Fenway Park for the next three games. The time that the game took to complete was 5 hours and 27 minutes.

Game 3 would play out very well for the Rays. Red Sox starter Jon Lester threw four pitches in the 1st inning, but gave up one run in the 2nd inning to put his team in an early hole. In the 3rd inning, the Rays distanced themselves from their opponents. B.J. Upton hit a 3-run home run, and two batters later, Evan Longoria added a solo home run to put the Rays up 5–0 in Boston. Rays starter Matt Garza held the Red Sox scoreless until a sacrifice fly scored a run in the 7th inning, the Rays still having a 5–1 advantage. Rocco Baldelli and Carlos Peña would put the final nails in the Red Sox' coffin as far as Game 3 was concerned, Baldelli with a 3-run home run, and Peña with a solo shot in the 8th and 9th innings, respectively. The Rays would go on to win 9–1, taking a two games to one lead in the series.

It was more of the same for Tampa Bay in Game 4, jumping out to a 3–0 lead in the 1st inning on Red Sox starter Tim Wakefield with a 2-run home run by Carlos Peña, immediately followed by a solo home run by Evan Longoria. Willy Aybar added a 2-run home run of his own in the 3rd inning to make it 5–0. Kevin Cash put the Red Sox on the board in the bottom half of the 3rd inning with a solo home run. The Rays however, were not finished with their offensive explosion, putting together a lead of 11–1 through six innings. The Red Sox would score a run in the 8th inning, causing Rays manager Joe Maddon to pull starter Andy Sonnanstine. Both teams would score two runs in the 8th inning, but the Rays' lead proved to be insurmountable for the Red Sox, as the Rays would take the game by a final score of 13–4.

Game 5, for the longest time, looked as if it would be the series clinching win for the Rays. B.J. Upton hit a 2-run home run in the 1st inning to make it 2–0. Carlos Peña would hit one of his own in the 3rd inning, immediately followed by a home run by Evan Longoria, giving the Rays a 5–0 lead. Upton would double in the 7th inning, scoring two more runs, increasing the lead to 7–0. In the bottom half of the 7th inning, with Rays starter Scott Kazmir having been removed from the game by manager Joe Maddon, the Red Sox would begin to rally. Boston would score four runs in that inning by virtue of a Dustin Pedroia RBI single, and a 3-run home run by David Ortiz which cut the Rays' lead to 7–4. With the Rays' bats quiet in the 8th inning, J.D. Drew hit a 2-run home run to bring the Red Sox within one run, and Coco Crisp would single home the tying run to make the score even at 7–7. In the 9th inning, with the score still tied and two out, Kevin Youkilis hit a ground ball to Rays third baseman Evan Longoria who made an errant throw which allowed Youkilis to advance to 2nd Base. After an intentional walk issued by the Rays, J.D. Drew came up big for Boston once again, sailing a fly ball over the head of Right Fielder Gabe Gross which fell to the ground and then bounced over the Right Field wall, scoring Youkilis on the ground rule double and capping off the largest comeback by a team facing elimination in postseason history. The Rays series lead was now down to only one game heading into Game 6, but would now return home as the series shifted back to Tropicana Field.

Game 6 began well for the Rays, with B.J. Upton continuing his postseason emergence with a solo home run in the 1st inning and giving the Rays the first lead of the night. The Red Sox returned that with a solo home run by Kevin Youkilis, leveling the score at 1–1. Youkilis would give the Red Sox the lead in the 3rd inning by grounding out, but scoring Dustin Pedroia from 3rd Base. In the 5th inning, Jason Bartlett would hit his second home run of the entire season, another solo shot which tied the game at 2–2. Again, Boston would quickly answer back, with a solo home run by captain Jason Varitek, his first base hit of the ALCS, Boston now having a 3–2 lead. Later in the inning, Coco Crisp singled, and in the next at-bat, Jason Bartlett committed a throwing error to First Base, allowing Crisp to advance to 3rd Base. David Ortiz would then hit a single to give the Red Sox a 4–2 cushion, having scored Crisp. The Rays were unable to make a comeback, and lost the game by that score, their series lead now erased as a Game 7 would now have to be played to decide the series.

The starting pitchers of Game 7 were Jon Lester of the Red Sox, and Matt Garza of the Rays, a rematch of Game 3. Lester, who was the losing pitcher in Game 3, had never lost consecutive outings in his career. Dustin Pedroia wasted no time, homering off of Garza in the 1st inning for the early 1–0 lead in favor of Boston. After that, Garza was almost unhittable until his departure. Lester was also great early, retiring the first nine batters he faced before allowing a single in the 4th inning. Later in the inning, Evan Longoria dropped a double into Right Field, and scored Carlos Peña all the way from 1st Base to tie the game at 1–1. Rocco Baldelli knocked a single into Left Field in the 5th inning, scoring Willy Aybar from 2nd Base and putting the Rays ahead for the first time in the game, 2–1. With one out the 6th inning for the Red Sox, with Dustin Pedroia on 1st Base and David Ortiz at the plate, Matt Garza was able to get "Big Papi" to swing and miss for the strikeout, and Dioner Navarro gunned down Pedroia at 2nd Base, who was attempting to steal on the pitch, ending that half of the inning. Willy Aybar would belt a solo home run for the Rays in the 7th inning to give them a slightly more comfortable lead at 3–1. Garza was removed with one out in the 8th inning, having allowed only two hits and striking out nine batters, and receiving a standing ovation from Rays fans at the game as he left the field. The defending world champion Red Sox would not go away though, loading the bases in that inning. Joe Maddon elected to go with rookie David Price in hopes of ending the threat. Price would do just that by striking out J.D. Drew on a check swing. Price would return to close out the game in the 9th inning, and after two strikeouts and a walk, Jed Lowrie hit a ground ball to Rays Second Baseman Akinori Iwamura, who stepped on 2nd Base to make the final out and send the Tampa Bay Rays to their first World Series in franchise history, defeating the Boston Red Sox four games to three. Garza, who had won two games in the series, was named ALCS MVP.

Read more about this topic:  2008 Tampa Bay Rays Season, Summary, Postseason

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