Rays Head to First World Series

The doubts have smothered the Tampa Bay Rays all season. From arduous games to demanding tests, the Rays were expected to fade away. Sooner or later, the inspirational Rays would go home. But the Rays are not going home after all. They are going to the World Series.

Matt Garza would not let the Rays fizzle against Boston and would not let their special season evaporate as he powered them to a 3-1 victory in Game 7 of the American League Championship Series on Sunday night. Garza pitched superbly into the eighth inning and outperformed Jon Lester for the second time in a week.
The Red Sox, the resilient defending champions, were unable to complete the type of stylish comeback that has symbolized them. After rallying from a three games to one deficit to even the series, the Red Sox were hoping that Lester could guide them. But Garza and the Rays were better. Boston is 9-2 in elimination games since 2004.
The Rays navigated through a tense eighth to assure themselves of playing host to the Phillies in the opener of the World Series on Wednesday night. David Price, the Rays’ fifth pitcher in the inning, struck out J. D. Drew with a 97-mile-per-hour fastball to leave the bases loaded. Price screamed into his glove after notching the biggest out of the season. Price then finished off the Red Sox in the ninth.
Garza allowed one run and two hits while striking out nine in seven-plus innings. Lester surrendered three runs in seven innings.
By advancing to the World Series, the Rays are engineering one of the best worst-to-first stories in baseball history. Only the 1991 Braves lost more games in the season before they shockingly rushed into the World Series. The Braves lost 97 games in 1990, one more than the Rays lost a year ago.
If the Rays had lost Game 7, the number seven would have haunted them in the off-season. The Rays had a 7-0 lead in Game 5 and were seven outs away from clinching the A.L.C.S. But the Red Sox scored eight runs to win, then won Game 6, too. Since the Rays avoided a collapse and prevailed in Game 7, it is a lucky number for them now.
Willy Aybar’s homer on a 3-2 cut fastball from Lester in the seventh was so pretty to him that he stopped for a second and admired it. Yes, the Rays were feeling good about themselves. The ball soared deep into the left-field seats, causing the Rays to erupt in their dugout and giving them a 3-1 lead.
Aybar nearly hit a home run to start the fifth. He belted a shot off the left-field fence for a double, and Dioner Navarro followed with a slow grounder to shortstop. It was hit in front of Aybar and forced him to remain on second, but Alex Cora did not have a play at first so Navarro had an infield single.
With runners on first and second and no outs, Baldelli was in a likely bunting situation. But Baldelli has 13 sacrifice bunts in his career, including only one in the last three seasons. He was not at the plate to bunt. He was there to hit. He was there to possibly be a hero.
Baldelli swung and missed, then hit a long foul ball to left to fall behind 0-2 in the count. At that point, it looked as if the Rays should have asked Baldelli to bunt. But Baldelli coolly smacked Lester’s next pitch past the shortstop to put the Rays in front, 2-1. For Baldelli, who missed more than four months of the season because of a mitochondrial disorder, it was one of the sweetest hits of his career.
Once the Rays took the lead, the Red Sox tried to mount a comeback in the sixth. After Dustin Pedroia’s 11-pitch at-bat ended with a walk, Garza struck out David Ortiz on a 3-2 fastball and Pedroia was thrown out at second by Navarro to end the inning.
Garza gave up Pedroia’s homer in the first and then silenced the Red Sox. Garza had beaten Lester in Game 3 at Fenway Park and Lester said that he was anxious to start again and “prove to yourself and to everyone that can you can pitch.” Lester was being tough on himself. Everyone knows that he can pitch. Lester was simply ineffective while allowing four earned runs in a 9-1 loss to Tampa Bay.
The first nine Rays did nothing against Lester as he held them without a hit while striking out four. Akinori Iwamura lined a single to left field to begin the fourth. B. J. Upton struck out and Carlos Peña grounded into a force out.
With Evan Longoria batting, the Rays needed rappelz gold a two-out hit. Lester fooled Longoria with a curveball, but did not have as much success with a 2-2 fastball. Longoria reached out and slapped the ball to right field. J. D. Drew bounced his cutoff throw to Pedroia, whose throw home was wide of the plate and did not get a sliding Peña. Peña pumped his fist after the Rays made it 1-1. buy warhammer gold
The Red Sox had won two straight do-or-die games and put the pressure back on Tampa Bay. They knew that if they scored first, it would be even more uncomfortable for the Rays. That is exactly what the Red Sox did when Pedroia, the second batter, smashed a home run into the first few rows of the left-field seats in the first. wow gold
As soon as Pedroia’s ball disappeared, Garza trudged toward the plate in search of another one. He wanted a new ball, a new start. The emotional Garza sword of the new world vis looked angry, which he exhibited by twice kicking at the dirt on the mound. He let the Red Sox grab an early lead, something the Rays dreaded. But the Red Sox never scored again so the Rays are going to the World Series.Silkroad gold