| Page 2 of 2 < |
Rays Put Away Red Sox
Rays starter Matt Garza, the series MVP, throws to first following a bunt by Boston's Coco Crisp. Garza allowed just two hits and one run in seven-plus innings.
(By Doug Pensinger -- Getty Images)
TOOLBOX
   Resize
COMMENT
 Discussion Policy
 CLOSE
Comments that include profanity or personal attacks or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. Additionally, entries that are unsigned or contain "signatures" by someone other than the actual author will be removed. Finally, we will take steps to block users who violate any of our posting standards, terms of use or privacy policies or any other policies governing this site. Please review the full rules governing commentaries and discussions. You are fully responsible for the content that you post.
Who's Blogging  |
Into the game jogged Dan Wheeler, the first of four Rays relievers in the inning, as Maddon wore a path to the mound through the spongy artificial turf. Some of the moves worked, others didn't. But all that mattered was the last one -- Price, with all of seven big league appearances to his credit, who got the ball with the bases loaded and two outs, protecting a two-run lead, and struck out J.D. Drew on a 97-mph fastball.
With no one warming behind him as the Rays batted in the eighth, the message was clear -- the ninth inning belonged to Price.
"That's pretty heady stuff for a guy who was in college a year ago," Rays pitching coach Jim Hickey said of Price, a No. 1 overall pick from Vanderbilt in 2007. "Once he ended the eighth inning, we were going to send him back out for the ninth."
Never before had two pitchers so young squared off in the seventh game of an LCS, and the duel between Boston's Jon Lester and Tampa Bay's Garza, both 24, delighted and awed. By the time the seventh-inning stretch was sung, to a soundtrack of cowbells, Garza had just thrown his 116th pitch to escape a two-on jam, after first sending his mound-visiting manager back to the dugout with a clear message:
"You ain't taking me out of this game," Garza told him. "'This is my game and I'm going to finish it off.'"
Lester, meantime, was about to make one last fateful walk to the mound. Up 2-1, the Rays tacked on an extra run when Willy Aybar connected on a misplaced cut fastball from Lester, posing at home plate as the ball sailed into the left field stands. It was 3-1, six outs to go, and it was almost time to send the carts full of champagne into the clubhouse again.
There would be one more harrowing inning, the interminable eighth, but this time, thanks largely to Price, it ended the way Game 5 should have, with the Rays finishing the job.
In the end, the Red Sox were still short by . . . something. Despite Lester's Game 7 effort, their starting pitchers posted just a 7.67 ERA. Despite David Ortiz's three-run homer that launched the Game 5 comeback, the big guy hit just .154 in the series. And despite Coco Crisp's eighth-inning single, Boston's leadoff hitters batted a combined .194 and drew only two walks.
"We played as hard as we could," said Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia, who hit a first-inning solo home run. "I guess we just ran out of magic."
