MVN - Most Valuable Network

ALDS Review: The Keys To The Rays Success

Whew! Take a deep breath. The Rays are going to the ALCS and we have a few off days to relax. Before we start previewing the ALCS, we wanted to take a look back at a few key reasons for the Rays ALDS victory. Here’s our list:

Top of the Order: The Rays table setters definitely did the job in this series. The 1-2 punch of Aki Iwamura and B.J. Upton combined to go 12-36(.330) with a double, two triples, four home runs and eight RBI. The #3 guys(Carlos Pena, Willy Aybar and Carl Crawford) also did their job going a combined 8-16(.500) with four RBI. Carlos Pena lead the team with a .545 OBP for the series and Upton and Aki tied for the team lead with four RBI a piece in the four game series. So to total up all the numbers for the series, the Rays top of the order had a combined .380 average(20-52) with a double, two triples, four home runs, 12 RBI and 10 runs scored. Thats pretty good for five guys playing in their first postseason.~TR

Willy Aybar: Can we change the phrase “Johnny on the spot” to “Willy on the spot”? Aybar filled in for Carlos Pena at first base while Pena was on the DL in early June. It was Aybar’s first action in the Majors at the position and he held his own defensively. He also hit safely in 12 of the 18 games he played there. Then he did it again across the diamond at third when Evan Longoria went out with a broken bone in his arm in August. In 30 games filling in for Longoria, Aybar hit .308/.373/.525 with 14 extra base hits and 18 RBI. So naturally when Carlos Pena took himself out of the lineup with an eye injury in game one if the ALDS Willy Aybar stepped up with the game tying sac fly and then added a single and a run scored in the 5th inning.  He would follow that up the next day by going 2-3 with a double and another run scored. Not bad for a guy that was traded for Jeff Ridgway.~TR

Dioner Navarro: I said it earlier, but Dioner Navarro does not get enough credit for the job he does. Offensively, defensively and handling the pitching staff, Navi has done it all this year and done it all very well and that continued in this series. Navi caught a career high 117 games this year so he is in uncharted territory when it comes to the physical toll taken on his body. That didn’t stop him from catching every pitch in the ALDS and helping the Rays pitchers put up a 3.34 ERA in their first playoff series. But Navi didn’t stop there. He hit .400/.438/.600 with three doubles and three RBI for the series. The guy just comes up big in big situations and people really need to appreciate the job he’s doing out there.~TR

Defense: Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. Pitching and Defense wins championships. The Rays calling card all season long has been pitching and defense. Going into the ALDS there was some concern that maybe the Rays inexperience would make them jittery on the big stage. Those concerns would be unfounded as the Rays played flawless defense the whole series and did not commit one team error. The Rays also turned three double plays and made a few “web gems” including Gabe Gross robbing A.J. Pierzynski of a home run in the top of the first in game 4.~TR

Bullpen:  The main reason the Rays are where they are this season.  We all know that the Rays pen went from one of the worst in the history of baseball last season to one of the best in the majors this year.  A ginormous part of that were the performances of J.P. Howell and Grant Balfour, who we’re going to nick name Bread and Butter, and it continued in the ALDS.  The Rays starters didn’t go especially deep into any game, so Bread and Butter were continually called on in big spots, each pitching in three games and 7.2 innings combined.  They only allowed four hits in those innings and struck out 10 while giving up one walk.  Also Chad Bradford was used perfectly in this series, allowing one base runner in his three innings of work.  As a whole the bullpen allowed one run in their 11+ innings of work in the series.-EH

Evan Longoria:  Evan deserves all the credit in the world for a huge game one, helping the Rays set the tone early and propelling them to their 6-4 victory.  After that, it’s a different story.  It was like Evan didn’t even show up at the plate over the last three games of the series, getting only one hit in his final 12 at bats while walking once and striking out 6 times.  He’s always there with the glove and made some fine defensive players, and I know that other players like Iwamura and Upton stepped up when Evan’s bat went cold, but I the Rays are going to need him to swing the bat well for them to take down Boston. -EH

Starters:  None of the starters were especially outstanding in the four games, but none killed the team either.  The starters gave the Rays a chance to win every game in the series and that’s all you can ask for.  James Shields was classic James Shields, allowing an early home run then buckling down and getting the win.  Scott Kazmir had trouble early on also, but like Shields he actually calmed down and pitched well after the first inning.  Matt Garza hit a bit of a rough patch in the fourth inning after moving through the first three innings easily, but rebounded and gave the team six innings of work.  Even though Andy Sonnanstine only worked 5.2 innings I think his performance was the best of all.  If the Rays lose game 5 then all the pressure is on them and who knows what happens.  Andy came out and pitched very well, allowing only two solo home runs to this White Sox team.  He could have gone longer, he was at only 75 pitches when he was pulled, but it was another solid start in a big game by Sonnanstine.  As a whole the starters allowed only three home runs to a White Sox team that lead the league in homers during the regular season.  If they can pitch this well, or just a bit better, against the Red Sox I like the teams chances.-EH

Joe Maddon:  Joe Maddon didn’t make any spectacular managerial decisions during the series, but he did make all of the right moves at the right times and showed why he is going to be AL Manager of the Year.  Maddon stuck with what brought him here and didn’t try and get too cute with anything.  He brought Balfour and Howell in at the absolute right times and pinch hit when he needed to.  For every move that Ozzie Guillen had, Maddon had a counter.  After Sonnanstine looked to be getting hard and possibly headed for a big inning, Maddon wasn’t afraid to pull him out after only 74 pitches, knowing Howell could come in get the left hander Jim Thome.  In game three Maddon brought Trever Miller in to face left handed A.J. Pierzynski, eventually allowing a walk.  If this were a regular season game I think Maddon would have saved his pen and allowed Miller to face the right handed Jermaine Dye.  Knowing he couldn’t afford to give up anymore runs Maddon brought in Chad Bradford and Bradford got Dye to ground into a double play.  The best move I thought Maddon made was letting Bradford face the heart of the White Sox order in the 9th inning of game two.  The Rays scored insurance runs in the 8th inning so Dan Wheeler wasn’t really needed, but with a must win game on the line I think Maddon would have gone with Bradford anyway in that situation.  The White Sox are a power hitting lineup and Wheeler has allowed his share of home runs this season, so using Bradford, an extreme ground ball pitcher, was a brilliant move. -EH

Now all they need is to do all these things over again in just a few days and we’ll be happy.

Rays Are Going To The ALCS, Defeat White Sox 6-2

ALCS Game 4(Rays Win Series 3-1)

Rays 6, White Sox 2

WP: Andy Sonnanstine(1-0)

LP: Gavin Floyd(0-1)

Inside The Box Score:

• B.J. Upton: 2-4, 2HR(3), 2RBI(4), BB.  Set the tone with a home run in the first inning.
• Carlos Pena: 3-4, 2RBI(2), BB, 2SB(2)
• Cliff Floyd: 1-2, RBI(1), 2B(1)
• Dioner Navarro: 1-4, RBI(3)
• Aki Iwamura: 2-5, 2B(1)
• Jason Bartlett: 1-4, 2B(1)
• Carl Crawford: 0-2, 2BB, 2SB(3)
• Gabe Gross: 0-3, BB, Great leaping catch at the wall to rob Pierzynski of extra bases.
• Evan Longoria: 0-5, 3K, 6LOB
• Andy Sonnanstine(W, 1-0): 5.2IP, 3H, 2R, 2ER, 1BB, 4K, 2HR
• J.P. Howell(H,3): 1.1IP, 1H, 0R, 0ER, 0BB, 1K, 0HR
• Grant Balfour: 2IP, 0H, 0R, 0ER, 1BB, 2K, 0HR

Erik’s Take:  Glad to see the Rays come out and jump on Gavin Floyd early.  As I pointed out yesterday Floyd can give up the deep ball, more than almost anyone in the American League, and B.J. took advantage.  The team also took advantage of Floyd’s inability to hold runners on, and Pierzynski’s poor arm, to rack up four stolen bases. 

Sonnanstine pitched well, only allowing those two solo shots.  Maddon wasn’t going to mess around last night, pulling Andy after only 74 pitches.  He went to his bread and butter, J.P. Howell and Grant Balfour.  They shut it down and the Rays advanced. 

Good to see Crawford letting it loose on the bases again.  When he’s healthy and getting on base this is a whole different lineup.  Longoria didn’t look so hot after his amazing game one.  Hopefully he can get it going again against the Red Sox. 

Like Tommy said, this team hasn’t been getting the respect it deserves all season.  Yes many articles have been written about what a good story the team is, but everyone expected them to fade or show their inexperience at some point.  It hasn’t happened yet.  They get to face the most experienced team left in the playoffs now, you knew it had to come down to these two, didn’t you?

Tommy posted his take in the previous post and we’ll have a full ALDS recap up sometime this afternoon.

Upton Blacksout White Sox Season; Rays Move On To ALCS

And that happened. The unlikeliest AL East Champs just became the unlikeliest team to move on to the American League Championship Series. The Rays took their latest step forward tonight in their improbable 2008 season by defeating the White Sox 6-2 to clinch their first ALDS victory 3-1.  

It was yet another hero stepping up for the Rays tonight as B.J. Upton, who has been heavily criticized all season, delivered two home runs tonight including a solo shot in the first inning that set the tone and put the Rays up 1-0. Upton would add another solo shot in the 3rd inning, his 3rd homer of the series, to put the Rays up 2-0.  The Rays would add two more runs in the 4th inning on an RBI double by Cliff Floyd and another clutch RBI base hit by Dioner Navarro to put the Rays up 4-0.

The White Sox hitters struggled all night, falling behind Rays starter Andy Sonnanstine. Sonny, working on 10 days of rest, showed us all why he was chosen over the Edwin Jackson to be the Rays 4th starter. He’s ability to throw strikes set him apart from Jackson and that was the main reason he was able to get the win in this ALDS clincher. Sonny threw 70.6% of his 75 pitches for strikes and held the Sox hitters to just two runs on three hits and a walk. He gave up two home runs, but was able to minimize the damage by giving up just solo shots.  Sonny has given the Rays big starts over the last six weeks and none was bigger than this one.

Carlos Pena had three hits tonight included two RBI singles that put up some “jug” runs on the board and put the Rays up for good 6-2. The Rays top of the order(Iwamura, Upton & Pena) produced all series long and today was no different.

Also producing for the Rays all series long was the bullpen which has really been excellent all season. The 1-2 punch of J.P. Howell & Grant Balfour came up huge again with 3.1 shutout innings. Howell came on in relief of Sonnanstine and worked one out in the six inning and also worked a scoreless seventh. Balfour came in pumping fastballs and was able to record the final six outs including a strikeout of Ken Griffey Jr. to end the series.

Another big part of the Rays success tonight, and all series long, was speed. The Rays had four more steals tonight including two by slugger Carlos Pena. Pena was also caught stealing once. Carl Crawford continues to prove that he is healthy with two consecutive swipes.

The Rays were supposed to contend for .500 at season’s beginning. In June, they were just a nice story, but they were destined to fail. Before the All Star break they crashed to reality, losing first place and were supposed to never get it back. In August, they were peaking too early and would collapse in September. In September, the pressure would get to them and the Red Sox were supposed to catch them and win the East. Once the Rays won the East and clinched a spot in the ALDS their experience was going catch up to them come October.

They would open the ALDS against the more experienced White Sox, who won three straight elimination games to get there. The Sox would have much of their 2005 World Series team in tact and Mark Buehrle, one of the tough lefties that was supposed shut the Rays down, said he wanted to face the Rays because he thought they were the easier matchup. Oops, somebody forgot to tell the Rays all that. The Rays brushed the dirt off their shoulders all season long and now are just four wins away from going to the World Series.

Well now what are they going to say? My bet is nothing. When push comes to shove the Rays have passed every test put in front of them. We are going to the ALCS Rays Fans. 9 now equals 4. GO RAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Garza Struggles In 4th, Rays Fall To Pale Hose; Lead Series 2-1

“I let my team down.  I had good enough stuff to put us over the top, and today was my fault.  They gave me the three runs I needed, and I failed.”–Matt Garza

ALDS Game 3(Rays Lead Series 2-1)

White Sox 5, Rays 3

WP: John Danks(1-0)

LP: Matt Garza(0-1)

SV: Bobby Jenks(1)

Inside The Box Score:

• B.J. Upton: 2-5, HR(1), 2RBI(2)

• Aki Iwamura: 2-5, RBI(4)

• Dioner Navarro: 2-3, 2B, R

• Evan Longoria/Carl Crawford/Willy Aybar: 0-11, 4K, 1BB

• Matt Garza(L, 0-1): 6IP, 7H, 5R, 5ER, 4BB, 4K, 0HR

Erik’s Take:  Garza shouldn’t take the loss so hard.  He pitched ok, not as well as he could have, but the Rays offense didn’t give him a ton of runs to work with.  He did commit the cardinal sin for a pitcher, walking the leadoff man.  He did that twice and both times the runner ended up scoring.  Those runs ended up being the difference in the game. 

The Rays lost even though they didn’t allow a home run to the White Sox.  The White Sox generate most of their runs by the home run, so their winning the game without one is surprising.  The Rays missed a big opportunity there. 

B.J. did his best to keep the team in the game, launching a ball into left field that hasn’t landed yet.  Good to see him with a power stroke.  It’s been an off year because of his shoulder injury, but that’s a glimpse of the kind of power he has. 

The team wasted a couple of good opportunities early against Danks.  If you want to win a game like that against the other team’s best pitcher you can’t miss early chances to blow the game open.

Tommy’s Take: The Rays just didn’t have the magic today. They were able to come from behind in the previous two games, but the Sox didn’t let them get back in this one. To the Rays credit they fought all game and even brought Carlos Pena up in the 9th inning as the tying run, but it was not meant to be.

Once again the 4th inning was the achillies heel of Matt Garza. In the regular season opponents had an OPS of .827 against Garza in the 4th, the highest of any inning. That trend seems to have continued over to the playoffs. All in all it wasn’t a terrible start by Garza. He was able to keep the Sox in the park which was good, but as Erik said he gave them way too many free passes.

The top of the order produced for the Rays going a combined 6-15(.400) with all three RBI. The Rest of the line up went 2-20 with Dioner Navarro having both hits. It’s going to be tough on most nights when your 4-9 hitters don’t give you any help. Hat tip to the one armed man in B.J. for hitting a home run with a torn labrum look almost effortless.

The Rays have shown an incredible ability to bounce back after tough losses, so I’ve trained myself not to get down after a game like yesterday. I have confidence in the way the team played yesterday and have confidence in Andy Sonnanstine. The Rays have a chance to make everything right in just a few hours.

Rays Next Game:  Andy Sonnanstine(13-9, 4.38) looks to step it up again in a big game.  If he can pitch like he did in the two close wins against Boston in September the Rays will have a good shot at taking the series tonight.  In three starts against the White Sox this season Andy is 1-0 with a 3.00ERA and 1.14 WHIP.  He hurled a complete game shut out against them way back on April 19th.  He also actually has a lower ERA(4.35 to 4.40) and WHIP(1.21 to 1.37) on the road.  He’ll be opposed by Gavin Floyd(17-8, 3.84).  Floyd has had a breakout season, but has yet to face the Rays.  Floyd has been very good at home, going 10-3 with a 3.55ERA and .209BAA.  He is prone to give up the long ball however, allowing 30 during the regular season.  Hopefully Carlos Pena and friends can get ahold of a couple.

OPS ALDS Notebook:

• Stupid Question of The Day:  Carl Crawford has never been to the playoffs before, but a Tampa TV reporter still asked him if winning the clinching game in a series is the hardest.  “I don’t really know,” Crawford said, “because I’ve never been in that situation.”

Rays & Matt Garza Prepare For Sweep; Pena Expects To Play

The Rays spent a relatively quiet day on Chicago’s southside yesterday. While the north side watched the Cubs collapse again, the Rays went through workouts on a chilly day at US Cellular field. The Rays got good news on the injury front as Carlos Pena declared himself healed and ready to go for today’s game 3. Pena was originally in the lineup for game 2, but still had some effects from his scratched cornea.

From tbo.com

“It’s definitely healed, and today I feel as normal as I did before all this happened.” “I don’t expect it to have to go through that,” he said. “I feel pretty good right now, I’m going to go practice, and I don’t expect any type of trouble. So right now I’ll just assume that I’m going to be in the lineup tomorrow.” –Carlos Pena

With the White Sox throwing another left hander today in John Danks, Willy Aybar should remain in the Rays lineup as the DH. Rocco Baldelli is expected to get the start in right field. The Rays could also opt to play Fernando Perez in right and have Baldelli as the DH.

Matt Garza has not faced the White Sox this year, but comes into the game with a lifetime record of 1-1 with a 4.97 ERA in three starts against them. However, Garza has been pretty good at US Cellular field. Garza comes into today’s start with a 2.70 ERA at the White Sox home park. All three of Garza’s complete games this year have come on the road including two shutouts.

For the White Sox, they will turn to arguably their best pitcher in John Danks. Danks comes in to the game with a higher home ERA(3.66) than road ERA(2.92), but he has dominated the Rays this season. Danks is 2-1 in three starts vs. the Rays and boasts an ERA of 1.86 and a WHIP of 0.98 against Tampa Bay. Rays hitters are hitting just .219 vs. the lefty this year.

The Rays expect the crowd to be rowdy, but Matt Garza for one doesn’t mind going into enemy territory.

“I just like when people don’t like me,” Garza said. If he can pitch like the Matt Garza we’ve seen this year, the White Sox nor their fans will like him at all.

Iwamura’s 2 Run Blast Gives Rays 2-0 Series Lead; Pena Sits

“I like the attitude. I like the way we’re going about our business.”  Joe Maddon

ALDS Game 2 (Rays Lead Series 2-0)

Rays 6, White Sox 2

WP: Scott Kazmir(1-0)

LP: Mark Buehrle(0-1)

Inside The Box Score

• Each Rays starter registered at least one hit.

• Aki Iwamura: 1-4, HR(1), 2 RBI(3), run scored, go-ahead game winning HR.

• B.J. Upton: 1-4, 3B(1), run scored

• Carl Crawford: 2-4, RBI(2), run scored

• Willy Aybar: 2-3, 2B(1), run scored

• Rocco Baldelli: 1-4, RBI(1), run scored

• Dioner Navarro: 2-4, 2B(2), 2 RBI(2)

• Scott Kazmir(W): 5.1 IP, 8 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 4 K’s 

• Grant Balfour(H,2): 0.2 IP, 2 H, O ER, O BB, O K

• J.P. Howell(H,2): 2 IP, 1 H, O ER, O BB, 3 K’s

 

Tommy’s Take: Another typical Rays win. Scott Kazmir comes out and does his best Scott Kazmir impression. Willy Aybar steps in again and the team doesn’t miss a beat. A new hero in Aki Iwamura stepped up and got a huge hit,  then J.P. Howell and Grant Balfour went to work and shut down the opponents lineup over final few frames. The Rays have not looked like a “young team in their first playoffs.” They are staying within themselves and fighting until the end and I love it.

You saw the best and worst of Scott Kazmir in this game. He threw over 30+ pitches in the first inning. He gave up two runs on three hits, a walk and a HBP to lead off the game.  Like so many times before Kazmir was his own worst enemy. He got ahead of hitters and then was unable to finish them off. This lead to deeper pitch counts and he could not get in rhythm. Luckily for the Rays he was able to invoke his inner James Shields and settle down after the 2nd inning. Kaz allowed just four singles and no walks over his final 3.1 IP. 

The Rays are going to need Kazmir and Garza to step up behind Shields, and tonight it seems that after a rough start Kaz was able to elevate his game.

Excellent effort from the lineup top to bottom. Unlike game 1 where Evan Longoria was the clear cut star, the offense as a whole came up big all night.  Dioner Navarro is really being overlooked in my opinion. He came up in two critical situations last night and delivered RBI hits both times. Pena and Longoria get all the glory, but has there been a guy who has had bigger hits for this team over the last five to six weeks than Navi?

Huge go ahead HR by Aki. I love Aki because to him it’s just business as usual. When asked about the home run he has he knew it was gone. That’s it, that was his only quote.

What Navarro has been to the offense over the past month is what J.P. Howell and Grant Balfour have been to the Rays bullpen. Balfour came in the game to pickup Kazmir and then J.P. came in to pickup Balfour. These two guys continue to be the glue that holds this team together and tonight was no exception.

I can’t believe the Rays are up 2-0 in the ALDS and have done it without Carlos Pena. Truly a team effort.

Erik’s Take:  Before the game Tommy and I tried to guess what Kazmir’s line would look like.  He had more faith in Kaz than I did, predicting he would go seven innings and allow two runs.  I was a little bit closer, saying five innings pitched and three earned runs.  The first inning was so frustrating, as most of Kazmir’s starts are.  He did look good the rest of his time out there, however.  Navi needs to get in a fight with Kaz like he did with Garza.

Like Tommy said, no one player stood out above the rest tonight.  I think the two biggest hits of the night were Aki’s home run(his first against a left handed pitcher all season), and the lead off triple in the 8th by B.J. Upton.  The Rays only had a one run lead at that point, so his triple, and run scored after a Crawford single, gave the team the breathing room it needed going into the 9th. 

Even though the team had a four run lead going into the 9th so Dan Wheeler wasn’t needed, I would have liked to see Chad Bradford face the middle of the White Sox order anyway.  The White Sox are a home run team plain and simple.  Maddon likes to play the matchups, and Bradford gets more groundballs than anyone on this team, so having him face Dye, Konerko and Thome was a smart play.

Carlos Pena who?  Good job Willy.

I hope Matt Garza’s emotions don’t get the best of him tomorrow. 

Rays Next Game:

The Rays, as well as my heart and stomach, get a well deserved off day today. They will resume the series tomorrow in Chicago. First pitch is 4:07 PM(est).

OPS ALDS Notebook:

• Carlos Pena was in Joe Maddon’s original lineup for game 2, but after pre-game warm ups and a conversation with Maddon Pena was scratched from the lineup with continued blurred vision. His scratched left cornea should be healed in time for tomorrow’s game.

• Troy Percival will throw in an instructional league game today. The Rays are trying to keep Percy sharp and hope he is able to re-join the team for a possible ALCS.

• The Rays pitchers were able to keep the White Sox hitters in the park. The Sox are now 8-32 in games in which they do not hit a home run.

Carlos Pena Back In Rays Lineup For Game 2

As expected Carlos Pena will assume his position at first base and his #3 spot in the lineup for game 2 of the ALDS. Pena left Thursday’s game with blurred vision, a side effect from a scratched cornea. The injury takes about 24 hours to heal, so Los should be 100%. 

The Rays will also start Rocco Baldelli in right field and Willy Aybar at DH against the left handed Mark Buehrle.  Erik and I will be at the game again, so hopefully we will be able to report about another win tomorrow. Here is the rest of the Rays lineup:

AkI Iwamura 2B

B.J. Upton CF

Carlos Pena 1B

Evan Longoria 3B

Carl Crawford LF

Rocco Baldelli RF

Dioner Navarro C

WillyAybar DH

Jason Bartlett SS

Scott Kazmir P

Teams that have won game 1 of a divisional series have went on to win the series 67% of the time. Teams that go up 2-0 have won at a 84% clip.

Longoria Homers Twice, Rays Win First Playoff Game 6-4

 “We’ve been playing like this the whole year — why change now?” Dioner Navarro

ALDS Game 1:

Rays 6, White Sox 4

WP: James Shields(1-0)

LP: Javier Vazquez(0-1)

S: Dan Wheeler(1)

Inside The Box Score:

• Evan Longoria: 3-3, 2HR(2), 3RBI(3), SB(1), BB
• Aki Iwamura: 2-4, 3B(1), RBI(1), BB
• Carl Crawford: 1-4, RBI(1)
• Willy Aybar: 1-2, RBI(1)
• James Shields(W, 1-0): 6.1IP, 6H, 3R, 3ER, 1BB, 4K, 1HR
• Grant Balfour(H,1): 0.2IP, 0H, 0R, 0ER, 0BB, 2K, 0HR.  Came in with the bases loaded and 1 out, struck out the two batters he faced.
• J.P. Howell(H, 1): 1.0IP, 0H, 0R, 0ER, 0BB, 2K, 0HR
• Dan Wheeler(S, 1): 1.0IP, 1H, 1R, 1ER, 0BB, 1K, 1HR

Erik’s Take:  That was amazing.  I couldn’t have asked for a better experience for my first playoff game.  The national anthem was amazing, the crowd was electric, and the game was classic Rays baseball.

Tommy mentioned this to me earlier, and he’s 100 percent correct.  This game was won in classic Rays fashion.  Shields was very Shieldsian, giving up a multi-run bomb then locking it down.  The team had to come from behind, Longoria comes up with some big hits, Balfour has two huge strikeouts, Wheeler is shaky but effective.  It was like watching a game from mid-June.

I know we all want Grant Balfour to be the closer, but I don’t think any other Rays reliever could have come in to that situation and been as dominant as he was.  The game needed to be saved right there and Maddon brought in his best reliever to make sure the Rays remained ahead.  If the Rays get a big lead in any of these games Orlando Cabrera better watch out because he’s probably getting a fast ball to the ribcage. 

Willy Aybar stepped in and played well in Carlos Pena’s absence.  Pena suffered some blurred vision in his left eye, but should be able to play tonight.  He provides the other power bat in the lineup to go with Longoria. 

They don’t call him Cardiac Dan Wheeler for nothing.  He never seems to make it easy, on his team or on my heart.

Ok Scott Kazmir, you’ve been here a long time.  You’ve been a good pitcher for this franchise.  You’re the marquee name on the staff.  Come out tonight and remind everyone why.

Tommy’s Take: Whew, that was something. That was a once in a lifetime experience. The crowd was into the game from the first pitch until the last. The mohawks were in full effect and everybody and their mother had a cowbell, including the guy to my right who had an industrial sized cowbell and damaged my hearing permanently.

This Longoria kid may work out. I mean he could be something special one day. Two pitches two home runs, and both home runs put the Rays ahead.  When he wasn’t hitting home runs he contributed with an RBI single. By the 8th inning Ozzie Guillen wanted no part of him and Clayton Richard employed the unintentional intentional walk.

Gary Shelton wrote a column this week asking for a Rays pitcher to step up as the ace.  Um, I hope he realizes that James Shields has been that ace all season long. Big Game James delivered again on the big stage. In classic Shieldsian fashion, he gave up an early bomb, worked out of a jam and then went into lockdown mode(with an assist to Grant Balfour). Shields gave the Rays exactly what they needed and that is a quality effort to set the tone of the playoffs.

Speaking of setting a tone, how bout that Grant Balfour? Balfour really set the tone for the series by coming into a HUGE situation with the bases loaded and one out and getting the two biggest K’s of his career. Also memo to Orlando Cabrera, you maybe able to intimidate a scorer to change an error to a hit, but you are not going to intimidate Grant Balfour. Take your K and sit down.

Erik ate his sweatshirt and I almost ate my hands during Dan Wheeler’s 9th inning. He got the job done that’s all I’m going to say about that.

Rays Next Game:

Here you go “ace.” Scott Kazmir(12-8, 3.49 ERA) will take the mound in game two against Mark Buehrle(15-12, 3.79 ERA).  Kaz is 3-1 with a 3.34 ERA is five career starts against the White Sox including 1-0 with a 2.08 ERA in two starts this year. He is 8-2 with a 2.90 ERA at home this year. His home WHIP is 1.29 and his home BAA is 1.97.

Buehrle is 0-1 with a 4.58 ERA in three starts vs the Rays this year including two starts at the Trop. His road ERA of 5.05 is almost double his home ERA of 2.65.  His career ERA at the Trop is 4.79 including 5.54 this year.

OPS Notebook

• Carlos Pena left the game with blurred vision. Los scratched his cornea on Wednesday night and the injury usually takes a full 24 hours to heal. He is expected to be in the Rays lineup with no problems tonight.

“It’s one of those quick-healing things,” Maddon said

• Evan Longoria became only the second player in MLB postseason history to homer in his first two at-bats(Gary Gaetti 1987) and was the first rookie to accomplish the feat.

OPS Site Note: As you all know we are Rays fans first and foremost. We will be attending as many of the playoff games as we can including all the ALDS games. We will try to get the recaps up as soon as possible after a game, but if there is a little delay this is the reason why.