Fenway Park
It was a different time. I was a time when the Rays admitted the Devil was in them and wore green vests. Yes, vests. Change was coming to those Rays though. They were showing signs of the team they were about to become, especially through the arm of Scott Kazmir and the bat of Carlos Pena. When they came to town in early September of 2007, the Devil Rays were scratching and clawing (like little girls) there way out of last place, while the Sox were clinging to first place with the red hot Yankees hot on their trail. The Sox-Rays rivalry was just a shell of what it would become, but nonetheless, better baseball is seldom seen. It was a fantastic three game series with all the twist and turns of a playoff series.
Game 1 pit the veteran Schilling against the young superstar Scott Kazmir. It was a tremendous pitching battle, ending in the Rays' 1-0 shutout of the Red Sox, with only 12 hits between the two teams. In stark contrast, Game 2 was a hitters' game. Wakefield, who had only 2 career losses against the Rays, took the mound. Wake, perhaps, had started to struggle with the same injuries that would eventually take him off the playoff roster. He gave up a pile of runs early and the Sox fell behind 8-1. The one run came on a homer by Jacoby Ellsbury. It was looking like it was going to be a long night. Well, it was a long night, but the Sox quickly started chipping away at that 7 run lead. A two RBI base hit by the now Yankee, Kevin Cash, helped to turn the tide. The Sox scored 3 runs in the 4th inning, bringing the score to 8-4. Although the Rays scored an additional run, the Sox piled on the basehits in the 5th inning, bringing themselves within one run. The score was now 9-8. Pedey got things going in the 6th inning with a solo homerun to tie the game at 9 runs apiece. That pretty much drove the pitcher out of the game and the Rays called on Grant Balfour. I love it when they call on Balfour! With some great at bats against the Aussie, the Sox then loaded the bases for Kevin Youkilis.
The Sox followed it up with a Big Papi homer and another homer by Drew. It was quite a night of baseball. In the end, The Sox beat the Devil Rays 16-10 and the teams combined for 38 hits.
Game 3 was another hard fought battle that resulted in the Sox trailing going into the 9th inning.
'nuff said.
No comments:
Post a Comment