Rays: American League Champions
The Rays did it. Hats off to them. After Boston’s miraculous rally on Thursday, and their win on Saturday, the Rays’ pitching easily controlled game 7.
Matt Garza was spectacular. 7 innings, 2 hits, 1 run, 3 walks, 9 strikeouts. He held the Red Sox down. The only run was a solo homer fron Dustin Pedroia. This guy is amazing. He has a great arm at second, plus a wonderful bat. Anyway, after Garza, the Rays’ bullpen kicked in. It took 4 relievers in the 8th inning, but they got their goal done: preventing Boston to score when they had the bases loaded. It worked, as Boston left 8 runners on in the game. They certainly had their chances, but they were not able to get that clutch knock. On the pitching side, Jon Lester was not bad. He gave up only 3 runs, but it was enough to beat Boston.
The Red Sox really grew on me this postseason, and it was sad to see them lose like that. I’m used to that heartbreak because of the Padres. But just because I’m used to it doesn’t mean it’s easy. Losses in big games like that hurt. In the Padres case, they were constantly leaving the potential tying or winning runs on base. But they never got that clutch hit and so they lost. That’s a huge part of why we had 99 losses this year.
But how ’bout those Rays? They were nothing before this year and now they’re in the World Series. It’s pretty incredible. But I don’t think I’ll be able to root for them in the WS. I’ve been rooting against them for the last 7 games, and believe me, it’s not easy to flip around and immediately cheer for them. I think it would take a long time before a Red Sox fan could root for the Rays.
We’ll have to see how this goes. It will be very interesting. I’m not going to pick a team to win (I mean, Tampa Bay beat the Boston Red Sox and the Phillies beat the Los Angeles Dodgers for goodness sakes!!), but I will be rooting for Philly. So, GO PHILLIES!
Unfinished Business 