MLB Postseason Recap

Blowout city in Boston, with the Rays taking a commanding 3-1 lead in the ALCS:
Tampa Bay Rays 13 Boston Red Sox 4: The Tampa Bay Rays are now 1 game away from making their first ever World Series. You have to be impressed with the way the Rays have played this series. They jumped all over Tim Wakefield early and didn't look back in this one. They are absolutely murdering the ball right now. The pitching is on point and the defense for the most part is making all the plays when they need to be made. Anytime you bang out 14 hits and walk 7 times you are going to have a damn good chance of winning. Carl Crawford and Willy Aybar combined for 9 of those 14 hits, including a monster home run from Aybar. They also drove in 7 of the Rays 13 runs. The Rays are so locked in on offense that it is ridiculous. I would not want to be facing the middle of their lineup right now.

The Rays also got an impressive pitching performance from the unheralded Andy Sonnanstine, who went 7 and 1/3 innings giving up just 3 earned runs. Sonnanstine let his defense do most of the work inducing 11 fly ball outs and 9 ground ball outs. Edwin Jackson came in to finish off the game and god damn was he throwing heat or what? If David Price is in the rotation next season, could Jackson possibly be the closer for the Rays next season? He certainly has the stuff to do so.
The Red Sox continue to struggle at the plate and are hitting just .232 in the series. Their pitching was also horrendous last night both starting and relieving and have been tuned up for a 7.17 ERA in the series. So right now it looks as though the Rays are the far better team than the Red Sox and are simply dismantling them in impressive fashion. The one hope the Red Sox have is that they have Dice-K, Josh Beckett, and Jon Lester going in Games 4, 5, & 6 and all three pitchers are capable of shut down performances. Right now the Rays look like they are on their way to the World Series, but Boston certainly still has a small chance to make things interesting for the Rays. However, there is really nothing to suggest that all 3 of Boston's starters will pitch well. It is certainly a possibility though and history shows are recently as last season against the Indians that the Red Sox can win 3 elimination games in a row. The Rays have to keep their foot on that pedal and continue to go full throttle.

Put On Notice: Dice-K, Red Sox lineup