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| Male
19 years old
SAUGUS, MA |
Ray-diculous
The Tampa Bay Rays have never in their franchise history entered the month of July in first place. As a matter of fact, they have never entered the month of July behind by single digits in terms of games back. Here in 2008, we have seen first hand what having the first round pick every single year can do for a team. The Rays have taken the first two games of this three game series at the Trop and are looking to sweep the Red Sox for the second time this season. The Red Sox now look at the American League East division standings and see that they are now down by 2.5 games, their largest distance in the wrong direction away from first place since April 9.
The Red Sox just can’t seem to catch a break. When they get pitching, they can’t get offense, when they get offense, they can’t get pitching. Losers of their last four straight, the Red Sox have seen their lead in the AL East diminish and then some. The Red Sox were 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position on Tuesday night and left a total of eight men on base. The 3-1 loss wasted a quality start by Tim Wakefield who contributed with seven innings, two runs (one earned) on five hits.
Matt Garza, who is a completely different pitcher at home than he is on the road, dominated the Red Sox for seven solid innings. Garza is 5-1 with an ERA of 2.18 at home and has an ERA more than double that on the road. With numbers like the ones he posted tonight, it doesn’t take an ESPN expert to figure out he was throwing at the Trop tonight. Seven innings, one run (not earned) on five hits while striking out three.
Surely the Red Sox are missing the bat of David Ortiz as they have lost the past four games by a total of five runs combined. The one positive that is to come out of the recent dip in the standings is that at least they are in every single game. They haven’t been blown out at all and remain competitive. Of course from a fan’s standpoint, we would much rather be blown out than have to suffer a one-run loss with runners in scoring position.
Grant Balfour was summoned to shut down the Red Sox for four outs and did just that. Balfour mowed down the Red Sox in the ninth inning striking out Kevin Youkilis, Brandon Moss and Jason Varitek with an irrelevant Alex Cora double mixed in between. The big surprise of the series so far hasn’t been the Rays on field success because we all knew what they were capable of, rather it was that of the fans at the Trop. We as fans cannot remember a time where there were no “Let’s go Red Sox” chants and when Red Sox pitchers get taken out of the game after a great outing there being no standing ovation for them. Any team can have a hot start but the Rays are for real and this series is living proof.
The Red Sox lone run was driven in on a sacrifice fly by JD Drew as the offensive woes continue. It won’t get any easier for the Boston bats tomorrow as they have to go up against one of the premier leftys in the game in Scott Kazmir (7-3, 2,28 ERA). Regardless of the outcome of tomorrow’s game, the Red Sox will leave St. Pete in second place.
-Jared Carrabis
-CARRABIS 13
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