Tampa Bay a step away after 13-4 clobbering of Sox

Evan Longoria hit his fifth home run in the playoffs, and Carlos Pena and Willy Aybar also homered, in Tampa Bay’s 13-4 trouncing of Boston, giving the buzzsaw Rays a commanding 3-1 lead, just like the Phillies. The Rays, who finished with the worst record in baseball last season, teed off on knuckleballer Tim Wakefield, including back-to-back bombs in the first. The Rays received 7 1-3 excellent innings from starter Andy Sonnastine, part of a pitching staff that has performed well throughout the post-season.

Comments

[Bubba]

We can't look past the Dodgers. Still have one more win to get.

Shane Victorino in his blog--"It just goes to show how we're never out of a game. That said, this series is far from over. It's seven games for a reason. They're going to come out strong and try and take it. We can't let them."

Go Phils- win tonight

[loctastic]

I haven't been watching this series, I'm just hoping Boston comes back a bit to tire Tampa out.

[bob]

i actually hope tampa ends this quickly and has to take a break between now and the WS; a break that might throw off their timing and cool them off a la Rockies'07. at this point, with all of these breaks in between games, no one is all that "tired".
one thing in the phillies favor IF they get to the WS is that they haven't really peaked yet offensively, but you can see the momentum starting to build with guys in the bottom of the order hitting more than usual. if they can start peaking a week from today...

[GoPhilsGo]

Imagine the Phils vs. the Rays in the "bandbox". You might see football scores.

Hamels is going to shut down LA tonight.

[Andy]

Jason, you have a typo. You put an "n" on the end of Longoria's first name.

[tarheelphan]

I kind of feel bad for Evan Longoria. We saw him a couple times down here when he was in AAA with the Durham Bulls and even the home crowd was razzing him over his name. When your own fans give you grief, what's a guy to do?

[BobbyD]

I've been saying all along I don't want Tampa.

2004 Bucs win Super Bowl, beating Eagles in NFC Championship game.

2005 Lightning win Stanley Cup, beating Flyers in Eastern Conference Finals.

Can you imaging if the city of Tampa gets 3 championships in 3 different sports this decade, all at the expense of Philadelphia? I'm not saying it will happen but it certainly could.

[Jimmie J.]

Wakefield seemed to be a wiffleball pitcher in the first couple of innings. I probably could've checked in with a base hit...

[CY]

Competitive wiffleball is very hard. You may want to change that reference to slow pitch softball. It worked for Moyer.

[Lake Fred]

Yeh, I don't want Tampa in the WS. The lone WS title the Phillies have from 1980 isn't valued highly because it was only against the lowly Royals. If it was the Yankees or Red Sox, then it would command respect. A WS against Tampa would have little value if we win, and would be horrible if we lose. It's time for all BLers to now root for Dice K to win tomorrow, then for the BoSox to extend it and win it in 7. Then, we can avenge those IL games from this past June.

I do think that tonight will end the Dodgers postseason. Cole will beat Barbara Billingsley's boy, the Beaver, tonight.

[Andy]

Slow pitch would work for Matt Stairs, too.

[Andy]

You know what? I don't care who they beat. If the Phils win the WS they win the WS.

(Is anybody saying that all these American League WS winners should have an asterix because the NL has been a "weaker" league?)

Plus, really, do you want to listen to more games where the Sawx are celebrated? At least with the Rays there will be two narratives.

[Bubba]

I would love Tampa Bay- Philadelphia just to drive the media moguls off their rocker.
NY, La, Chi-town all gone from the radar screen.
Agree w/ Andy- the broadcasters might actually have to focus on baseball since their pre-scripted story lines are not relevant.

But first there is the urgent need of one more win in the NLCS.

[GoPhilsGo]

Headline from today's LA Times:

"Dodgers trail series because Phillies are a better team". That says it all.

[Chris]

Well, the Rays used to have teal on their uniforms. That - and their lousy dome - is reason enough to hate them. They wizened up, of course, and got better unis, but their dome still sucks.

[Hugh Mulcahy]

If the Rays get any more wizened, they won't be much opposition.

[doubleh]

Wakefield had apparently had 2 weeks off before he pitched last night; all his pitches were up in the zone. I think the Phils could have tatooed him.

On First Take this am, Joel Maddon says they are moving Kazmir up to pitch tomorrow instead of Sheilds. I find it odd that you don't want your best pitcher in a potential clincher against the Sox' best if you can do it.

[Grumpy Gramps]

@ doubleh - My understanding is that Sheilds had a problem with the ump behind the plate that's scheduled for game 5 earlier in the year, and he is 0-2 against the Sox in Boston and 2-0 in Tampa this year.

[NCPhilly]

I'll go with Grumpy Gramps point. I know in previous years Kazmir has pitched well against the Red Sox, but no so much this year.

[doubleh]

Gramps: Gotcha. I guess it doesn't matter when they clinch it, because it just seems inevitable. The Sox don't seem very hungry for it this year.

[Grumpy Gramps]

doubleh: You have to remember the Sox this year are Mannyless and Manny is Soxless...that combo would still scare me. Go Phils!!!!!!

[J. Weitzel]

Test test