Red Sox Stay Alive

In an amazing 3 inning run, the Boston Red Sox went from seven outs away from elimination to forcing game 6 in Tampa Saturday night.  The Rays came out and jumped on Boston ace Daisuke Matsuzaka as BJ Upton continues his tear, belting a 2 run home run staking the Rays to the 1st inning lead.  The Rays home run derby they’ve put on throughout the series continued in the 3rd as Carlos Pena crushed one over the monster stretching the lead to 4-0.  In the 5th the long balls continued, this time Evan Longoria hit a solo blast, expanding the lead to 5-0.  In the top of the 7th Upton was once again did more damage with his bat doubling home a couple more runs, the lead was 7-0 and the Boston faithful were heading for home, thinking their season was over.

Then with 2 outs in the bottom of the 7th, Dustin Pedroia got a big 2 out single plating Jed Lowrie, setting the stage for Big Papi, who delivered a 3 run blast down the right field line closing the gap to 7-4, and the rally was on.  In the 8th 215 eternal villain, JD Drew pulled the Sawx closer with a 2 run homer and Coco Crisp finally completed the comeback, tying the game 7-7.  Then in the bottom of the 9th, JD Doosh hit a the game winning single scoring Kevin Youkilis from second, and the Red Soxs somehow forced a game 6 in Tropicana Field Saturday night.

ALCS Game 5 Preview

Well, after an amazing night in the 215 last night, the local sports scene takes a breather, as the Flyers are the only local team in action at Colorado.  We can shift some focus to scouting our Phillies potential World Series opponent (it feels so great to write that) as Game 5 of the ALCS is tonight in Boston.

The magical Rays try to move into the World Series tonight as they face Dice-K Matsuzaka and the Boston Red Sox in Fenway Park at 8pm.  The Red Sox find themselves in the similar position, down 3-1 in an ALCS, and the last two times they’ve completed the comeback en route to both of their World Series wins this decade.

Scott Kazmir takes the mound for the Rays.

In terms of effects on your Phightins, a Boston Red Sox comeback to a 7th game would be a dream scenario, letting these two teams beat each other up over seven games is really all any 215 fan should root for.  Look for AL Cy-Young candidate Matsuzaka to pitch well and live up to the moment tonight and force the series back to Tampa Bay for Game 6.

Final: Boston 4    Tampa 0

Swing and a Miss

Boston CF Coco Crisp was hit on the right hip by Tampa Bay right-hander James Shields, prompting a bench-clearing brawl in the second inning of the Red Sox’s 7-1 win Thursday night.

Crisp pulled a fakey by walking gingerly for a second then charged the mound, ducked a wild right by Shields before throwing a few punches that barely made contact with Shields before being tackled to the ground by catcher Dioner Navarro.

The Rays DH Jonny Gomes charged the mound from the dugout, jumped on Navarro and Crisp, and threw a few punches that hit Crisp while he was on the ground.

Crisp, Shields and Gomes were all ejected.  Expect major league baseball to be handing out suspensions today.