Rays knock Sox off, head for ALCS

The Tampa Bay Devil*Rays continued to defy their inexperience by defeating the Chicago White Sox 3-1 in a five game series. The Rays will move on to face the Boston Red Sox in the American League Championship Series. Boston defeated the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim 3-1 in the other American League playoff.

The Rays continued their hero-by-committee approach to winning baseball while beating Chicago. But special mention goes out to Andy Sonnanstine, who provided a solid start to the fourth game and handed off the lead to the excellent Rays bullpen. B. J. Upton also warrants special mention for rediscovering his power stroke (three homers in the past two games) and providing excellent defense.

As I've mentioned before, Boston deserves to be considered the favorite to represent the AL in the World Series. The Red Sox have the best batting lineup in the league and starting pitching perhaps a hair better than Tampa Bay's. The Rays feature a better bullpen, better overall defense and more speed on the basepaths as well as home field advantage. Boston, of course, has considerably more experience, but the Rays have thus far seemed sufficiently immune to the fatal effects of inexperience.

Though the season is already highly satisfying for Tampa Bay, Boston fans (as well as certain Boston players) are extremely obnoxious. Go Rays.

Plucky Devil*Rays drop White Sox in series opener

It was one game.

And it was a first.

The opening game of the divisional series between the Tampa Bay Devil*Rays and the Chicago White Sox turned into the Rays' first-ever playoff win.

The Rays used the regular season formula of solid pitching, sound defense and timely hitting to down the White Sox 6-4 at sold-out Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg.

The team continued its penchant for overlooking its lack of experience and poise in big games. As they have so frequently during the regular season, the team played with poise, professionalism and toughness.

Evan Longoria personified the Rays ability to deliver on potential by swatting homers in his first two playoff at-bats, in the process drawing comparisons to Alex Rodriguez's relative inability to deliver big at the plate during post-season. Ouch, if you're Rodriguez.

Naturally there's no guarantee of continued playoff success this season. The Rays could lose their next three in a row and settle for one win in the playoffs. But a win is a win, and this one's history.

Here's to an even more glorious team history in 2008.

Gross caps Rays series victory over Chisox with dinger

Gabe Gross, acquired early in the season, helped the Devil* Rays to a series win over the AL Central-leading Chicago White Sox with a 10th inning lead-off home run. The homer secured a 4-3 win for the Rays and a 3-1 series win. The Rays finished their longest home stand of the year thus far with a 8-2 record and next visit Boston to keep fighting over first place in the AL East.

Andy Sonnanstine allowed 3 earned runs in six innings. J. P. Howell (4-0) picked up the win in relief.

Devil* Rays blank Chisox to take 2-1 series lead

Mostly I stick with updating my Rays reports with a summary of each series. Tonight's victory was sweet enough to warrant an exception.

Pitcher Scott Kazmir extended his streak of fabulous pitching by hurling seven more shutout innings against the AL Central-leading White Sox and the bullpen made it stand for a 2-0 home win and guaranteeing the Rays no worse than a series draw in the four-game set.

The White Sox have proved a tough opponent. Chicago's pitching staff is every bit as solid as the Rays and the team has much more major league experience than the upstart Rays. Playing this well against tough teams bodes well for the rest of the season, especially since Tampa Bay has only shown hints of their offensive potential.