Rays First to Go

The Tampa Bay Rays, who needed a historic collapse from the Boston Red Sox to sneak into the postseason, were the first of the eight playoff clubs to be eliminated yesterday, less than a week after Evan Longoria and Dan Johnson belted timely home runs to push them into October.

They were disposed of in four games by the reigning American League champion Texas Rangers, who were clearly the superior team this season as their 96-66 record (Pythagorean W-L an even better 98-64) indicated.  The Rays won 91 games, which is exactly how much the Pythagorean model expected them to.  Despite having a strong defense and deeper starting rotation led by James Shields, David Price, and Jeremy Hellickson, their offense paled in comparison to Texas's loaded lineup that resembles an All-Star team with Ian Kinsler, Michael Young, 2010 MVP Josh Hamilton, Adrian Beltre, Nelson Cruz, Mike Napoli, and Elvis Andrus. 

That's why I was shocked to see Matt Moore, fresh off the farm, shut them out for seven innings in Arlington during Game One as the Rays demolished C.J. Wilson and won 9-0 behind Kelly Shoppach and Johnny Damon's combined three home runs and eight RBI.  Other than allowing a single and double to Hamilton, Moore and the bullpen (Brandon Gomes and Wade Davis) did not allow a hit to the Rangers' vaunted offense and recorded eight strikeouts. 

Game Two was a typical slugfest in Arlington, as the two teams put up 14 runs and 19 hits on the scoreboard in an eventual 8-6 Texas triumph that evened the series.  "Big Game James" did not live up to his billing, blowing a 3-0 lead in the fourth inning on the way to allowing seven earned runs and eight hits to the suddenly hot Ranger bats.  Derek Holland lasted just five innings for Texas and allowed eight baserunners, but limited the Rays to three runs (one earned) while the bats behind him jumped all over Shields.

With the series tied at one game apiece, the two teams flew to Florida where the Rangers advanced to the ALCS by taking the next two games, each by a score of 4-3.  Game Three unraveled for the Rays in the seventh inning when Price, seemingly in command and getting the best of Colby Lewis in a 1-0 game, fell apart and gave up four runs on a two-run single by Hamilton and a two-run blast by Napoli.  The Rays scored in the bottom of the frame on a Sean Rodriguez pinch-hit RBI single, then added another run the following inning on a Desmond Jennings solo shot, his second of the game, but couldn't overcome the one-run deficit and Neftali Feliz. 

Texas won Game Four with the long ball, scoring all four of its runs on solo homers; three from Beltre and one from Kinsler as Matt Harrison outdueled Hell-Boy.  Tampa made things interesting in the bottom of the ninth when Casey Kotchman singled in a run across against Feliz to trim the deficit to 4-3.  Matt Joyce and Jennings both came up as the potential winning runs, but Feliz regained his composure and induced a foul-out and a groundout to seal the game and end Tampa Bay's Cinderella story.

As Red Sox fans can tell Rays supporters, there's always next year.