Differing fates for Sox
BOSTON — The past postseason stars are gone. A new breed keeps the Red Sox winning.
Curt Schilling, Manny Ramirez, even Mike Lowell — all World Series MVPs — are missing from the group of players Boston will take into the AL championship series.
Jon Lester, Jason Bay and Jed Lowrie — all keys to the victory that sent the Red Sox there.
"It just shows you the work of this organization to bring young people in," Josh Beckett said, "and what they did for us."
Lester pitched seven shutout innings and Bay slid home with the winning run on Lowrie's single in the ninth. That gave Boston a 3-2 win Monday night, helped by a botched squeeze play in the ninth, and clinched the first-round series 3-1 over the Los Angeles Angels, their major-league best 100 wins a bittersweet reminder of what might have been.
Now the Red Sox move on to Tampa Bay to open the best-of-seven ALCS on the road Friday night against the Rays, who beat them by two games in the AL East standings.
"I can't imagine that it'll get more intense than this," Bay said, "but it will."
In four full seasons with Pittsburgh, he never made the playoffs. Now he's there, thanks to a three-team trade July 31 that sent Ramirez to the Los Angeles Dodgers and brought Bay to play left field.
Lowrie was a nonroster invitee to spring training and played 17 games with Boston in April and May before going to the minors. He returned July 12 to take over at shortstop for Julio Lugo, who went on the disabled list the previous day, and played 54 of the last 63 regular season games.
Manager Terry Francona watched Lowrie and Lester in the postgame interview room then replaced them at the microphone Monday.
"I was just standing by the doorway when they were talking. I was looking and thinking, boy, they're young," Francona said. "We've brought some kids up and they have done a phenomenal job of competing."
The Red Sox went up 2-0 in the fifth against John Lackey on Monday night on an RBI groundout by Ellsbury and a run-scoring double that ended Pedroia's 0-for-15 slump.
Los Angeles tied it in the eighth after the first two batters grounded out. Two walks and a passed ball preceded Torii Hunter's two-run single.
"I can't tell you how proud I am of our guys and the way they battled," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said, "not only the whole summer, but to get back into this playoffs and really have a chance to win just about every game."
The Red Sox beat the Angels for the third straight time in the first round. They went on to win the World Series the other times.
CHICAGO — The Tampa Bay Rays celebrated with great fervor and with good reason. They're headed to the AL championship series.In a season of Ray-markable achievements, they added yet another to their list.But, as first baseman Carlos Pena warned, you ain't seen nothing yet. After beating the Chicago White Sox in their first postseason series to make the ALCS, the Rays are ready to keep rolling. They will open on Friday at home against Boston in Game 1.Ready for some more champagne-spraying parties, this from a franchise that spent most of its first decade in last place."This is amazing," Pena said after Monday's 6-2 victory over the White Sox clinched the opening series 3-1."We're not done yet, stick around, you might see something crazy go on. We know how to celebrate, I will tell you what. And that's what we're supposed to do," he added.Worst in the majors last year, the Rays now need four wins to reach the World Series. Starting Friday, they will face Boston for the right to play in the World Series.Talented B.J. Upton, benched this season for lack of hustle, homered twice Monday to back the solid pitching of Andy Sonnanstine as the Rays shut out the towel-waving, black clad crowd at U.S. Cellular Field and beat the White Sox to clinch on the road."It means everything. We've been at the bottom of the barrel for so long," Upton said. "I think there was a point in time where people didn't even know who we were."After staving off elimination several times and winning a tiebreaker for the AL Central title, the White Sox were finally knocked out.The loss dashed Chicago's hope for a championship — days ago, local fans were thinking the Cubs and White Sox might meet in the Series for the first time since 1906.But the Cubs got swept by the Dodgers and now both teams are done."They played better than us. There's no doubt," said White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen, who congratulated Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon after the game.Upton, the game's second batter, homered to left-center to put the Rays ahead. He went deep again in the third, driving a full-count pitch from Gavin Floyd to center, and the confident Rays had a two-run cushion.Tampa Bay, which never won more than 70 games during its 10 previous seasons, went from 96 losses last year to 97 wins and passed the big-spending Red Sox and New York Yankees in the AL East."It's good for baseball for a team like Tampa to win," White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf said. "It's too bad they had to beat us, but it's good for the game."
