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Rays heading to Fenway on even ground

By digging in heels, Red Sox were kept from seizing control in ALCS

By Jack Etkin, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published October 12, 2008 at 10:14 p.m.

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First pitch

TOP OF THE HEAP

Left-hander Jon Lester, who starts today for Boston, is 1-0 with a 0.00 ERA in two starts this postseason, allowing one unearned run in 14 innings. He went 16-6 with a 3.21 ERA during the season, including 3-0 with a 0.90 ERA in three starts against the Rays.

Lester, 24, who pitched a no-hitter May 19 against Kansas City and won decisive Game 4 of the 2007 World Series against the Rockies, was diagnosed with lymphoma in late August 2006.

"He's farther away from being sick," Boston manager Terry Francona said, explaining Lester's success this season. "He's getting bigger and stronger. If you look at video of him just like from the back, he doesn't even look like the same kid anymore. And his confidence has grown. He's got a delivery that's built for endurance."

NUMBERS GAME

22 career scoreless innings in the postseason for Boston closer Jonathan Papelbon, the most in history. Papelbon has pitched 7 1/3 innings in five postseason games this year, with two saves.

LINEUP CHANGES

Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon said Willy Aybar will be his designated hitter and Rocco Baldelli will play right field, giving the Rays two more right-handed hitters against Lester.

Francona said left-handed-hitting Alex Cora "might play" shortstop with right-hander Matt Garza starting for the Rays, rather than switch- hitting Jed Lowrie.

Cora had a .378 on-base percentage in 124 at-bats against right-handed pitchers, compared with .333 in 28 at-bats against left-handers. Lowrie had a .308 on-base percentage in 180 left-handed at-bats and .409 in 80 at-bats right-handed.

MARATHON MEN

Game 2 on Saturday, which lasted 5 hours, 27 minutes, is the second-longest game in American League Championship Series history.

Four ALCS games have taken at least 5 hours, all involving the Red Sox. The longest was 5:49, against the New York Yankees in Game 5 of the 2004 ALCS.

Tampa Bay's David Price pitches in the 11th inning against Boston on Saturday. The overall No. 1 draft pick in 2007 had runners on first and second and one out but escaped unscathed.

Photo by Doug Benc / Getty Images

Tampa Bay's David Price pitches in the 11th inning against Boston on Saturday. The overall No. 1 draft pick in 2007 had runners on first and second and one out but escaped unscathed.

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Cliff Floyd considered the question for a moment, happy the bleak scenario it posed for the Tampa Bay Rays had not come to pass.

It took 11 innings in a game that lasted 5 hours, 27 minutes, but the Rays evened the best-of-seven American League Championship Series on Saturday night by wiping out Boston leads three times against faltering starter Josh Beckett and beating the Red Sox 9-8.

Sixteen-game winner Jon Lester will start Game 3 Monday for the Red Sox at Fenway Park, where he went 11-1 with a 2.49 ERA during the regular season. In two Division Series starts, Lester has allowed only one unearned run in 14 innings.

Imagine the Rays' plight had they lost Saturday. Picture them at Fenway Park, where Boston went 56-25 in the regular season, having to face Lester and trying to crawl out of a 2-0 hole.

"You can't," Floyd said. "You just can't, period. You go 0-2 and going to Boston, you can start getting some wardrobe boxes.

"I mean, let's be real. Not to say you're out of it, but you're going to a hostile environment down 0-2, it's not looking bright. I put nothing against this team, it's just (that would be) going into a tough situation."

That's not the case, because the Rays used seven pitchers - the Red Sox did, too - the last of whom was left-hander David Price.

Price, the first overall pick in the 2007 draft, is expected to be a big part of Tampa Bay's future. He has been a small part of their present, making his major league debut Sept. 14 and bringing a modest body of work into the postseason - five games, one start, and 14 innings in the majors.

Price, 23, came on in the 11th with one out and a runner on first. He walked J.D. Drew but then coolly struck out Mark Kotsay and got Coco Crisp to ground into a force play.

In the bottom of the inning, B.J. Upton won the game by hitting a bases-loaded sacrifice fly against veteran Mike Timlin.

It scored pinch runner Fernando Perez, 25, a speedy outfielder whom the Rays brought up from Triple-A on Aug. 31 and who played in 23 games.

"Everybody has to step up, whether you're ready for it or not," Floyd said. "And I think that's what's been happening here. We have Fernando come here. We have Price come in. These guys have learned how to step up quickly, literally overnight, and they're helping us, and that's all you can ask for."

By the standards of Perez and Price, center fielder Upton, 24, the second overall draft pick in 2002, is a wise veteran. He has spent two full seasons in the big leagues and small portions of two others.

Upton, who also homered Saturday, is 7-for-26 (.269) in six games this postseason with four homers and six RBI. His inexperience shows in his .310 on-base percentage, and a slugging percentage of .810 is evidence of his immense promise.

"He's showing you the power," manager Joe Maddon said. "He's showing you the defense. He's showing you his running skills. He is a complete baseball player in the making. I really would like to see him continue to advance in all aspects of the game, and he understands that. But skillfully, (he's) one of the best out there."

Upton steered the Rays to their 13th walk-off win this year and first in the postseason. Tampa Bay went 2-7 during the season at Fenway Park, the wins coming on its last visit.

On Sept. 9, Dan Johnson, who arrived at game time from Triple-A, hit a two-run homer in the ninth off Boston closer Jonathan Papelbon for a 5-4 win.

The next night, the Rays won 4-2 in 14 innings. The score was tied at 1 when Carlos Pena hit a three-run homer in the 14th off Timlin. Tampa went 2-for-31 in those victories with runners in scoring position, the hits those homers by Johnson and Pena.

Despite that 2-7 record at Fenway Park, Maddon said those dramatic wins had a huge effect on his team.

"To do it in September was really good, obviously, because it's later in the year," Maddon said. "We had a very short lead over them at that particular juncture, and everybody is waiting for us to not be able to do those things."

The Rays have an opportunity to do even greater things on this visit to Fenway Park, where the next three ALCS games will be played.

Asked whether the game today was critical for the Red Sox, designated hitter David Ortiz said, "Critical? What do you mean critical, man? We played two good games. We won one. We lose one. We just got to keep on playing the way we have."

Indeed, that might be good enough for the Red Sox to reach the World Series, which they've won two of the past four years. But the Series would seem much closer for the Red Sox, nothing less than a lock, really, had they managed to win Saturday in St. Petersburg, Fla.

"You go into somebody else's place and you expect to split, you want to split," Timlin said. "If we would've taken two games, yeah, absolutely, we've got a chokehold on the series. But we don't. We have a split.

"October baseball's that way - it's dramatic."