ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - It feels like Super Bowl XLII all over again. History derailed. Again.
The Red Sox were going to the World Series. They stole Game 5 at Fenway last week, then overwhelmed the Tampa Bay Rays Saturday night. When Dustin Pedroia homered in the first inning of Game 7 last night, the young Rays were ready to fold. Jon Lester had a perfect game and a 1-0 lead after three.
Bring on the Phillies. Read all about the Red Sox dynasty of the 21st century.
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The Rays sent Red Sox Nation into winter with a righteous 3-1 victory at Tropicana Field. Matt Garza, a 24-year-old righty from Fresno State, blinded the Red Sox on two hits over seven innings and David Price, a rookie reliever with five regular-season big league games on his résumé, sealed the deal in the eighth and ninth. The World Series opens Wednesday night at the Trop.
So there you have it, Sox fans. Dome to Dome. Hopes dashed to dust.
The Boston baseball season started in the Tokyo Dome with Manny Ramírez hitting a game-winning double to beat the Oakland A's. The Sox' title defense ended on the phony floor of the Trop just when it felt as if the Fall Classic was coming back to Fenway.
When high-octane Price retired Jed Lowrie on a grounder to second, it marked the finish of a curious Sox season that at times tricked us into believing we might be witnessing Boston baseball's first dynasty since Babe Ruth and friends won three World Series in four years during the Woodrow Wilson Administration. The Sox were almost impossible to bury. Ask Tampa manager Joe Maddon.
"Any time you lose your last game, it's disappointing," Sox general manager Theo Epstein said in the loser's clubhouse. "When you lose a Game 7, that's the thing you end up remembering, but that's part of what keeps you burning."
This would have been Hub hardball's third championship in five Octobers, but in the end there were too many speed bumps and potholes on the road to glory. Manny forced the Sox to trade him in July, Mike Lowell's hip sent him to the shelf, Josh Beckett strained an oblique just before the playoffs, and Terry Francona never had enough dependable arms in the bullpen. And then the Rays finally stood up and fought back in Game 7 after cowering in Games 5 and 6.
The Red Sox were beaten by a better team. The Rays never played .500 ball before this year, but in October of '08 they are every bit as talented as any Yankees team the Sox battled in the last decade. Tampa beat the Red Sox 10 times in 18 tries during the regular season, finished two games ahead of Boston, and took out the Franconamen in a worthy seventh game.
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