End of the line

So, yes, in an incredible dream season, a season that finally made believers of the sun-kissed Florida fans, the Rays will meet the Phillies in the World Series.

"We got beat," Jason Varitek said. "They beat us today. We could have folded our tents a long time ago, and this team went out there and made it a series."

No, more than that, though. The Sox, with all their injuries and offensive woes, couldn't find a way to win one more game. They couldn't find a way to win Game 7. And, with that, there were only handshakes and goodbyes in the visitors' clubhouse. The bubbly belonged on the field and in the home digs, where the upstart Rays proved they are upstart no longer.

For the Rays, thanks goes to a gritty and gutty performance by starter Matt Garza, who allowed two hits in seven innings, the only damage a Dustin Pedroia solo home run in the first inning. The Red Sox had come back from being down in the series, 3-1. But they could go no farther, the pile of Rays near the pitchers' mound evidence that the Sox were bound for vacation - and not for a date with the Phillies in the Series.

"You get to these moments - I've been there in the past - and you can feel it," Rays manager Joe Maddon said. "You can taste it, you know it, and it was all there. All that stuff was present."

From Garza to David Price, it was there. With 118 pitches, one shy of his season high, Garza walked off the mound toward the dugout, and the World Series. He got a standing ovation, the crowd of 40,473 threatening to blow out eardrums around the park.

A parade of relievers followed, from Dan Wheeler to J.P. Howell to Chad Bradford to Price. And it was Price, who struck out J.D. Drew with two outs and the bases loaded in the eighth to end the biggest threat of the evening for the Sox. It was their chance, and then it was gone.

"I don't think I went around," Drew said. "I think that at-bat was kind of taken away from me. If I check my swing, ask the third-base umpire. Worry about balls and strikes and let the third-base umpire do his job. That's the only thing that hurt me. I thought that I held up."