Tampa Bay Rays Beat Chicago White Sox in Game One – Longoria Hits Two HRs
Game 1 of the American League Divisional Series between the Chicago White Sox and Tampa Bay Rays just ended. Unfortunately, at least for game 1, I was proven right with my prediction from earlier today as the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Chicago White Sox 6-4 at Tropicana Field.
Hopefully the rest of my prediction comes through, because I thought that the White Sox would lose today and then take the next three to capture the series in four games.
I was only able to escape work for an hour and got to watch innings 5-7. The key sequence in the game was when the White Sox loaded the bases against James Shields but neither Juan Uribe nor Orlando Cabrera was able to even put the ball in play against Grant Balfour. Paul Konerko hit a solo shot in the 9th to give the White Sox momentary life, but Dan Wheeler shut the door from there.
The story of today’s game was Tampa Bay rookie Evan Longoria, who went 3-3 and hit 2 HRs. I’m not sure, and I don’t have time to look it up right now, but something tells me he must have set some kind of rookie record for consecutive home runs for a player in their initial playoffs at bats. Or something like that. Perhaps Longoria got a little upset when people started to mention Alexei Ramirez as a serious contender for Rookie of the Year after his incredible grand slam for the White Sox earlier this week. Either way, Longoria was the MVP of today’s game and gave notice that at least one Tampa Bay youngster would not be undone by the pressure of the playoffs.
Of course, he was facing Javier Vazquez, and we all know how well Javier Vazquez pitches in clutch situations.
I’ll write more later. It’s time to get back to work. All in all, today’s game went about as I expected it would. The Rays beat our fourth best pitcher with their first or second best (depending on how you rate Shields-Kazmir). Nothing for the White Sox to be ashamed of today. Our ace takes the hill tomorrow, and I’m pretty confident that Mark Buehrle will come through just as he has done so many times in the past.
Obviously today’s game does nothing to diminish my confident: White Sox in four. But congratulations on your first ever playoff victory as a franchise, Tampa Bay. I will say this: if the Rays do somehow beat the White Sox in this series, I will be pulling for Tampa Bay to go all the way.
[tags]chicago white sox, tampa bay rays, mlb, mlb playoffs, baseball[/tags]
Tags: baseball, Chicago White Sox, evan longoria, Javier Vazquez, mark buehrle, MLB, mlb playoffs, tampa bay rays
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