As Ron Borges of the Boston Herald writes, the Tampa Rays showed no fear in their Game 2 victory over the Red Sox to tie the ALCS at 1-1.
Less than 24 hours after the Soxs designated psychoanalyst implied hed seen unease, if not terror, in the bulging eyes of the youthful Rays in Game 1 they came back and slapped Josh Beckett [stats] silly, clobbering three home runs off him to drive the Sox designated post-season stopper to the bench after just 4 1/3 innings and they didnt stop at that.
Four times the resilient Rays came back on the Red Sox [team stats] before a bases loaded sacrifice fly by B.J. Upton in the bottom of the 11th inning off Mike Timlin [stats] scored pinch runner Fernando Perez to gave the Rays another improbable 9-8 victory that evened the ALCS at 1-1 and made clear to anyone who doubted them that the same dogged determination that saw them twice hold off late-season efforts by Boston to pass them in the AL East standings remained a critical part of their makeup.
What the Rays proved Saturday night was Maddons faith in them is well placed. It was Game 1 that was atypical, not last night. Perhaps, for one game the stage was too big for them but that moment of self-doubt didnt last long.
The Rays really have something special building, regardless of whether or not they eventually win the ALCS or World Series. They have a nice young core of players that believe they can win and Saturday night they showed grit when the game started to slip away from them following the wild pitch that tied the game. Hopefully the rest of the series is as exciting as the first two games have been.
