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Rays' Magic Just Isn't There This Time

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By MARTIN FENNELLY

mfennelly@tampatrib.com

Published: October 11, 2008

Updated: 10/11/2008 01:23 am

ST. PETERSBURG - It was a no-no.

For the Rays, that is.

As it turned out, Red Sox pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka didn't pitch a no-hitter.

Somewhere, Don Larsen's buying for everyone.

Carl Crawford saw to that with a leadoff single in the seventh.

In the seventh?

Now the miracle trails for the first time in its first postseason. Magic is down 1-0 in the ALCS.

Matsuzaka barely outpitched Rays stopper James Shields, the Red Sox lineup did enough and the Rays did a lot of nothing.

There was no magic. The Rays wasted a big game from Big Game James, their most dependable starter. They wasted bases loaded (three walks) in the first. They wasted first and third, no outs in that seventh. They wasted first and second, no outs in the eighth. A Carlos Pena fly out, an Evan Longoria double play, then the silence of a 2-0 shutout. Only the second home shutout of the season, the last one coming in April - 143 games ago. The timing could have been better.

"This was the type of game we won all season long," Shields said.

And now it's a hole.

A Lavender Jacket

It began with Joe Maddon's team breathing fire, or at least those machines on the infield were as the Rays were introduced at Tropicana Field.

There was an undeniable men-on-Mars sensation to it all. Yes, it really was October, and yes, those were the Rays, and those really were the defending world champion Red Sox and that really was TBS interview guy Craig Sager in a lavender jacket.

Game 1 belongs behind glass if you like starting pitching. And it was a brute of a game. But it was also a window into why the Red Sox have won half of the past four World Series. These two teams have been staring down each other all season.

The Sox held their stare Friday.

The Rays blinked.

"It's not like they flat-out beat us. We just didn't get the hits," Rays DH Cliff Floyd said.

But it doesn't matter how they beat you in October.

Consider that the Rays had lost once to the Red Sox at the Trop this season.

Now they've lost one out of one in this series.

It was a stunner, more in fashion than result.

It was no fault of Shields, who pitched into the eighth and allowed only two runs.

"But I really look at the execution overall and we played a fine game," Maddon said. "We just did not swing the bats well tonight."

I love Joe Maddon, but it's not a well-played game if you don't hit.

The Rays let their best guy pitch his best - and lose.

The Rays were 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position.

The Rays walked three times off Matsuzaka in the first, but could do nothing, with Cliff Floyd grounding out to second to end it. Inning after inning, they looked lost, befuddled.

You looked up and realized Longoria, who has been a hero all season, and who began this postseason with two homers, is 1 for his last 16, and 0 for his last 13, with eight strikeouts.

He wasn't alone Friday.

But then Crawford was on first to start the seventh. Floyd, who'd left the bases loaded in the first with a groundout, followed with another hit. It began to feel like the magic that happened all season, that happened four out of six times against the Sox in September.

Dioner Navarro's short fly couldn't plate Crawford.

Gabe Gross struck out.

Jason Bartlett hit into a 6-4 fielder's choice.

Now it's a hole.

Beckett, Then Lester

Consider that the Rays were last shut out a month ago in Boston, by Sox left-hander Jon Lester - and that Lester will start twice later in this series.

You never know how Rays Game 2 starter Scott Kazmir will have his head screwed on, if at all. On the mound for Boston will be Josh Beckett, who was only the best pitcher on earth last October and who's 6-2 all-time in the postseason. Beckett will be followed in Game 3 at Boston by Lester, who appears to be the best pitcher on earth this October. The Red Sox have won 11 of their past 12 postseason games.

Yeah, it's a hole.

Boston pushed across insurance in the eighth, as Crawford couldn't come up with Kevin Youkilis' sinking liner. That was the night. The Rays couldn't come up with it. Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon made sure of it, fanning Navarro to end the type of game the Rays had won all season.

We're not pushing dirt over anyone, least of all this team, which has dug itself out of holes all season, making miracles and merry the whole way. But they threw their big dog on the mound, and he pitched his tail off, and they came away with their tail between their legs, a big fat zero.

A definite no-no.

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