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These Rays Really Are Something Else

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By MARTIN FENNELLY

mfennelly@tampatrib.com

Published: October 15, 2008

Updated: 10/15/2008 12:55 am

BOSTON - Sock and Awe.

Do not try to adjust your planet.

Have you ever seen anything like this?

ALCS, Game 4, was another carnival for Maddon's Marauders. His Rays swung as if they were trying to ring bells and win big, fuzzy purple bears instead of a trip to the World Series.

Make it 13-4 on Tuesday. Make it 31 runs and 10 homers in three wins. Make it one victory from ... is this really happening?

Rays owner Stuart Sternberg approached the clubhouse after the game. He mouthed one word.

Wow.

The Rays jumped on Boston's throat - again. In the only theater of the absurd with a 37-foot wall in left, they knocked the cover off Red Sox history and mystique until the defending world champions curled into a fetal ball. It was stunning. We saw Sox fans leaving Fenway Park, their only remaining decision being whether to walk directly into the Charles River or Boston Harbor.

When Carl Crawford's tour de force had ended, when he had finally stopped running after five hits, three runs, two RBIs and two stolen bases, he couldn't quite race his mind around the idea of being a win away from the World Series.

"I have a hard time even saying the words," Crawford said.

The only thing more unbelievable is if Rays skipper Joe Maddon starts shaky Scott Kazmir in Game 5. Go with James Shields, Joe.

Feel throat with foot - and push down.

The Rays again made the Green Monster a plaything, like a small army of Bucky Dents. Carlos Pena and Evan Longoria hit first-inning homers. Willy Aybar hit one in the third, aimed at the moon. He was just getting started.

In the losing dugout sat David Ortiz, who Papi-ed off after the Sox Game 1 win, implying that the Rays weren't ready for this pressure. Whose knees are knocking now?

And to think that early Sunday the Rays Miracle Network seemed moments from going off the air. Now everyone is hot at once. They're so hot the sun just called. It's taking Wednesday off.

There was 5-for-5 Crawford, having beaten the doctors' odds, hitting everything but a homer (slacker). But there was the everyman, too - Aybar driving in five runs with four hits.

"Willy is such an unsung part of the group," Maddon said. And there was the silent killer, Andy Sonnanstine, who stifled Boston in September (13 innings, no earned runs) and did it again Tuesday.

And now kiddies, let's remember something. When the Red Sox, in 2004, won their first championship in 2.3 million years, they did it after roaring from three games down to beat the Yankees for the AL pennant. Last season, they came from 3-1 down to take it from the Indians. I'm sure the Yankees felt confident. Bet the Indians felt the same.

But these Rays are like nothing we've seen.

Just ask the Red Sox.

Try looking under their beds.

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