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Seven Outs From The Series, The 2007 Rays Show Up

Tribune photo by CHRIS URSO

Dan Wheeler reacts to Coco Crisp hit that scored Mark Kotsay to tie the game in the eighth inning.

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By MARTIN FENNELLY | The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 17, 2008

Updated: 10/17/2008 02:09 am

BOSTON - As incredible as this season has been, this was more incredible.

As amazing as the 2008 Rays have been, this was more amazing.

And stunning.

And shocking.

And unthinkable.

Seven runs ahead.

Seven outs to the World Series.

No, no, no.

The magic collapsed in a heap.

The dream doubled over near the finish line.

Just before midnight, the Rays turned back into a pumpkin.

We thought we had seen it all, the very best of this team, and the last of the defending world champion Red Sox in this ALCS.

No, no, no.

It goes on.

The Rays, once seemingly moments from the World Series, walked from the field at Fenway Park as Sox danced and fans screamed, victims of what will go down as the great single-game comeback in LCS history _ the greatest collapse, too. The tubs of champagne, which had been sitting in tubs on carts, were quickly wheeled out of view.

"I just can't believe what happened tonight," Carl Crawford said. "It's devastating."

And then, in the next instant...

"I'm still thinking we're going to close it out."

And It Went Awry

They were seven outs from their miracle.

They were seven outs from the World Series.

They were seven outs from adding an American League pennant and another chapter to one of the great stories in sports history.

Up 3-1 in the series, they had seven outs to go.

There were two outs in the bottom of the seventh.

And they had a 7-0 lead.

Fenway Park was dead.

The Sox were dead.

The Rays lost, 8-7.

Kevin Youklis, who reached first with two outs in the bottom of the ninth on an infield single and second on a one-hop throwing error by Evan Longoria, scored when J.D. Drew's liner off J.P. Howell flew over Rays right fielder Gabe Gross, who took a step in.

The ball and game sailed over his head.

And it was over.

The Rays walked from the field, into a deep, dark night.

"It's a tough pill to swallow," Longoria said.

It happened.

It really happened.

B.J. Upton's double off the Green Monster for his third and fourth RBIs of the game and ninth and 10th of this series made it 7-0 and seemed to but seal things in the top of the seventh. The Rays had already jumped on the Sox early, five runs on the usual homers by Upton, Longoria and Carlos Pena. They'd beaten the Red Sox for two nights and were well into their third. It would be another stunner.

And it was.

The Rays walked from the field in a daze.

They walked away with nothing but their 3-2 series lead - and it doesn't feel like a lead anymore.

At just the wrong time for the 2008 Rays, the 2007 Rays returned.

First became worst again.

"Definitely a tough loss," Rays manager Joe Maddon said. "Nobody feels worse than two relief pitchers tonight. We'll be back. I know we were a couple of outs from a World Series appearance, but if you still want to dwell on the negative aspects, then you are setting yourself up for defeat. You just have to push forward. I really believe this - it only is a bad situation if you permit it to become one."

Scott Kazmir, validating Maddon's choice of Game 5 starting pitcher, held up his end and then some: six innings of two-hit, shutout ball.

"I think that might make it a little bit bitter," Upton said. "For him to answer the call, and it turns out this way."

"7-0 in the seventh, with what the bullpen has done all year, you can start getting the bottles ready," Rays DH Cliff Floyd said. "Tip your hat. As much as you want to throw up, freaking go crazy, they're the champs. … You got to knock them out."

But, cruel irony, it was the bullpen, the backbone of this worst-to-first season all along, that couldn't hold it, and the defense, rock solid all year, that let it slip away. The bullpen meltdown was particularly amazing. It had allowed just four runs in 24-plus postseason innings, pitching to a 1.33 ERA. It allowed eight Thursday.

Cruel Reversion

Grant Balfour got two outs in the Boston seventh.

But the Rays couldn't find those seven outs.

Dustin Pedroia singled in a run off Balfour with two outs in the seventh. Then David Ortiz started the real comeback, driving one out to right. Three runs. Just like that. It was Ortiz's first postseason home run in 15 games. And Fenway roared to life.

In the eighth, Dan Wheeler couldn't hold, either.

J.D. Drew hit a two-run home run to right.

Mark Kotsay doubled over Upton's head.

And Coco Crisp - yes, that Coco Crisp - singled him home after fighting off several Wheeler pitches in a fairly epic 10-pitch at-bat.

And it was 7-7.

To the bottom of ninth.

Two quick Boston outs. Longoria made a nice play fielding Youklis' ground ball, but threw low. The ball bounded past Pena at first.

"I had a good grip on it," Longoria said. "I just kind of got lazy and threw it in the dirt."

Howell intentionally walked Jason Bay.

Then Drew hit a sharp liner to right field. Gabe Gross was out there.

"The last ball?" Gross said. "It was hit on such a line, when I first broke, I kind of, obviously it fooled me. I didn't realize how on a line it was hit. Even when I was going back, I thought I might have a play on it. But it just kept going. He hit every drop of it."

So ended the second greatest comeback in postseason history. You have to go back to the 1929 World Series, when the Athletics came from eight down to beat the Cubs.

Suddenly, the Sox were the Sox who came from 3-1 down last season to beat the Indians for the AL pennant on the way to a world championship.

They were the Sox of 2004, who came back from games down to top the Yankees.

And the Rays weren't as amazing as they'd been an hour earlier.

They were the 1986 Angels, trying to close out the Red Sox, but failing.

They were the 1986 Red Sox, trying to close out the Mets, but failing.

They were the 2002 Giants, losing that big Game 6 lead on the Angels, 5-0 in the seventh, with Rays manager Joe Maddon as Angels bench coach.

"There was not going to be an easy way to lose this game." Gross said.

The Rays head for the Trop, where they had the best home record in baseball, but with a nightmare in tow.

They return in the lead, but searching, lurching.

The champs have stormed back into this series.

The Rays, their dreams and their destiny, are on the ropes for now.

"I think everybody believed we were going to win this ballgame," Gross said.

"It's a big test, one of the toughest," Upton said. "We'll be ready. For a lot of us, the page is already halfway turned as we speak."

This team has put bad nights behind them all season.

But, really, there has never been anything like this.

Seven runs up.

Seven outs away.

It goes on.

How will the Rays?

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