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Rays' Storybook Season Continues

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By MARC LANCASTER

mlancaster@tampatrib.com

Published: October 20, 2008

Updated: 10/20/2008 12:56 am

ST. PETERSBURG - The Rays' dream season will end on baseball's grandest stage.

Facing elimination for the first time in their first trip to the playoffs, the maturing-by-the-day Rays came through like grizzled veterans Sunday night.

Sparked by the twenty-something crew of Matt Garza, Willy Aybar, Evan Longoria, Rocco Baldelli and David Price, Tampa Bay rallied from a first-inning deficit to edge the Boston Red Sox 3-1 and spark a frenzied celebration at Tropicana Field.

By eliminating the defending World Series champions in Game 7 of the ALCS, the Rays have come from holding the worst record in baseball a year ago to securing a spot in the World Series. They will host the Phillies on Wednesday night to open the Fall Classic.

The Rays bucked conventional wisdom by prevailing in the deciding game against the Red Sox. Though home teams had prevailed in 16 of the 21 Game 7s played since 1982, most seemed to favor the battle-tested Red Sox this time.

But Tampa Bay shook off the ghosts of its Game 5 collapse and came out much sharper than it had in Saturday night's loss, riding the performance of a lifetime by Garza to the biggest win in its history.

Now the Rays have the undivided attention of the baseball world as they look to polish off one of the most captivating turnaround tales ever.

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