Rays Rip Red Sox, 9-1, for Series Lead

B.J. Upton, Evan Longoria, and the rest of the Tampa Bay Rays are bashing their way through their first trip to the playoffs, the AP reports. Upton and Longoria homered off a suddenly shaky Jon Lester, and the power-packed Rays cleared the Green Monster four times to beat the Boston Red Sox, 9-1, today for a 2-1 lead in the AL championship series.

Rocco Baldelli and Carlos Pena also sent shots over Fenway Park's famous left-field wall as Tampa Bay tied the ALCS home run record. The Rays put the defending World Series champions in a postseason hole for the first time since they overcame a 3-1 deficit against Cleveland last year to win the pennant. Boston knuckleballer Tim Wakefield faces Andy Sonnanstine in Game 4 of the best-of-seven series tomorrow night. (More baseball stories.)