Red Sox Cruise Behind Beckett

Rookie second baseman hits big blows in win over Tribe

(NEWSER) - The smallest guy on the field struck the biggest blows last night as the Red Sox turned a tense ALCS Game 7 into a late-inning laugher. With the Sox leading the Indians 3-2, rookie second baseman Dustin Pedroia hit a 2-run HR in the 7th inning, then a bases-loaded double in the 8th, and Boston cruised into the World Series with an 11-2 win, the team's third straight victory after trailing the series 3-1. More»

Boston takes 4-game win streak into series with New York

(NEWSER) - Jason Varitek sat long enough. After resting for eight innings, Boston's catcher Varitek hit a pinch-hit home run in the ninth inning off Jensen Lewis to lead the Boston Red Sox to a 5-3 win over the Cleveland Indians on Tuesday night, sweeping the two-game ALCS rematch. Varitek didn't start as Kevin Cash caught knuckleballing starter Tim Wakefield. More»

(NEWSER) - The biggest move on today’s baseball trading deadline looks to be one that wasn’t made, Fox Sports reports: Toronto kept ace right-hander Roy Halladay, who’d drawn interest from contenders in both leagues. The biggest name dealt was right-hander Jake Peavy, sent from San Diego to the Chicago White Sox for four young pitchers, Sports Illustrated notes. More»

Technical issues keep baseball playoff, NFL game off air long enough to drive fans nuts

(NEWSER) - Power problems had fans hoping to catch the baseball playoffs and the NFL on TV this weekend howling, the AP reports, with a malfunction at TBS headquarters keeping the first 20 minutes of Tampa Bay’s Game 6 loss to visiting Boston off the airwaves Saturday. Yesterday, balloons snagged a transformer and cut power CBS needed to broadcast most of the first half of Chargers-Bills from Buffalo. More»

Rays' talent rises to occasion, avoids epic collapse in beating Boston to seal Series trip

(NEWSER) - The improbable has happened. The Tampa Bay Rays have ousted the defending champion Red Sox. Sportswriters, start your fawning:

• The Rays won this thing with “talent, talent, talent,” which trumps experience every time, writes Bob Ryan in the Boston Globe. “The best team in the American League is going to the World Series.”
• Besides, the Rays played like grizzled veterans, writes George Vecsey of the New York Times, thanks to a “lineup full of heroes doing the big things and the small things.”