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

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.”

(NEWSER) - Red Sox nation is secretly grieving. Sure, the Sox pulled off one of the most incredible comebacks ever on Thursday, but precious few were actually watching. Many among the Fenway Faithful didn’t exactly live up to their name, the Boston Globe reports. “It was 7-0,” laments one fan who left the park early. “I feel this incredible guilt, like letting an old friend down.” More»

Fan unintentionally coins rallying cry for first Series berth since '93

(NEWSER) - When a delirious Phillies fan called in to a radio show after Philadelphia's NLCS win, he inadvertently coined the team's new rallying cry. "Boston did it. The White Sox did it. Why can't us?," he asked. While waiting to see which AL team they'll face, Phillies fans have joyously embraced the grammatically challenged slogan, Deadspin reports. More»

(NEWSER) - When it turns to October, no one dominates like Boston. Jason Bay slid headfirst into home plate to score on Jed Lowrie's two-out single in the ninth inning tonight as the defending World Series champs beat Los Angeles, 3-2, in Game 4 of their first-round playoff series. The Sox advance to play for the AL pennant for the fourth time in six seasons. More»

It was spectacularly unlikely

(NEWSER) - “It’s hard to describe how epic the Red Sox collapse was,” writes Nate Silver in the New York Times , calling it statistically like Bill Buckner’s famous botched play of 1986 “multiplied by itself two or three times over." On Sept. 3, the Red Sox had a 99.6% chance of making the playoffs. What’s more, by the time the Orioles were down to their last strike last night, the Sox had about a 98% chance of winning the game. More»