Savor the moment, Rays fans; your boys are in! Let the champagne – or Bud Light – rivers flow!
Speaking of celebrations, check out the video footage, courtesy of CL’s own Pat Donovan. Click the pics of Matt Garza or double-fisting Sean Rodriguez (also by Pat D.) to take you to his qik.com videos.
Now let’s talk about how the boys got there, the 5-run spanking they delivered to the collective keester of the Baltimore Orioles. It was a relatively quick affair Tuesday night (2:08), with a hungry Rays team chomping at the bit after being denied and blanked themselves the evening prior.
Rays starting pitcher David Price (now 19-6), the beast of the American League East, threw eight scoreless innings, allowing six hits and no walks while striking out eight batters. Of the eight Ks, half were caught looking at strike three, a point of contention for Orioles second baseman Julio Lugo, who earned a fifth-inning ejection for arguing his punch out.
Tampa Bay started the scoring in the second inning with a pair of walks to start the frame, issued to Matt Joyce and Carlos Pena. B.J. Upton drove Joyce home with an RBI-base hit to center.
This article appears in Sep 23-29, 2010.