Veteran bats of the Chicago White Sox couldn’t keep up with the upstart Tampa Bay Rays.
Lead by a solid post-season pitching debut by James Shields, and the power bat of Evan Longoria, the Rays picked up the franchises first ever playoff victory.
Tropicana Field was rockin’ as the Rays fan base was decked out in Tampa jerseys, cow bells, and mo Mohawks. A trend that caught on in the Tamp Bay clubhouse and now the city of St. Petersburg.
The game started of with a quick pace, with both James Shields and Chicago starter Javier Vazquez pitched 1, 2, 3 firsts. That was all the teams needed to get settled, and the Rays started the scoring with an Evan Longoria solo homerun off a first pitch fastball, in the bottom second.
After being called out by manager Ozzie Guillen, saying he isn’t a big game pitcher, Javier Vazquez didn’t do much in the way proving his manger wrong.
In the third, the White Sox bats showed their veteran savvy and powered their way to a 3-1 lead the best way they know how, via the long ball. A three run blast from DeWayne Wise to right field silenced the loud crowd. That was all the White Sox could master when it counted the most.
In the home half of third, the Rays got that 1 run lead back, and got to J. Vazquez. A Jason Bartlett single, and a RBI triple by Akinori Iwamura cut the lead to 1 run. Soon after, following a B.J. Upton strikeout, Willy Aybar stepped in and hit a sac fly to tie the game. He was substituting for the injured Carlos Pena, who lasted one at bat sue to an eye injury suffered at home. Then it was the super rookies turn to bat, and just like the first time up, Evan Longoria liked the first pitch and took it for a ride for his second homerun of the game, and put the Rays up 4-3.
After that, James Shields did the rest en route to a victory and a solid pitching line of 6 1/3 innings pitched, 3 earned runs, 4 strikeouts, 1 man walked, 6 hits, and 100 pitches.
The White Sox had their opportunities to get back in the game or even take the lead, but an A.J. Pierzynski caught stealing gaffe killed the momentum. Even in the seventh, Chicago had the bases loaded with one out, but reliever Grant Balfour came in and over powered the White Sox. Striking out two, including Orlando Cabrera, with whom he got into a trash talking contest. Even the Chicago coaches got involved, because as Balfour left the mound he motioned for O. Cabrera to take a seat after striking him out.
In the ninth, Dan Wheeler came in to preserve the 6-4 victory and earn a save, after allowing a Paul Konerko solo homerun.
Look for a better effort by the White Sox on both sides of the ball in game two. The clutch hitting wasn’t visible; the power shown all season long came alive only for rare moments. A complete team effort must be shown in game 2 or else the White Sox will be hanging on by a thread, in this ALDS.
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