Thursday, October 2, 2008– On Wednesday, there were three baseball games. The Milwaukee Brewers lost to the Philadelphia Phillies, the Los Angeles Angels lost to the Boston Red Sox, and the Chicago Cubs lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
On Thursday, the Tampa Bay Rays met up against the Chicago White Sox, the Phillies and the Brewers went at it again, and so did the Dodgers and Cubs.
Rays vs White Sox The Tampa Bay Rays are in the post-season for the first time in their history, after posting the best season in their history as well. And tonight, they won their first ever post-season game, 6-4 against the Chicago White Sox.
Tampa Bay scored first, on a homerun by Evan Longoria in the second inning. However, a three-run home run by Dewayne Wise in the top of the third took some of the joy out of the Rays… until the Rays came back with three of their own in the bottom of the third when Akinori Iwamura tripled in a run, and then was plated himself on a sacrifice fly by Willie Aybar. Then, Longoria homered again.
Longoria struck again for the Rays in the fifth inning, singling home B. J. Upton. Carl Crawford then picked up an RBI single that plated Willie Aybar.
Paul Konerko homered for the White Sox in the ninth inning after a terrific battle off Dan Wheeler, but his was the only run and the Rays took the game. James Shields got the win, Javier Vasquez took the loss.
Phillies vs Brewers The Philadelphia Phillies made short work of the Brewers in their second game. Brett Myers started out rocky in the first inning, to be sure, but he got out of trouble, only giving up one run on a bases-loaded walk to J. J. Hardy.
But the Phillies came back in their half of the second inning, scoring 5 runs. Pedro Feliz had an RBI double against CC Sabathia, then, with the bases loaded thanks to a couple of walks, Shane Victorino hit a grand slam.
That was really the only bad inning Sabathia had, and you can’t really hold it against him, as he was making a start on only three days rest…and indeed, his last four starts have come on three days rest and helped propel the Brewers into the playoffs. But his arm has got to be tired now, and it showed in that second inning.
The Brewers managed to pick up a run in the seventh inning, but that was all she wrote.
Dodgers vs Cubs Poor fielding sank the Cubs…again. Two errors in the second inning paved the way for a 5-run inning for the Dodgers, thanks to some aggressive base-running, doubtless ordered by Dodger coach Joe Torre.
After that, the game was pretty much of a laugher, until the ninth inning, when the Cubs got a man at first and third with no out, against Takashi Saito. Mark DeRosa then hit a bases clearing double, to make it 10-3.
Saito sat down, and Jonathan Broxton came in to shut down the Cubs. And shut them down he did.
So…two games done in Chicago. And now the games shift to the Dodgers home field. I think it’s safe to say this is going to be a short series.
Carlos Zambrano (14-6, regular season) took the loss for the Cubs. Chad Billingsley (16-10, regular season) got the win for the Dodgers.
