Sat, Oct 04, 2008 page20

• Longoria homers Rays over White Sox

  DIVISION SERIES Formerly baseball’s doormat, the Rays defeated the White Sox 6-4 in their AL opener, while the Phillies and the LA Dodgers took control of their NL series

  • AP
  • • 
    • 
    • 

  AMERICAN LEAGUE

  In their first ever playoff game, the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Chicago White Sox 6-4 on Thursday in the opener of their American League Division Series.

  Evan Longoria homered in his first two at-bats as Tampa Bay rallied for an historic victory in the first of a best-of-five series.

  After 10 seasons as baseball’s doormat, Tampa Bay took the AL East division with the best home record in the majors. And there were no October jitters as the young Rays kept winning at Tropicana Field.

  Game two was yesterday in Florida, when Tampa Bay’s starting pitcher Scott Kazmir was to face Chicago’s Mark Buehrle.

  Chicago made the playoffs by downing Minnesota in a one-game AL Central tiebreaker on Tuesday, and took a 3-1 lead on outfielder Dewayne Wise’s three-run homer in the third inning. But pitcher Javier Vazquez, who has a history of flopping in big games, could not hold that advantage.

  Longoria, who became the second player to homer in his first two postseason at-bats, joining Gary Gaetti from 1987, started the year in the minor leagues before becoming an All-Star third baseman in the majors. He hit 27 homers despite missing 30 games with a broken right wrist.

  He homered on his very first postseason pitch, a leadoff drive in the second. He put Tampa Bay ahead 4-3 with another solo shot in the third, a homer off one of the infamous catwalks that support the roof at Tropicana.

  He also had a RBI single and finished 3-for-3 with three RBIs.

  The Rays led 6-3 in the seventh when the game got tense.

  Tampa Bay’s Grant Balfour relieved starting pitcher James Shields with the bases loaded and one out, and struck out Juan Uribe for the second out. Chicago shortsop Orlando Cabrera was up next, and he kicked dirt toward the mound and appeared to shout something at Balfour. The reliever walked toward the plate before being stopped by the umpire.

  Balfour struck out Cabrera to end the inning, pumped his fist and pointed at the White Sox shortstop. The exchange also brought Rays manager Joe Maddon and bench coach Dave Martinez out of the dugout and more words were exchanged between Martinez and the White Sox bench.

  Tampa Bay slugger Carlos Pena left the game after the second inning with slightly blurred vision in his left eye. The Rays said he accidentally scratched his eye at home on Wednesday. He is expected to return to the lineup for Game 2.

  Pena struck out in his only plate appearance in the first inning. Willy Aybar replaced him, and his sacrifice fly in the bottom of the third inning made it 3-3.

  Longoria’s RBI single in the fifth single made it 5-3 and ended Vazquez’s afternoon. Vazquez allowed six runs in 4 1-3 innings — the fourth consecutive start, all losses, he’s gone less than five innings.

  Tampa Bay ranked near the bottom of the attendance charts this year, yet was cheered on Thursday by a sellout crowd of 35,041.

  NATIONAL LEAGUE

  
  

  AP, CHICAGO, ILLINOIS

  The Chicago Cubs’ championship drought looks like extending to 100 years after they fell to a 10-3 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers on Thursday, making it two losses from two home games in the best-of-five National League Division Series.

  The Philadelphia Phillies also took a 2-0 lead in their NL series by beating the Milwaukee Brewers 5-2.

  Manny Ramirez hit a mammoth homer for Los Angeles, while Russell Martin had a three-run double, and the Dodgers took advantage of four errors by the clumsy Cubs.

  “It wasn’t good baseball. In fact, the last two days, that’s probably been the two worst games we’ve played all year,” frustrated Chicago manager Lou Piniella said. “It wasn’t fun to watch, I’ll tell you that.”

  Chicago became the 23rd major league team to lose the first two games at home in a best-of-five playoff series, according to the Elias Sports Bureau, and only one has come back to win — the 2001 New York Yankees against Oakland.

  The series switches to Dodger Stadium for Game three today.

  Chicago starting pitcher Rich Harden will face Hiroki Kuroda.

  Chicago is aiming for its first World Series title since 1908, but quickly finds itself on the brink of elimination.

  The Cubs, who have lost eight straight playoff games in all dating back to 2003, must win two consecutive games in Los Angeles to get the series back to Wrigley Field.

  Ramirez’s 26th postseason home run sailed at least 450 feet into center field. He capped his performance with an RBI singles in the Dodgers’ two-run ninth.

  On defense, the Cubs collapsed. All four infielders made an error, including two in the second that led to a five-run inning for Los Angeles. Martin got a three-run double in that inning. In Philadelphia, a Shane Victorino grand-slam moved the Phillies within a win of reaching the NL Championship Series for the first time in 15 years.

  Philadelphia pitcher Brett Myers dominated the Brewers batters, allowing just two hits in seven innings.

  Milwaukee starter C.C. Sabathia had his worst outing since joining the Brewers in a mid-season trade from Cleveland. The burly left-hander allowed five runs in 3 2-3 innings. He walked four, his second-highest total of the season.

  Sabathia was 11-2 with a 1.65 ERA in 17 starts for Milwaukee, almost single-handedly leading the Brewers to their first postseason berth since 1982. But he struggled in the playoffs — again. He’s lost his last three postseason starts. Overall, Sabathia is 2-3 with a 7.92 ERA in the playoffs.

  He was uncharacteristically erratic in the second inning as the Phillies broke the game open.

  With the game tied 1-1 and bases loaded, Victorino smashed a shot into the seats in left to give the Phillies a 5-1 lead.

  The Brewers missed an opportunity to take control of the game in the first inning after Myers walked in a run with one out. The Phillies pitcher then induced Corey Hart to hit into a double play to end the inning.

  Game three is today in Milwaukee, with 45-year-old Jamie Moyer pitching for the Phillies against Milwaukee’s Dave Bush.
• Most Popular

  • 1

    China ship used Taiwan ports for months

  • 2

    Japanese ship makes first solo trip through the Strait

  • 3

    EVA Air to ban power bank use starting from Saturday

  • 4

    Taiwan mulls stricter citizenship rules

  • 5

    Award winner and singer-songwriter Khalil Fong passes away at age 41