Rays Win!

The Rays beat the Red Sox tonight in the decisive 7th game of the American League Championship Series, and will face the Phillies on Wednesday evening in the 2008 World Series! The game was a classic pitchers' duel, with John Lester (BOS) and Matt Garza (TB) combining for only 8 hits and 4 runs between them in the 3:31 game. After Dustin Pedroia (BOS) hit a first-inning big fly over the wall in left to give the Sox the lead, you had the sense that things might only go downhill from there, but Garza settled in, giving up merely 1 hit and 3 walks in his next 6 2/3 innings of work while striking out 9. The big game-changing moment for me, when I was absolutely certain the Rays had won it came in the 8th inning when Kevin Youkilis fouled off the fifth pitch of the at-bat for a full count. He ended up walking, but I somehow just absolutely knew that the Rays were going to win. I guess my curse worked!