2008 American League Championship Series

From SoSH

Contents 1 Overview 2 Schedule 3 Boxscores 3.1 Game 1: October 10, 2008 at Tropicana Field 3.2 Game 2: October 11, 2008 at Tropicana Field 3.3 Game 3: October 13, 2008 at Fenway Park 3.4 Game 4: October 14, 2008 at Fenway Park 3.5 Game 5: October 16, 2008 at Fenway Park 3.6 Game 6: October 18, 2008 at Tropicana Field 3.7 Game 7: October 19, 2008 at Tropicana Field 4 Trivia 5 External Links

Overview

The 2008 American League Championship Series pitted the American League Wild Card Boston Red Sox (95-67) versus the AL East Champion Tampa Bay Rays (97-65). Going from worst to first, the Rays completed a stunning run to their first pennant, holding off the defending champion Boston Red Sox in 7 games.

• Managers: Terry Francona (Boston) & Joe Maddon (Tampa Bay)
• Venues: Fenway Park (Boston) & Tropicana Field (Tampa Bay)

Schedule

• Game 1: Friday, October 10th 8:37 PM at Tropicana Field
  • Pitching Matchup: Matsuzaka v. Shields
• Game 2: Saturday, October 11th 8:07 PM at Tropicana Field
  • Pitching Matchup: Beckett v. Kazmir
• Game 3: Monday, October 13th 4:37 at Fenway Park
  • Pitching Matchup: Garza v. Lester
• Game 4: Tuesday, October 14th 8:07 PM at Fenway Park
  • Pitching Matchup: Sonnanstine v. Wakefield
• Game 5: Thursday, October 16th 8:07 PM at Fenway Park
  • Pitching Matchup: Kazmir v. Matsuzaka
• Game 6: Saturday, October 18th 8:07 PM at Tropicana Field
  • Pitching Matchup: Beckett v. Shields
• Game 7: Sunday, October 19th 8:07 PM at Tropicana Field
  • Pitching Matchup: Lester v. Garza

Boxscores

Game 1: October 10, 2008 at Tropicana Field

Daisuke Matsuzaka took a no-hit bid into the seventh inning and worked out of trouble all game, pitching the defending World Series champions past the Rays 2-0 Friday night in the ALCS opener.

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Boston Red Sox	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	0	2	7	0
Tampa Bay Rays	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	0
W: Daisuke Matsuzaka (1-0)   L: James Shields (0-1)   S: Jonathan Papelbon (1)
HR: BOS: None TB: None

Game 2: October 11, 2008 at Tropicana Field

Pinch-runner Fernando Perez dashed home on BJ Upton's sacrifice fly in the 11th inning and the Rays outlasted the Boston Red Sox 9-8 early Sunday, evening the AL championship series at one game each.

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	R	H	E
Boston Red Sox	2	0	1	0	3	1	0	1	0	0	0	8	12	0
Tampa Bay Rays	2	0	2	1	3	0	0	0	0	0	1	9	12	0
W: David Price (1-0)   L: Mike Timlin (0-1)   S: None
HR: BOS: Dustin Pedroia 2 (2), Kevin Youkilis (1), Jason Bay (1) TB: Evan Longoria (1), BJ Upton (1), Cliff Floyd (1)

Game 3: October 13, 2008 at Fenway Park

BJ Upton hit a three-run home run and Evan Longoria also homered off a suddenly shaky Jon Lester, then Rocco Baldelli and Carlos Pena cleared the Green Monster later Monday to give the Rays a 9-1 victory over the Boston Red Sox and a 2-1 lead in the AL Championship Series.

Lester, who hadn't allowed an earned run in four previous postseason outings -- including last year's World Series clincher against Colorado -- gave up four earned runs on eight hits in 5 2/3 innings.

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Tampa Bay Rays	0	1	4	0	0	0	0	3	1	9	13	0
Boston Red Sox	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	7	0
W: Matt Garza (1-0)   L: Jon Lester (0-1)   S: None
HR: TB: BJ Upton (2), Evan Longoria (2), Rocco Baldelli (1), Carlos Pena (1) BOS: None

Game 4: October 14, 2008 at Fenway Park

Evan Longoria hit his rookie-record fifth home run of the playoffs, and Carlos Pena and Willy Aybar also homered off aging knuckleballer Tim Wakefield on Tuesday night to give Tampa Bay a 13-4 victory over the Red Sox that left the defending champions on the brink of elimination.

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Tampa Bay Rays	3	0	2	0	1	5	0	2	0	13	14	3
Boston Red Sox	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	2	0	4	7	0
W: Andy Sonnanstine (1-0)   L: Tim Wakefield (0-1)   S: None
HR: TB: Evan Longoria (3), Carlos Pena (2), Willy Aybar (1) BOS: Kevin Cash (1)

Game 5: October 16, 2008 at Fenway Park

Trailing by seven runs with seven outs left in their season, the Red Sox pulled off the biggest postseason rally since 1929. Boston staved off elimination in the AL championship series with an 8-7 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays on Thursday night when J.D. Drew singled home the winning run with two outs in the ninth.

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Tampa Bay Rays	2	0	3	0	0	0	2	0	0	7	8	1
Boston Red Sox	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	3	1	8	11	0
W: Justin Masterson (1-0)   L: JP Howell (0-1)   S: None
HR: TB: BJ Upton (3), Carlos Pena (3), Evan Longoria (4) BOS: David Ortiz (1), JD Drew (1)

Game 6: October 18, 2008 at Tropicana Field

The Boston Red Sox, playing like the defending champs they are, came out swinging and beat Tampa Bay 4-2 Saturday night to force a Game 7 in an AL championship series the Rays all but wrapped up two days earlier.

Slumping Jason Varitek hit a tie breaking home run in the sixth inning as Boston evened the ALCS at 3-all.

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Boston Red Sox	0	1	1	0	0	2	0	0	0	4	10	0
Tampa Bay Rays	1	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	2	4	1
W: Josh Beckett (1-0)   L: James Shields (0-2)   S: Jonathan Papelbon (2)
HR: BOS: Kevin Youkilis (2), Jason Varitek (1) TB: BJ Upton (4), Jason Bartlett (1)

Game 7: October 19, 2008 at Tropicana Field

The Rays held off the defending champion Boston Red Sox 3-1 Sunday night behind Matt Garza's masterful pitching in Game 7 of the AL Championship Series.

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Boston Red Sox	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	3	0
Tampa Bay Rays	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	1	0	3	6	1
W: Matt Garza (2-0)   L: Jon Lester (0-2)   S: David Price (1)
HR: BOS: Dustin Pedroia (3) TB: Willy Aybar (2)

Trivia

• Rookie lefthander David Price earned a win and a save in the series, before earning either in his Major League career during the regular season.

External Links

• Update