BOSTON — This is no “Curse of the Bambino” this time. No Bucky Dent, no Bill Buckner. Only the harsh reality of the ultra-talented Tampa Bay Rays.
The upstart Rays, a team that had never won more than 70 games in a season until this year, are one victory away from the World Series. They crushed the defending champion Red Sox 13-4 tonight at Fenway Park, taking a commanding 3-1 lead in the American League Championship Series.
Since getting shutout 2-0 in Game 1, the Rays have scored 31 runs in the last three games, hitting 10 home runs. After an off day Wednesday, the Rays can close out the series Thursday night at Fenway.
The Rays made like Tiger Woods against Boston starter Tim Wakefield’s knuckleball, teeing off for three homers in Wakefield’s 2 2/3 innings. Carlos Pena drove a two-run homer above the Green Monster in the first, followed immediately by a solo homer by Evan Longoria. It was Longoria’s fifth homer of the postseason, setting a record for most postseason homers by a rookie.
When Willy Aybar drove in Carl Crawford with a two-run homer in the third, the Rays led 5-0 and it was game over for the 42-year-old Wakefield. Crawford was 5-for-5 with two doubles, a triple, three runs scored and two RBIs.
Tampa Bay sent 10 men to the plate in the sixth, scoring five more runs. When that inning mercifully ended, the New England faithful let loose with a Bronx cheer.
Rays starter Andy Sonnanstine won for the second time in the postseason, throwing 7 1/3 innings. Before the game got a bit out of hand late, his only major gaffe was serving up a solo homer to Boston catcher Kevin Cash in the third. Cash’s homer came in the first postseason at-bat of his career.
Following Cash’s homer, Sonnanstine retired 12 Red Sox batters in a row until slumping slugger David Ortiz led off the seventh with a triple. It was Ortiz’s first hit of the series.
The night’s fielding gem was turned in by Tampa Bay center fielder B.J. Upton. In the seventh, he ran down Mark Kotsay’s drive to deep center and made an over-the-shoulder catch. Upton made it look easy. Just for grins, he gunned the ball back to first base on the fly, attempting to double-up Jason Bay. Upton never came close to getting Bay, but his throw elicited a gasp from the crowd.
The only solace for the Red Sox is the knowledge that they have been here before. In 2004, they trailed they Yankees 3-0 in the ALCS and came back to beat the Yankees, and then swept the Cardinals in the World Series. Last season, Boston overcame a 3-1 deficit to Cleveland in the ALCS and went on to sweep the Rockies in the World Series.
Patrick Saunders: 303-954-1428 or psaunders@denverpost.com
