You know what it is about these Red Sox that really bother me? They shouldn’t be this good. When you look at the lineup for today’s game and compare to the ones the Sox put forward in 2004, that 2004 team would tear apart this 2008 team.
Anyway, you know the drill. Tampa was seven outs away from the World Series with a seven-run lead and couldn’t seal the deal. They better win tonight; I can’t stomach a game seven.
Tampa led the Majors with 57 home wins this year. One more gets them into the Fall Classic.
The game thread is going up early because we’re all out tonight. Feel free to use this as an open thread until the game starts at 8:07 p.m.
Boston Red Sox
1. Coco Crisp, CF
2. Dustin Pedroia, 2B
3. David Ortiz, DH
4. Kevin Youkilis, 3B
5. J.D. Drew, RF
6. Jason Bay, LF
7. Mark Kotsay, 1B
8. Jed Lowrie, SS
9. Jason Varitek, C
SP — Josh Beckett
Tampa Bay Rays
1. Akinori Iwamura, 2B
2. B.J. Upton, CF
3. Carlos Pena, 1B
4. Evan Longoria, 3B
5. Carl Crawford, LF
6. Cliff Floyd, DH
7. Dioner Navarro, C
8. Gabe Gross, RF
9. Jason Bartlett, SS
SP: James Shields
Update by Mike (8:30pm): Apparently there’s a power outage at TBS’ headquarters, so the game’s not on TV here. Here’s MLB’s live feed. It’s on TBS now.