BOSTON // The power-packed Tampa Bay Rays hit four home runs over the Green Monster at Fenway Park to beat the Boston Red Sox 9-1 in the Major League Baseball play-offs. BJ Upton, Evan Longoria, Rocco Baldelli and Carlos Pena sent shots over the famous left-field wall for a 2-1 lead in the American League Championship Series. The Rays put the defending World Series champions in a post-season hole for the first time since Boston overcame a 3-1 deficit against Cleveland last year to win the AL pennant.
The Rays also hit hard on the base paths. Carl Crawford bowled over the Boston catcher Jason Varitek on a play at the plate. Matt Garza, the only Tampa Bay pitcher to lose in the first-round series against the Chicago White Sox, held the Red Sox scoreless through six innings before they made it 5-1 in the seventh. Upton hit a three-run homer in the third inning, his fifth homer of the play-offs. One out later, Longoria hit his fourth home run of the post-season, tying a rookie record set by Miguel Cabrera in 2003.
The suddenly shaky Boston pitcher Jon Lester, who had not allowed an earned run in four previous post-season outings - including last year's World Series clincher against Colorado - gave up four earned runs on eight hits in 5 2-3 innings. Baldelli had a three-run drive in the eighth and Pena hit a solo homer in the ninth. Boston knuckleballer Tim Wakefield faces Andy Sonnanstine in Game 4 of the best-of-seven series today.
In Los Angeles, Shane Victorino and the much-travelled pinch-hitter Matt Stairs hit two-run homers off two of Los Angeles' most reliable relievers in the eighth inning, lifting Philadelphia over the Dodgers and into a 3-1 lead in the National League championship series. It was the first time the visiting team has won a game in 12 meetings between the teams this year. Phillies ace Cole Hamels, who won the series opener, can pitch Philadelphia into their first World Series in 15 years on Wednesday in Game 5. He will be opposed by Game 2 loser Chad Billingsley.
Eleven teams in baseball history have come back from 3-1 deficits to win a best-of-seven post-season series - two in the NLCS. With a runner at first and one out in the eighth, Victorino lined Cory Wade's first pitch into the right-field bullpen to tie the game at 5. Then, after a two-out single by Carlos Ruiz, the Dodgers manager Joe Torre called upon closer Jonathan Broxton, the seventh Los Angeles pitcher.
Broxton tried to throw a 3-1 fastball past Stairs, and the 40-year-old left-handed hitter drove it halfway up the right-field pavilion to put the Phillies ahead. Broxton, the seventh Los Angeles pitcher, allowed only two homers in 69 innings during the regular season. The Phillies picked up Stairs from Toronto on Aug 30. He has played for 11 teams in his career. The Phillies hit an NL-leading 214 homers during the regular season, and have nine in eight post-season games, good for 17 of their 35 runs.
*AP
