Willy Aybar and Carl Crawford combined for nine hits and drove in seven runs, as the Tampa Bay Rays again battered the Boston Red Sox, 13-4, in Game 4 of the American League Championship Series, putting the defending World Series champions on the brink of playoff elimination.
Even if you thought the Tampa Bay Rays were going to beat the Boston Red Sox in the ALCS, there is no way you could have predicted that the defending champions would be manhandled the way they have been in the two games played so far at Fenway Park.
The Philadelphia Phillies meet the Los Angeles Dodgers tonight, with the Phils and the Tampa Bay Rays just one game away from a date in the World Series. The Rays and Boston Red Sox resume their series tomorrow.
Cole Hamels attempts to pitch the Philadelphia Phillies into the World Series for the first time in 15 years this evening, as the team tries to finish off the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 5 of the National League Championship Series at Dodger Stadium.
The Tampa Bay Rays are giving Scott Kazmir the chance to pitch them into the World Series. The 24-year-old left-hander was moved up in the rotation so he could start in the potential AL pennant clincher against the Boston Red Sox on Thursday night at Fenway Park. The move keeps Kazmir on his regular rest and bumps scheduled starter James Shields to the if-necessary Game 6 at home Saturday.
