A tough one...
The Rays dropped Game 2 at Publix Park in agonizing fashion and now head to Minnesota level at 1-1. Although Minnesota got a 2-run homer in the 4th for the runs they needed the game likely turned in 3rd inning when Dantel Chinchilla doubled but had to leave the game with a strained rib cage muscle that hopefully shouldn't keep him out of Game 3. But with Minnesota throwing lefties we had to replace Chinchilla with Alex Brown, a good glove but a weak hitter against southpaws. And that came back to bite us in the 7th when we had runners in scoring position but had to let Brown make the third out against a lefty, and then in the 9th the real pain occurred. Tampa Bay put men on 1st and 3rd with nobody out against former Ray lefty Chris O'Brien, but David Morales hit one right back to O'Brien for a force at 2nd and then Jose Machado popped one up on the infield. This brought Brown to the plate and instead of letting him hit we called a better lefty hitter (the righties were all in the starting lineup) in Joel Bland and he hit the ball hard but right at the CF to end it. I can't help but think Chinchilla would have come through in one of those situations. So now Randy Mastropietro, who missed most of August and September, will try to keep us from falling behind in the series in Game 3.
Meanwhile the Angels are all but in the ALCS:
