No joy in Mudville...
The Rays' two-year reign as World Champions came to an end tonight at Tropicana Field as they fell to the Padres and saw their threepeat bid come up two games short.
Jaheim Lennon was terrible (two two-run homers allowed in the first four innings) as was the offense (only 3 hits on the night despite San Diego losing their starter in the 1st), so the 2004 Red Sox' distinction as the only MLB team to reverse sweep remains intact. Still, winning 9 consecutive postseason series is quite the accomplishment, and of course there will be changes to come this winter. But congratulations to San Diego on their first-ever World Championship!
Not noted in the recap above was that San Diego's Jordan Ramos was named Series MVP, although his 7-24 with 1 HR and 4 RBI wasn't exactly notable. But in a series where nobody really cooked on offense (Nelson Haro was 10-23 with 4 RBI for the Rays) somebody still had to win.