Phils Crush Rays 10-2, 1 Game Away From World Series Championship
Monday, October 27th, 2008 | MLB, Sports
The Philadelphia Phillies crushed the Tampa Bay Rays 10-2 in World Series Game 4 to take a commanding 3-1 lead in the World Series. Phillies starter Joe Blanton limited the Rays to only 4 hits and 2 earned runs on 2 harmless solo home runs by Eric Hinske and Carl Crawford to earn the victory. Blanton pitched 6 strong innings, striking out 7 and walking only 2 Rays batters. Phillies relievers Chad Durbin, Scott Eyre, Ryan Madsen and J.C. Romero pitched the final 3 innings, allowing only 1 hit and striking out 5. The lethal pitching combination shut down one of baseball’s best hitting lineups and put the Phils in a great position to close out the World Series at home at Citizens Bank Ballpark on Monday, October 27th.
The Phillies bats finally came to life, making it all that much more difficult for the Rays to mount any sort of comeback. The Phils took a 1-0 first inning lead on a walk to Pat Burrell with the bases loaded. Pedro Feliz’s RBI single in the 3rd inning increased the lead to 2-0. The final 10 runs of the game (2 for the Rays) came courtesy of the long ball. Ryan Howard crushed a 3-run home run to deep left field in the 4th inning which put the Phils up for good with a 5-1 lead. After Blanton served up an Eric Hinske solo home run in the top of the 5th inning, he helped his own cause in the bottom of the inning with a monster shot to deep left field. The Phillies put the game out of reach for good in the 8th inning – Jayson Werth drove in Jimmy Rollins with a deep home run to left field, and then Ryan Howard hit his 2nd home run of the game – a 2-run shot to deep right field that scored Chase Utley. That closed out the scoring and put the Phillies up 10-2.
The Rays pitching was atrocious on Sunday night – 8 earned runs; 12 hits, 4 home runs, 5 walks and only 4 strikeouts. The Rays defense hasn’t helped either – they have now committed an errors in each World Series game and have a total of 5 errors for the series. The hot bats have also deserted the Rays – Carlos Pena and Evan Longoria are a combined 0 for 29 in the series. Only one regular is hitting above .300 for the series – catcher Dioner Navarro.
Things do not look good for the Rays – with Phillies ace Cole Hamels set to start World Series Game 5 on full days’ rest. Things don’t look good for my predictions either:
Rays in 7 – not gonna happen.
B.J. Upton MVP – his .250 average doesn’t help and unless he hits several home runs and leads the team in a comeback World Series win, it’s not gonna happen.
Cole Hamels – winning both of his starts – looks good right now and I like his match-up tonight. The Rays have their backs up against the walls, it will be a cool night in Philadelphia and the Rays’ youngsters will be playing tight.
At least we won’t have to hear anymore cowbell – hooray for that!
