In 2011, The Rays Are Just A Better Team Than The Red Sox, Period

I've said it all season (look it up) and with one game left in the season series, it's no time to stop beating the same repetitive drum: the Tampa Bay Rays are simply better than the Boston Red Sox in 2011.

By taking today's game 4-3 at Fenway Park, the Rays' (84-67) starting pitching continued to completely nullify the Red Sox' (87-64) superior lineup and as a result, they are 11-6 against Boston this year.

Tampa Bay has climbed to within three games of the AL Wild Card and they'll have a very good chance to chip it down to two tomorrow afternoon as David Price faces Tim Wakefield.

For the second time in a week, Jon Lester (15-8)-Boston's ace-failed to beat the Rays in a huge game. He battled for seven innings but he allowed four earned runs on five hits with four walks and five strikeouts.

Tampa Bay starter Jeff Niemann (11-7) was kept on a short leash (5 innings, 2 earned runs, 4 hits, 2 walks, 6 strikeouts; 89 pitches) but that was because as usual, Rays manager Joe Maddon had a trick up his sleeve: rookie Matt Moore.

Making just his second MLB appearance, the former minor league pitcher of the year was able to give his team three innings. He only allowed one earned run on two hits with two walks and two strikeouts. He's already been compared to Price in 2008 in terms of how Maddon would like to deploy his newest young hard-throwing lefty.

Tampa Bay got out to a 3-0 lead with two runs in the first on Ben Zobrist's two-run bomb and Desmond Jennings (2 runs) scored on Lester's wild pitch.

Mike Aviles (3 hits) hit an RBI double in the third to score Carl Crawford (2 runs, 2 hits) and Jacoby Ellsbury (2 RBIs, hit, stolen base) knocked in Aviles with a sacrifice fly to cut it to 3-2 after three innings.

Evan Longoria's RBI single in the fifth was the difference. Ellsbury knocked in the last Boston run with a ground out in the seventh.

Moore going three allowed Maddon to avoid using any other relievers before temporary closer Joel Peralta struck out two in the ninth and danced around a hit to record his fourth save of the season.

Probably the only good news to come out of the loss for the Red Sox is that Daniel Bard seems to have found himself once again. He pitched a 1-2-3 eighth (8 of 12 pitches for strikes), his second great outing in as many days.

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Rays Hold Red Sox To Three Hits For Third Straight Game At Fenway Park

Well it's a good thing that the Tampa Bay Rays will likely miss the playoffs this season. I can say with a straight face that they pose a much bigger threat to the Boston Red Sox than the New York Yankees because of their stellar top of the rotation.



Buoyed by the third consecutive outstanding start by their pitchers, the Rays (66-56) blanked the Red Sox (74-48) 4-0 this afternoon at Fenway Park. It helped them take the series 2-1 and move to 6-5 against Boston so far this season (seven more meetings remain).



Boston was held to three hits in each of the three games against Tampa Bay yesterday (doubleheader) and today. That's the first time since 1974 that the Red Sox have been held to three hits three games in a row.



Following James Shields and Jeff Niemann's lead, David Price (11-10) completely shutdown Boston's lineup that is without David Ortiz (heel) for the next 10 days. Price went eight innings with three walks and six strikeouts.



It was a perfect day weather wise and a rare afternoon start but the fans that were lucky enough to get a ticket had to pay their debt by sitting through the usual torture of a John Lackey (11-9) start. By his terrible standards, he wasn't bad at all but Price vs. Lackey is a matchup Boston will never win.



In 6.2 innings, Lackey allowed four runs (three earned) on six hits with three walks and seven strikeouts.



Ben Zobrist's (2 hits, 2 RBIs) ground out in the first scored Johnny Damon (2 hits) with Tampa Bay's first run. B.J. Upton hit a solo homer in the fourth, Evan Longoria followed suit with a solo bomb in the fifth and Zobrist rounded it out with an RBI double in the seventh.



The Royals did the Red Sox a favor by somehow beating the Yankees tonight in a game which Bruce Chen started. New York still leads Boston for first-place in the AL East by half a game.



After three days at home (three games in two days) including the off-day, the Red Sox go back on the road for one of their most difficult trips of the season: four in Kansas City followed by four in Texas.



Josh Beckett faces Luke Hochevar tomorrow night in a rematch of a game the Royals won 4-3 back on July 28 at Fenway, the finale of a four-game series split. After losing five of its last seven games and dropping out of first-place in the AL East while its offense has went missing, the Red Sox need to wake up. They want no part of the AL Wild Card and a trip to Texas in the ALDS.



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Red Sox Split Day-Night Doubleheader With Rays, Record First Triple Play In 17 Years

They might not have the same talent level with Carlos Pena, Carl Crawford, Rafael Soriano, Grant Balfour, Joaquin Benoit, etc. all gone but the Tampa Bay Rays are still a tough matchup for the Boston Red Sox.



There are few if any teams in MLB that draft and develop players as well as the Rays so Crawford has already been replaced by Desmond Jennings. Most importantly, they have a deep and young pitching staff: James Shields, David Price, Jeff Niemann, Jeremy Hellickson and Wade Davis.



The Red Sox (74-46) were able to beat the Rays (64-56) 3-1 this afternoon in the first tidy game of a day-night doubleheader but Tampa Bay bounced back to take the nightcap 6-2 at Fenway Park. The Yankees beat the Royals tonight as well meaning New York takes a half game lead for first-place in the AL East.



Boston's win was the direct result of the brilliance of five players: Jacoby Ellsbury, Jon Lester, Daniel Bard, Jonathan Papelbon and Dustin Pedroia. It's rare that a baseball game can be boiled down to that few elements but keep in mind, there were only six hits combined in that one and it only took two hours and 24 minutes.



Shields (11-10) went the distance in the loss, his MLB-best ninth complete game of the season. He allowed three earned runs on three hits with one walk and six strikeouts.



Lester (12-6) went one less inning but he was just a smidge more effective. The lefty went seven innings, allowing one earned run on three hits with a walk and eight strikeouts.



Tampa Bay took a 1-0 lead on the first as Jennings led off the game with a double, stole third and scored on Evan Longoria's ground out.



Boston got all of its runs in the third as Ellsbury drilled a three-run bomb over the Rays bullpen, scoring Josh Reddick and Mike Aviles.



Daniel Bard got a 1-2-3 with two strikeouts for his 28th hold of the season while Jonathan Papelbon continued his incredible stretch of work with a clean ninth for his 28th save of the season.



Pedroia ended the game with authority by snagging a B.J. Upton liner up the middle that seemed destined to be a base hit.



Game two was not so kind to the home team as Niemann (8-4) had one of the most impressive starts by an opposing pitcher that Boston will see all season.



Like Shields, he also threw a complete game (nine innings), allowing two earned runs on three hits with a walk and 10 strikeouts. I don't usually give out Fantasy Baseball tips but pick this guy up, I'm pretty sure he'll be available on most waiver wires.



Erik Bedard (4-8) is still looking for his first win in a Red Sox uniform after three starts. He went six innings, allowing three runs (one earned) on seven hits with no walks and six strikeouts. Tampa Bay got to his pitch count early-in the second-by fouling off the most amount of pitches I can ever remember (29 in his outing) by one pitcher.



Luck was not on his side even though Boston turned its first triple play since 1994 (John Valentin!). The Rays scored twice in the second on a throwing error by Jed Lowrie and a ground out by Matt Joyce.



Jason Varitek's (his eighth of the season) in the third cut it to 2-1 and Sean Rodriguez was the poor sap who grounded into the triple play in the fourth (Lowrie to Pedroia to Gonzalez: 5-4-3). That was only the 30th triple play in franchise history.



You figure that momentum could carry over but Jennings (2 hits) hit a solo homer over the Monster in the fifth and Boston had to play catch up once again. Ellsbury hit another homer (his 22nd) in the sixth but the Rays pushed across three in the eighth against Matt Albers featuring some more sloppy defense by the Red Sox (even if they weren't called errors).



B.J. Upton (3 hits, 2 runs, stolen base) had an RBI single-his first clutch hit in years-while Ben Zobrist (3 hits, 2 runs, 2 stolen bases) "stole home" on another bad throw by Lowrie. Casey Kotchman (2 hits) added an RBI single for even more of a cushion.



David Ortiz missed both games and will reportedly be in a boot for the next few days, but not go on the disabled list with a bruised heel.



The rubber match is tomorrow afternoon, yes another day game (today was a rain makeup date). John Lackey goes against David Price. The Red Sox could benefit from the win since they would take the series from the Rays and more importantly, head out on the long road trip (eight games) with renewed confidence.



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