CHICAGO WHITE SOX at TAMPA BAY RAYS---OCTOBER 2, 2008
GAME 1, AMERICAN LEAGUE DIVISION SERIES
Rays 6, White Sox 4
WP: Shields (1-0) LP: Vazquez (0-1) SV: Wheeler (1)
First Pitch: 2:38 p.m. Temps: 72-in, 85-out Attendance: 35,041 Game Time: 3:10
TOMORROW: White Sox Manager Ozzie Guillen will be available in the interview room tomorrow at 4:15 pm, followed by Rays Manager Joe Maddon at 4:30…Game 3 starting pitchers will be available at U.S. Cellular Field on workout day Saturday…gates open tomorrow at 3:30…golf legend Paul Azinger will throw the ceremonial first pitch.
POSTSEASON IN ST. PETE: A sellout crowd of 35,041 at Tropicana Field witnessed the first postseason game in Rays history…the Rays improved to 22-2 in front of crowds of 30,000+ this season…due to reconfiguration in the ballpark for the postseason, the total attendance was slightly lower than the usual sellout crowd of 36,048.
HOME RUN IN FIRST DIVISION SERIES AT-BAT
Benito Santiago CIN NL 10/03/1995
Brady Anderson BAL AL 10/01/1996
B.J. Surhoff BAL AL 10/01/1996
Harold Baines BAL AL 10/02/1997
Shane Spencer NYA AL 09/30/1998
Edgardo Alfonzo NYN NL 10/05/1999
Joe Oliver SEA AL 10/03/2000
Mark McGwire SLN NL 10/05/2000
Todd Walker BOS AL 10/01/2003
Tom Wilson LAN NL 10/05/2004
Jason Lane HOU NL 10/06/2004
Raul Chavez HOU NL 10/07/2004
Brian McCann ATL NL 10/06/2005
Kevin Youkilis BOS AL 10/03/2007
Evan Longoria TB AL 10/02/2008
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RAYS: Win the first postseason game in franchise history and stake a 1-0 lead in the series…of the 52 LDS series since Division Series play began in 1995, the team that won the first game went on to win the series 35 times…with a win tomorrow, the Rays could take a 2-0 lead, and 27 of the 32 teams to take a 2-0 lead in LDS play have gone on to win the series.
WHITE SOX: The loss snaps Chicago’s eight-game postseason winning streak (last loss came in Game 1 of the 2005 ALCS vs. LAA)…all 4 of their runs scored on home runs.
EVAN LONGORIA: Went 3-for-3 with 2-HR, an RBI single, BB and SB in his first career postseason game…hit two solo home runs, coming in his first two at-bats…became the second player in major league history to homer in his first two postseason at-bats, joining MIN Gary Gaetti in 1987 (David Vincent, SABR)…his first HR came on the first pitch, becoming the first since HOU Raul Chavez in 2004 to homer on the first pitch of his first career LDS at-bat.
Þ With two homers, tied the record for most HR in a LDS game – last was HOU Carlos Beltran on Oct 11, 2004 (Game 5 vs. ATL)…was the 30th player to do so.
Þ Including the regular season, has recorded 4 multi-HR games this season…also May 24 vs. BAL (2), June 9 at LAA (2) and Sep 18 vs. MIN (3).
Þ Incidentally, Gaetti was Longoria’s hitting coach at Durham (AAA) during the first week of the 2008 season.
Þ The second HR hit the C-ring catwalk, some 125 feet above the playing field…it was the 12th ball to hit off a catwalk in fair territory in 2008, including regular season, and the 7th HR off the C-ring catwalk…any ball that hits the C-ring or D-ring catwalk in fair territory is an automatic home run.
JAMES SHIELDS: Made his first career postseason start and earned the win, totaling 6.1-IP, 6-H, 3-R/ER, 1-BB, 4-SO…all 3 runs scored on Dewayne Wise’s 3-run home run in the 3rd inning.
CARL CRAWFORD: Made his first start since Sep 9 at SEA, when he suffered a subluxation of his right middle finger tendon… batted 5th for the first time of his career (had never batted anywhere 4-thru-7 before today).
JAVIER VAZQUEZ: Fell to 1-1 lifetime with a 10.34 ERA (15.2-IP, 18-ER) in 4 career postseason starts…all 3 of his previous postseason starts came in 2004 with the Yankees.
Þ Over his last 4 starts (postseason and regular season) he is 0-4 with a 13.22 ERA (16.1-IP, 24-ER)…has allowed at least 5-R/ER in all 4 of those starts.
BULLPEN POWER: Grant Balfour, J.P. Howell and Dan Wheeler combined for 2.2-IP, 1-H, 1-R/ER, 0-BB, 5-SO, allowing just one base runner (Paul Konerko’s home run)…the two bullpens combined for 11 SO over 6.1 innings, allowing 4-H, 1-R/ER, 2-BB.
Þ Dan Wheeler made his 14th career postseason appearance and recorded his first postseason save…owns a career ERA of 2.50 (18-IP, 5-ER) in postseason play.
Þ Clayton Richard’s five strikeouts as a reliever tie a White Sox franchise record in a postseason game (also Jose DeLeon in Game 5 of the 1993 ALCS at Toronto; 3.2 IP)
PAUL KONERKO: Hit his 6th postseason home run with the White Sox, extending the club record.
DEWAYNE WISE: Belted a 3-run homer off Shields in the 3rd…was his postseason debut.
POSTSEASON DEBUTS: Akinori Iwamura, B.J. Upton, Carlos Peña, Evan Longoria, Carl Crawford, Dioner Navarro, Gabe Gross, Willy Aybar, Rocco Baldelli, James Shields, J.P. Howell, Dewayne Wise, Alexei Ramirez, Brian Anderson and Clayton Richard.
Þ Ken Griffey Jr. played in his first postseason game since 1997 with the Mariners.
CARLOS PEÑA: Left the game after 2 innings with slightly blurred vision in his left eye, the result of accidentally scratching his eye last night at home…it is not believed to be serious…he is expected to play tomorrow.
HOME RUNS
Team Player # Distance Type Field Count Off Inn. Score
TB Evan Longoria 1 421 ft. solo left 0-0 Vazquez 2 1-0, TB
CWS Dewayne Wise 1 368 ft. 3-run right 2-2 Shields 3 3-1, CWS
TB Evan Longoria 2 430 ft. solo LF C-ring 0-1 Vazquez 3 4-3, TB
CWS Paul Konerko 1 406 ft. solo left 3-2 Wheeler 9 6-4, TB
UP NEXT: Fri vs. CWS at 6:00 p.m. (TBS/1250 WHNZ English/680 WGES Spanish)
LH Scott Kazmir (12-8, 3.49) vs. LH Mark Buehrle (15-12, 3.79)
POSTGAME QUOTES
October 2, 2008 vs. Chicago White Sox (Game 1, American League Division Series)
Rays Quotes
Grant Balfour
(on the issue with Orlando Cabrera)
“He kicked the dirt and told me to throw it over the plate and started cursing at me. He just fired me up to get him out. So I was fortunate there. I like to get fired up so he really helped me out.”
(after he struck him out)
“I told him to go sit down. … It was a good feeling.”
Dioner Navarro
(on the crowd)
“It was pretty exciting. This is why we work hard for the whole spring and the whole summer.”
(on the series)
“They knew we can play against them and we know they can play against us.”
(on the win)
“We played good games. We catch the ball, timely hitting, exceptional pitching. … That’s what we were talking about before the game. It’s just a regular game.”
J.P. Howell
(on the win)
“We’re proud but there’s still a lot more to go. … We know that the hard part is keeping it simple.”
(on James Shields outing)
“That’s why we call him Big Game James. … He sets the tone and keep the tempo going.”
White Sox Quotes
Orlando Cabrera
(on Grant Balfour)
“They say that he always gets pumped up like that, he says the F word to the hitter every time they swing at his pitch, I didn’t know that so I just got mad a little bit and I was just pumped up. …Like I said before, it was just heat of the moment in the battlefield.”
Javier Vazquez
(on Evan Longoria)
“He’s a good hitter, bottom line. He’s a rookie but he did it all year for them and he’s a good power guy. …The second curve ball I threw was a terrible curve ball and he took advantage of that.”
(on the game)
“They kept getting hits over and over and over, and it was just a tough game. …This is by far the roughest time in my career.”
A.J. Pierzynski
(on the game)
“We got to pitch better, that’s the bottom line. We made a couple mistakes and they hit a couple home runs. …The bottom line is we just got to make pitches when we have to and tonight we didn’t do that. …We had our chances, we had bases loaded on one inning and didn’t get any runs…we had our chances, we’ll get them tomorrow. …It’s the playoffs, guys don’t miss them now.”
Courtesy MLB