Rays ready for more than brawl in ALCS

With early season aspirations no one in the baseball world picked the Tampa Bay Rays to make it very far. Especially not to the AL Championship series. Well as usual the critics were wrong and that's normally how it works with least noticed team being the biggest surprise. The teams not picked to amount to diddly squat are the ones who emerge as top contenders. In this case the Rays play the role of Underdogs against the defending World champion Red Sox heading into a monumental series tonight.

The two teams let their gloves come off earlier this year when a bench-clearing brawl erupted. Rays' pitcher James Shields took offense to outfielder Coco Crisp charging the mound after being hit by a pitch. From there everyone from sides sprung into the field to get in on the action and defend their teammates. Luckily from that previous meeting none of the players involved got seriously injured. I'm sure there will be some heated tension between the clubs for the playoff series as they haven't forgotten what happened.

Every time a batter is plunked the other team always responds in later innings. Usually a heater comes in tight near the chin by the other pitcher. To escalate a brooding situation even more the players will start yelling back and forth from the dugouts and the field at one another. Then the umpires get mad and want to serve up ejections. I don't think this series will be too out of hand and should go the distance for 6 or 7 games. With Tampa Bay owning home-field advantage they may find themselves in the driver's seat yet still will have learn how to win on the road.

The Rays have their work ahead of them facing a difficult rotation which includes Josh Beckett, Dice-K, Jon Lester, and Tim Wakefield. I don't think the Red Sox will go any deeper than their top 3 pitchers and figuring out how to chip away and score runs against Dice-K will be quite the task. The 2nd year Japanese hurler earned a 18-2 record in the regular season with a low ERA. I think the answer for Tampa Bay lies primarily in the middle of their order. Evan Longoria, Carlos Pena, and Carl Crawford must hit for the Rays to stay alive and have a chance. As far their rotation if their pitchers can be effective for at least 5 innings they'll be able to hang around and have a good shot to win the series. If a brawl does break out again, the Tampa Bay bench will have it in their best interest to avoid their best players throwing punches. Let the relievers go at it so the main star players won't get suspended.