Sox Upend Rays in a Game 5 Thriller

I am a die hard member of the Red Sox Nation. I live and breathe with every pitch as if I were on the mound myself. But as I sat in my Physics 285 Optic lenses lab Thursday evening watching the game unravel on a computer screen using ESPN.COM's Gamecast, I started cracking jokes about how terrible a Rays/Phillies World Series would be.

Now, don't get me wrong, I still "believed", but the same way I'm feeling about Barack Obama most likely stealing the White House next month, was how I felt about last night's game once the Rays jumped to a 7-0 lead. But, after Big Papi unloaded on a 2 out pitch in the 7th inning, i felt a warmth of familiarity wrap around me as if the baseball Gods had all hugged me simultaneously.

By the time I reached the bowling alley to meet up with my die-hard Angels fan roommate, the score was now 7-6 and Boston had a man on second base with 2 outs. Coco Crisp, only playing because a struggling Jacoby Ellsbury is yet to find his 2007 postseason magic, stepped to the plate and ripped a ball over the infield's head sending this game 5 directly into the record books. By the bottom of the 9th, with the score knotted up at 7, all the confidence and pride of the Rays had been packaged up and already shipped next day air to Florida by the time J.D. Drew ripped a game winning single to right field and sending the city into an all too familiar frenzy.

For the Red Sox this game is just the beginning. For the Rays, it's all but over.