Rays look to win spot in Series against Phillies

The Tampa Bay Rays look win the American League pennant tonight and earn a spot in the World Series against the Philadelphia Phillies. The Rays lead the Boston Red Sox 3 games to 1.

Boston will be looking to Daisuke Matsuzaka to bail them out in Game 5. He blanked the Rays on four hits over seven innings in a Game 1 shutout. But Tampa Bay has exploded against Boston pitching for 31 runs since then. Rays skipper Joe Maddon is moving Scott Kazmir up in the rotation to the Game 5 starter in hopes of ending any Red Sox comeback thoughts.

The Red Sox fell behind Cleveland 3-1 in last year’s ALCS and rebounded to win it.

Last night, Jimmy Rollins got the Phillies rollin’ and Cole Hamels finished off the Dodgers in the National League Championship Series.

Rollins led off Game 5 with a home run sparking Philadelphia to a 5-1 win over Los Angeles that wrapped up the Phillies sixth trip to the World Series and first in 15 years. Ryan Howard and Pat Burrell had RBI singles in the third inning and that was all Hamels needed.

The left-hander stopped the Dodgers for the second time in the series to capture the MVP award. Hamels gave up a home run to Manny Ramirez but that was all the damage he allowed. He gave up five hits in seven innings.

Philadelphia will open its quest for a second World Series title in franchise history on Wednesday either at Tampa Bay or Boston.

In other baseball news, White Sox outfielder Ken Griffey Jr. had arthroscopic surgery on his left knee Tuesday to repair cartilage and meniscus damage. Griffey had the knee drained three times this season while playing for the Reds and White Sox.

The White Sox are expected to decline a $16.5 million option on Griffey for next season making him eligible for free agency. The 38-year old, 13-time All-Star has indicated he wants to continue playing.