What a choke...
The Rays had the series for the taking, getting a first-inning grand slam from Mike McKee on their way to taking another 5-0 lead. They couldn't hold this one, though, thanks to some bad fielding and bad bullpen work, their two glaring weaknesses. Jose Mendoza was rolling and even though he gave up 2 in the 5th he should have been out of the 6th but Jose Mendez's throw with 2 out to 3rd to try and get the runner moving up after a fly ball was wild and allowed him to score. And then lefty Chris Williams gave up a 2-run homer to a lefty to tie the game. In the 10th, Ed Pretty walked the leadoff man then threw the next batter's sac bunt away. Although Kikuo Kawase came in and got a big double play, former Ray Jon Jimenez haunted us with an RBI single to win it (I should have intentionally walked him in retrospect). So here we are going back to Tampa for a Game 5 with Brad Jackson on the mound.
Meanwhile the Astros are on their way to the ALCS:
Yet another of their former Rays came through with Jon Soranno going a solid 6 2/3 for the series-clinching win.