Ugh...
You just knew that after winning 22 games to close the season the Rays would lose Game 1 of the playoffs and sure enough that's what happened. But the way they lost was shocking, given how bad the pitching was at both ends of the game. Nate Schultz was hit hard for 5 runs in the first two innings; Bob Sirna, who had a breakout year this season, gave up a critical 2-run homer to the same-handed lefty hitter Pierson Gibis; and after the Rays had come all the way back to take the lead going into the 9th, about as sure a thing as you could have, Kikuo Kawase (with the help of a Bo Angeac error to put the leadoff man on), gave up three hits to allow 2 Boston runs to score to blow the game. I was set to write about what a hero Ron Adams was, getting 7 of his 8 outs via the whiff in a dominant relief performance, and how Jeff Baez's clutch 2-out, 2-run single in the 7th was going to win it for them. But all for naught. Of course this team is well-accustomed to being down in the playoffs only to come back, as last year's Houdini act will attest. But not an ideal way to start.
The other games:
Texas took the lead in their ALDS but it came at a price: one of their twin aces, Victor Presas, suffered a fractured elbow and is done for the year. The Cards got 5 shutout innings from their pen and a 2-run Josh Stowers single to take a 2-0 lead in their series going back to St. Louis, and the Dodgers scored 3 times in the bottom of the 9th to pull out a 4-3 win including a Bobby Ferguson 2-run homer to tie it, and the series is now tied as well.