They did it again, and again they did it very late. The team that has been known for its late-inning comebacks during this five-year championship run pulled out another one to take the division series from Detroit and advance to the ALCS against Texas. Unlike the scoring orgies of the first two games in Publix Park, tonight's was a tight, tense affair with the Rays never ahead until they scored 4 times in the 8th, the door left ajar by the Tigers with a 2-out Tim Schneider error which should have ended the inning. That error came with two on and two out before Tomas Laboy delivered his second RBI single of the game to put the Rays in front, and then Jose Castillo left no doubt about the outcome with a 3-run homer. I shouldn't say "no doubt" since Detroit put a pair of runners on against Satoshi Sato in the 9th (one of which reached on a Nelson Bocardo passed ball after strike three) but he got a grounder to Dave Frick to end the game. It was a Frick error that put Detroit ahead early, and the Tigers went ahead 2-1 in the 6th knocking Gordie Ager out of the game and that's where the game may have turned. They had men on 2nd and 3rd and only 1 out at that point and knowing a strikeout was needed, I brought on Josh Grote and his 75 stuff even though Grote had been terribly inconsistent all year. This time Grote came through, getting a pair of whiffs to keep the game at 2-1 and the Rays tied it in the bottom of the frame. Sato also got a big whiff in the 8th when Willie Minier put two on with two out.
So now it's the Rangers in the ALCS and the omens point Tampa Bay's way as they have a remarkable 18-season streak of either losing in the ALDS or winning the World Series, and now the former is off the table.