Against the wall...
There's a good chance - especially if this series goes the full 7 (which I now hope it will) - this will go down as one of the great World Series of all-time as every game has been a nail-biter. Unfortunately it didn't go Tampa Bay's way tonight as again like last night the inability to come up with a big hit cost them. Dave Rose was much better tonight than in Game 1 but he still had some control issues against this Pittsburgh lineup which drove up his pitch count and after no-hitting them through 4 he ran out of gas in the 6th and stayed in one batter too long, giving up a game-tying 2-run single to that man again, Kang-cheol Lee. And 2-2 is where we stayed until the telltale 11th. In the top of the inning the Rays got runners on 2nd and 3rd with nobody out and a golden chance to go ahead, only to hit a shallow fly ball and strike out twice. And a bullpen that was pushed hard all series finally broke with Erik Witten pressed into duty and he loaded the bases with nobody out in the bottom of the inning (not helped by an Aaron White error) and then gave up the game-winning sac fly. So it's back to Tampa and Steve Swords will hope to duplicate his Game 2 performance while the hitters will not.