[jg2977]

JOE BUCK:
Good evening from Tropicana Field, and if you’re just joining us, check the scoreboard carefully. This is not a typo. Not football. Not a Thanksgiving classic. This was Major League Baseball — and it finished Tampa Bay 21, Toronto 14.
JOHN MADDEN:
Yeah, Joe, I gotta tell ya… 21–14? I thought I was watchin’ football on Thanksgiving, sittin’ on the couch enjoyin’ my turducken! I mean look at this thing — points everywhere! Boom! Boom! Boom! Everybody’s scorin’!
BUCK:
It was a barrage from the opening pitch. Tampa Bay scored seven runs in the first inning, added five more in the third, and never really looked back. And the man at the center of it all — Tanner Faller.
Four home runs. Seven runs batted in. Five runs scored.
MADDEN:
Four home runs, Joe! FOUR! You don’t even do that in batting practice unless the pitcher’s tired. He’s standin’ there goin’ whap! and the ball’s just leavin’ the yard. Over and over again.
You know what that is? That’s when a guy’s seein’ the ball like a beach ball.
BUCK:
And he wasn’t alone. Brian Petro added two home runs of his own, drove in five, and the Rays finished with 22 hits and 21 runs in a League Championship Series game.
That’s a postseason record-setting pace.
MADDEN:
And Toronto? They’re scorin’ too! Fourteen runs! Normally you score fourteen runs, you’re laughin’, you’re shakin’ hands, you’re sayin’ “Nice job, everybody.” But not tonight.
This game was like one of those pinball machines — ball’s just flyin’ everywhere, lights flashin’, noise goin’ nuts.
BUCK:
Devin Thorn continued his remarkable postseason with another home run, his eleventh of the playoffs, but Toronto’s pitching simply couldn’t slow Tampa Bay down. The Rays scored in five different innings, including a five-run seventh that put the game away.
MADDEN:
Yeah and the pitchers? Joe, they were throwin’ so much, they needed a nap after the second inning. Nobody had command, nobody had a feel, and the hitters just said, “Okay, thanks.”
And when you give up seven runs before you sit down? That’s a long day.
BUCK:
In the end, Tampa Bay takes Game 2 and a 2–0 lead in the League Championship Series as it shifts to Toronto.
MADDEN:
That’s a big ol’ lead, Joe. Two games. Confidence. Momentum. And a guy hittin’ four home runs — that’s like havin’ a fullback who just won’t go down.
BUCK:
Final again from Tampa Bay: Rays 21, Blue Jays 14. A game that felt more like a shootout than a ballgame — and one that will be talked about for a very long time.
MADDEN:
I’m just sayin’, Joe… if you’re gonna score like that, somebody better bring gravy next time.