B.J. Upton, Evan Longoria, and the rest of the Tampa Bay Rays are bashing their way through their first trip to the playoffs, the AP reports. Upton and Longoria homered off a suddenly shaky Jon Lester, and the power-packed Rays cleared the Green Monster four times to beat the Boston Red Sox, 9-1, today for a 2-1 lead in the AL championship series.
Rocco Baldelli and Carlos Pena also sent shots over Fenway Park's famous left-field wall as Tampa Bay tied the ALCS home run record. The Rays put the defending World Series champions in a postseason hole for the first time since they overcame a 3-1 deficit against Cleveland last year to win the pennant. Boston knuckleballer Tim Wakefield faces Andy Sonnanstine in Game 4 of the best-of-seven series tomorrow night. (More baseball stories.)