ALCS notebook: Rays fan gets hassled by the man for Web site

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Play of the game

Jason Varitek’s homer: Gave Boston the lead immediately after Tampa tied it the inning before, and also got Varitek out of a horrible 0-for-15 slump. Metaphorically, it said that whatever used to be wrong with the Rays is now fixed.

Player of the game

Josh Beckett: Found his playoff mojo again, for five innings, at least, giving up just two runs and four hits. The Red Sox had no shot if he was as bad as he was in game two, and even without his very best stuff, he did enough to hand a lead to the bullpen.

Upton ties mark

B.J. Upton’s first-inning home run gave him 11 RBIs in the ALCS. That ties the record set by Boston’s David Oritz in 2004.

Lester’s lessons

Jon Lester noticed the Rays being more aggressive early in counts when he was battered around for two homers and four runs in game three. He thinks he’ll be better tonight because of that experience.

“I pitched pretty well, with the exception of a couple pitches, and unfortunately those pitches hurt me pretty bad,” he said. “But hopefully I can go out and execute pitches again and stay away from the big innings.”

Ump banged up

The start of the fourth inning was delayed 15 minutes because of an injury to home plate umpire Derryl Cousins, who was nicked in the chest area by a foul tip off Jason Varitek’s bat.

| Sam Mellinger, smellinger@kcstar.com

Posted on Sat, Oct. 18, 2008 10:15 PM

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