1, 2, 3 (pitches) and Sox were out

During the final game of the 2008 season in Chicago, the White Sox and the Rays teamed up to throw 312 pitches.

Several of them, including the ones B.J. Upton knocked out of the park and the ones Carlos Pena smacked for RBI singles, will go on the Rays' postseason DVD and be replayed for months and years to come.

What White Sox players and coaches might rewind in their heads, however, are 3 pitches that had a subtle, yet vital, impact on Tampa Bay's 6-2 triumph to advance to the American League championship series.

Here they are in chronological order:

Upton's smooth take

The situation: In the top of the third, Tampa Bay leads 1-0 thanks to B.J. Upton's first-inning home run.

Sox starter and loser Gavin Floyd builds a 1-2 count against Upton in his next at-bat, then throws a quick-biting curve that appears to chew off the inside corner for a called strike three.

The result: Plate umpire Jeff Kellogg doesn't budge. Upton then fouls off 2 pitches, works into a full count, and bombs a 92 mph fastball into the center-field bleachers to give the Rays a 2-0 lead.

The quote: "I've got a pretty good idea of the strike zone," said Upton, who had 134 strikeouts in the regular season and 5 more in the ALDS.

"I mean, sometimes I take pitches that are borderline that are strikes and sometimes they're balls.

"But that particular one, I thought it was a ball. And I fought off some of his pitches, got my pitch, and took advantage of it."

Floyd's check swing

The situation: The Rays lead 2-0 in the fourth, and Carl Crawford leads off with a walk.

Gavin Floyd works into a 2-2 count with Cliff Floyd, then buries a curve into the dirt. Cliff Floyd tries to check his swing, but replay indicates his quick bat crossed the plate.

The result: On the appeal, third-base umpire Joe West rules that Cliff Floyd did not go around instead of getting the Sox their first out of the inning.

Floyd fouls off a slider, then lines an outside fastball into the left-field corner to drive in Crawford. Floyd moves to third on Orlando Cabrera's throw to the plate.

With the infield drawn in, Dioner Navarro rips a liner that goes over second baseman Alexei Ramirez's head. However, if Ramirez had been able to play back (presuming Floyd struck out), he catches the liner easily.

One could claim both Rays runs wouldn't have occurred if the check swing was ruled the other way.

The quote: "I thought I was cool on that," Cliff Floyd said. "You know, umpires play a big role in these games. They call it as they see it. They're human. But I thought I didn't swing and I gave myself a chance to get back into the at-bat and I felt real comfortable facing him."

Thome's low strike

The situation: In the bottom of the sixth, Jermaine Dye cracks a solo homer to cut the Rays' lead to 5-2 and send starter Andy Sonnanstine to the bench.

Lefty reliever J.P. Howell enters to face Jim Thome and throws his first pitch for a ball. Sox fans are revved up and hoping for more.

Howell's second pitch, a tailing fastball thrown from the third-base side of the pitching rubber, appears to be low and outside when it crosses the plate.

The result: Kellogg calls it a strike, which puts Thome even in the count instead of ahead 2-0. He winds up grounding out to end the inning.

The quote: "(The strike call) changes everything, man," Howell said. "It changes how much of the dish I have to get (with my ensuing pitches).

"That's the key thing, man. If you get a lot of the white (of the plate) with him, man, he's going to hit hard. If you get a strike, you can expand and miss and afford to go 2-1 instead of 3-0."