Rays zap Sox, bring a close to Chicago's postseason

The rally towels were no longer working.

The sea of black was now strictly for mourning.

No matter how hard the sellout crowd at U.S. Cellular Field tried Monday night, their beat-up, worn-down heroes just didn't have enough left in the tank to continue their magical late-season run.

It was a run that included a win a day after the regular season ended and a play-in game victory the following night just to reach the postseason.

Behind the crafty pitching of Andy Sonnanstine and the power of B.J. Upton (2 home runs), the young Tampa Bay Rays simply proved to be too much, rolling to a 6-2 victory good for a 3-1 ALDS series win in this, the franchise's first trip to the postseason.

"They played better than us, there's no doubt," Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said. "They pitched better. They executed better. They got big hits.

"I tip my hat to them because they outplayed us."

Some would argue the Sox outplayed their expectations in a year when many had picked them to finish in the middle of what was thought to be a loaded AL Central.

"I think when you lose an all-star third baseman (Joe Crede), probably a shoo-in for the MVP (Carlos Quentin) and a guy who started Game 1s of series in the playoffs off your pitching staff (Jose Contreras) - I think we kind of overachieved," first baseman Paul Konerko said. "But at the beginning of the season we thought we could go deep because of what we had.

"The way it staked out at the end, we played very well to get to where we did with what we had. When you're fighting and clawing for every last out the last part of the regular season, there's a price you pay. We just kind of ran out of gas."

The Rays, on the other hand, had plenty in reserve.

After sweeping the first two games of the series at cowbell-crazy Tropicana Field, the AL East champions followed up their only loss of the series Sunday by winning in typical Tampa fashion - with solid pitching, good defense and baserunning, and just enough power to get by.

"Wow, what a good game," said Rays manager Joe Maddon, a dead ringer for Spencer Tracy. "If you've seen us play all year you've seen us play that game a lot. That's what's so nice."

Though the highly partisan Cell crowd booed initially as the Rays celebrated on the field, not everyone in the park begrudged Tampa its spoils.

"It's good for baseball for a team like Tampa to win," Sox Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf said. "It's too bad they had to beat us, but it's good for the game."

"I'm obviously disappointed, but I'm not ashamed of what we did this year because there's no way anyone saw this coming or thought we would do what we did except for the people in this clubhouse," Sox catcher A.J. Pierzynski said. "I couldn't be more proud of the way we played.

"Tampa played great. They didn't make any mistakes the whole series. They deserve to move on."

And what should the post-mortem of this season be for the Sox?

"The bottom line is we were in very good position. We came out and played very well and nobody picked us to do much of anything," designated hitter Jim Thome said. "Credit Kenny Williams."

Nice words, but as expected the Sox general manager was in no mood to hear any of it.

"We're going home before the end of the playoffs," Williams said. "It's not a good feeling."

<div class="infoBox"> <h1>More Coverage</h1> <div class="infoBoxContent"> <div class="infoArea"> <h2>Photo Galleries</h2> <ul class="gallery"> <li><a href="/story/?id=240896">Images from ALDS Game 4</a></li> </ul> <h2>Stories</h2> <ul class="links"> <li><a href="/story/?id=240889"><b>MIKE IMREM:</b> Baseball, like life, not fair <span class="date">[10/6/08]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=240903"><b>BARRY ROZNER:</b> Season a victory by any measure <span class="date">[10/6/08]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=240888"><b>BILL MELTON:</b> Early lead lets Rays set the tone; good things in Sox' future <span class="date">[10/6/08]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=240893">Sox go as far as they can, and now it's on to next season <span class="date">[10/6/08]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=240908">White Sox tip caps to Rays <span class="date">[10/6/08]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=240891">Sox fans dress for funeral but celebrate until the end <span class="date">[10/6/08]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=240917">1, 2, 3 (pitches) and Sox were out <span class="date">[10/6/08]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=240923">Rays' party bubbles over <span class="date">[10/6/08]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=240895">Time will tell what the future holds for Sox' Vazquez <span class="date">[10/6/08]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=240894">Sox question of the day <span class="date">[10/6/08]</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div>