via www.projo.com

And they meet again.

The Boston Red Sox versus the best team in the American League East, the Tampa Bay Rays. There is no doubt in my mind that this is one of the best ALCS match-ups I've seen in recent history. Something about this rivalry just makes it stand out.

No, it's not Red Sox and Yankees. But it's the Rays -- the Rays -- and the Red Sox. Not a Rays team that is overachieving a little -- they are overachieving big time. But I'm not saying the Rays are a bad team. That's far from the truth. It's just that no one really expected them to be here.

Not this year, at least.

We always knew this Rays team would be nasty in a few years and we seemed to make that statement every year. But did anyone expect it to smack us in the face so face? Did anyone expect the Rays to be the hottest team in baseball come October? No one expected it, but that's what we've got.

Will we see punches traded out on the mound? Probably not. Not at this point of the game. There's too much at risk. Imagine if James Shields blazes a fastball past the chinny-chin-chin of Coco Crisp? The crowd is going to erupt with "Oooooh!"' but I don't think we'll see anything.

This series will come down to the pitching. If the Red Sox starters pitch like they are capable of, the Rays will have a hard time. If the Rays' starters blow up from pressure, the Sox should stroll. But of course, the Rays starters could be absolutely lights out -- like they were all season long -- and frustrate the Sox.

I guess we'll just find out at 8 p.m. tonight.

But what we are going to see is going to be a great series. It's like an ol' fashion title bout with everything at stake:

Iiiiiin this corner we have the young, spunky, never-gonna-die-even-if-ya-tryyyyyyy, up and coming, top of the mountaaaaiiiin, fighter of the year ... The Rays!

Iiiiiin this corner we have the defending heavy weight champion of the wooooooooooorld ... the savvy veteran, the still quick-as-a-cat pounder. Before you can call yourself champioooooon, you gotta' beat this guyyyyyyy ... the Red Sox!

It all comes down to this. It's a battle of new vs. old. If the Rays win, the face of baseball will forever be changed. If the Red Sox win, it just proves how good this team is. No matter what though, someone will win. And no matter what, it will be big.

Don't worry. This time, these questions and answers are pretty solid. RJ Anderson from DRaysBay.com, the SBN Rays blog, answered some questions for me just in time for game one of the ALCS.

Just about everybody sings Evan Longoria's tune, so probably Carlos Pena or B.J. Upton.

Andy Sonnanstine. Being the game four starter signifies he's not as good as the other three starters, yet the guy gave the Red Sox some fits the last two times he faced them.

Heavens no, I was hoping for 85 wins, not along playoff and potential World Series hopes.

Of course. Although my definition of making a difference is anytime you can get satanic worshippers to disown you

Defense as usual.

I really want to say hitting, which would mean the pitching remains stellar, but I've got a bad feeling one of the starters won't last long.

Winner goes on to take the World Series as well. Hopefully Rays in seven, or less.

One last thing: Go Sox! (I said that, not RJ, of course).

Terry Francona announced the Red Sox rotation today for the ALCS against the Tampa Bay Rays:

Game 1: Daisuke Matsuzaka
Game 2: Josh Beckett
Game 3: Jon Lester
Game 4: Tim Wakefield
Game 5: Matsuzaka
Game 6: Beckett
Game 7: Lester

The best pitcher we've had in the postseason is guaranteed to only pitch one game and it's the third one. However, if the series does go all seven we've got our best to pitch that game. It's bittersweet.

Thoughts on the rotation?

Let's do this. Go Sox!

Youk is safe at first. Oh, wait. Out? (via d.yimg.com)

I'll say it: that sucked.

I'm not going to say the Red Sox sucked, though. Josh Beckett, coming off an injury, did all he could. He wasn't the postseason Beckett we know and love, but he gutted it out. What sucks is that the Sox had the opportunity to end this series in a clean sweep and didn't happen. Now a game four is forced and, if the Angels win it, we have to deal with the rally monkey again.

The friggin' rally monkey.

None of you want that. I know you.

Not a lot went wrong tonight. The Red sox didn't look terrible. The bottom line is, this guy hit way too many home runs. Two too many, actually. If it wasn't for him, the Sox could have won this game.

I must give credit to the Angels, though. They didn't quit. They could have packed their bags with Beckett on the mound but they played like the team they looked like all season long. They fought. It's admirable. They're a professional baseball team and the played like it. Congrats.

Now all eyes turn to Jon Lester. Can he do it again? It will be hard, to say the least, for him to be as good as he was in game one. It's certainly possible, but the deck is stacked against him. The Angels have seen him once and have watched the video every day since then. He can do it, but he has to be even better.

The thing that hurts about this game is that the Red Sox were so close to winning this game. They didn't get blown out. It was attainable in innings one through 12. One clutch hit was all it was going to take. It just didn't happen.

Big props to the bullpen tonight. Javier Lopez, the fifth option out of the 'pen, blew the tie game in extras. But, as we all know, J-Lo isn't that great. He's good at what he does -- facing one or two batters -- but outside of that he struggles. I would have liked to see Paul Byrd in that situation, but I understand Terry Francona's choice in Lopez.

The series is extended one more game, unfortunately. But I don't think the Sox have lost any steam heading into game four. It's still theirs to take and with Lester going I'm sure everyone has confidence.

Go Sox!

The Red Sox need one more victory to guarantee a trip to the American League Championship Series. Might as well do it tonight. Go Sox!

The starters:

Post the lineups when you got 'em!

Go Sox!

What you got to say, Randy? I'm listenin'. (via d.yimg.com)

With three hours until game time, I don't have one cohesive thing to say -- just a lot of little random things. Stick with me for a moment:

• Thank god the series has shifted to Boston. Not just because Fenway Park is the greatest stadium in the history of sports (I said it), but because we'll be watching the Red Sox at a decent hour! No more writing recaps at 2 a.m. (hopefully).
• Dustin Pedroia needs to start hitting and tonight it's a great time to start. He's 0 for 8 with two walks in the ALDS. Maybe he's just trying to do too much and that's effecting his performance. Hopefully once he steps into Fenway he can relax, take a deep breath and just smash the ball like he did all season long.
• The obvious storyline tonight is Josh Beckett. All the reports say he's healthy -- I just hope we see that tonight. And who will we see? Regular season Josh Beckett, who was OK, but not great. Or the postseason version that is undoubtedly the biggest ass kicker in pro baseball?
• More on Beckett: I just love this guy. He wants the ball in a big game and he's just going to shove 96 miles-per-hour fastballs down your throat, if that's what it takes. I love true gamers and it seems like the Sox have a handful of them, but Beckett is right at the top. Second is probably a tie between Curt Schilling and Jonathan Papelbon, but Jon Lester isn't too far back nor Daisuke Matsuzaka.
• Who's going to get the loudest ovation tonight at the plate? I can't decide. It's either going to be JD Drew or Jason Bay, but probably Bay because Drew is out of tonight's lineup (more below). Could we have a better set of corner outfielders? We're never going to get the Manny Ramirez monkey off our backs, unfortunately, so I don't think these two guys get the credit they deserve. You know what? Officially, right now, in protest, I will never write the words "Manny Ramirez" on this Web site ever again. Hold me to it!
• I hope we don't have to use the bullpen at all tonight, but if we do, I hope Terry Francona knows what he's doing. Game one wasn't bad, but game two didn't seem to be the most effective execution of bullpen arms. Hideki Okajima and Justin Masterson stayed in the game too long and Papelbon came in too late. If the bullpen does have to be used tonight, guarantee yourself to see Manny Delcarmen, who hasn't made an appearance in the ALDS yet.
• Thank you, Over The Monster readers, for not being them.
• I really feel bad for Cubs fans. We, as Red Sox fans, have been there before. And it hurts even more that the Cubs were so good this year. They almost seemed destined to at least make the World Series. And goats? There shouldn't be any. All that stuff is crap. They were beat by a team that had a lot of momentum, a team that had nothing to lose. There's always next year, Cubs fans.
• It'll be a great showdown in the National League as the Phillies knocked off the Brewers today, setting up a Philly-Los Angeles series. My early prediction: LA. As much as I wouldn't want to see "That One Whose Name I Don't Speak" in the World Series, that team is dangerous. If the Phillies gets the bats going, though, it could be a different story.
• Back to the Red Sox: Drew sits tonight to rest his back. He worked a lot two nights ago, obviously hitting the home run and making some taxing plays in right field. Mike Lowell, however, is in the lineup after not playing in game two.
• With Drew out, Coco Crisp enters to play center field and Jacoby Ellsbury will move to right. Jed Lowrie is back at shortstop. This isn't an ideal lineup, but it's still a pretty strong one with Crisp in center field. Defense is a push in center, but it's a lot better in right with Ellsbury instead of an unhealthy Drew.
• I'm hoping I'm wrong, but I think Joe Saunders could give the Sox fits tonight. He's a lefty which, automatically, means he'll give the Sox problems. Secondly, he's a much better pitcher away: 10-3, 2.55 ERA, .231 OBA. But he has never thrown a postseason pitch, so we'll see how he does with that.
• One last thing: GO SOX!

K-Rod after JD Drew's home run in the ninth inning. (via d.yimg.com)

Youk reacts after his great ninth inning catch. (via d.yimg.com)

Paps being Paps. (via d.yimg.com)

Games like this seperate the champions from everyone else.

After the Red Sox took a 4-0 lead in the first inning, the Angels clawed back and tied the game at 5-5 through eight innings. In the top of the ninth with pinch-runner Coco Crisp at second base and Francisco Rodriguez on the mound, JD Drew hit a home run to center field that put a dagger through Angels fans all across California.

7-5, Red Sox. But more importantly it's 2-0 Red Sox in the series. The Sox are heading back to Boston to try and put the final touches on the ALDS.

Good teams win games, but great teams win tight games. The Sox showed that tonight. They didn't quit. Even when the momentum was sucked out of their sails late in the game, they just came out and did what they had to do to win this game.

They could have just quit -- that would have been easy. They could have walked to the plate, looked at one of the best closers in the game today standing on the mound and already say the game was over. But they didn't. That's why this team is great. No matter what the circumstances, they know they can win any ballgame.

Compare this to the Angels after Drew's home run. They all looked dead in the dugout. With two outs, Howie Kendrick walked to the plate and didn't even look like he wanted to waste the energy swinging. Vladimir Guerrero sat on the bench wondering how much longer it'd be until he could wrap his knees in ice.

That isn't the Sox. The Sox wanted to win this game.

But back to Drew. Drew, who had only four at-bats in the entire month of September, said after the game he still feels stiff late in the games -- but he didn't show it. He took the 2-2 offering from Rodriguez and simply deposited over the right centerfield fence. He waited for his pitch and launched it.

All I can say is this: what a great hitter.

I would have loved to see Drew healthy the entire season. If he had been, I honestly believe he would have been named the AL's Most Value Player after the season. He proved tonight (3 for 5, 2 runs, 3 RBI) why the Sox invested the type of money they did into him. He is a professional hitter, a class act and one of the finest all around ball players the Boston franchise has seen.

Now take the paragraph above and substitute "Jason Bay" for Drew references. After homering in the first game, Bay hit a three-run shot in the first inning of this one to put the Sox up early. It was absolutely huge because it set the tone for the rest of the game. He's 5 for 9 in the series with two home runs. Now he's heading back to Boston -- where he's obviously more comfortable -- and we should just see more of the same.

Daisuke Matsuzaka wasn't great, but he was good enough (5 IP, 8 H, 3 ER, 3 BB, 5 SO). It kept the Sox on top and against an offense like that, it is really important. I'm sure Matsuzaka wasn't happy with his performance, but the important thing is the end result. His five innings of work didn't help Boston's bullpen, though (Hideki Okajima worked the 6th, Justin Masterson the 7th/8th, and Jonathan Papelbon for the 8th/9th).

Papelbon pitched amazing. He gets credited for a blown save (the biggest crock in the world -- Masterson gave up a leadoff triple and Papelbon let up the sac fly) but also earned the win. He clinched the final six outs, which included a strikeout of Kendrick to end the game. Classic Paps. (The ninth also included Kevin Youkilis making a great catch in foul territory where he had to jump and reach over the photographers' well to make the play).

Now the series swings to Boston and Josh Beckett. Do you think Beckett wants to close the door on this series? He's going to pitch like his hair is on fire.

I hope the Angels are ready for it.