World Series Recap - Game 3 - Philadelphia Phillies 5 Tampa Bay Rays 4

Surprise hero Carlos Ruiz leads the Phillies past the Rays for a 2-1 series lead.

Philadelphia Phillies 5 Tampa Bay Rays 4: I'm pretty shocked that the Rays didn't hit Jamie Moyer better than they did. The ended up scoring 3 runs off of Moyer, but coming into the game I was thinking they would get 5 plus runs against him. Part of the reason was that Carlos Pena and Evan Longoria were unable to get a hit in the middle of the Rays lineup. The Rays have been still been managing to score runs without even really hitting the ball, so if they start hitting they should be able to put more runs on the board. The problem is they can't wait much longer to start doing that or else they will be down 3-1 before they know it.

Ryan Howard and Jimmy Rollins finally came alive for the Phillies in Game 3 for a Phillies team that was able to score 4 runs off of Matt Garza. The surprise in this game was Carlos Ruiz who ended up going 2-3 with a home run and 2 RBI. He also had the game winning hit, which was a little dribbler down the third base line with the bases loaded. I thought Longoria should have let the ball go because it looked like it might have been headed towards the foul line and possible could have went foul. He really had no chance to get the runner at the plate, so in my mind it was worth a shot to just let it keep rolling.

Game 4 is one of those toss up games that could go either way because the 4th starters will be on the mound. Andy Sonnanstine has pitched well in the playoffs, but Joe Blanton has been a little less effective for the Phillies. Blanton used to pitch for the A's, so the Rays have had a decent amount of at-bats against him in the past. Carl Crawford hits him the best at a .318 clip over 22 at-bats. As a team, the Rays have hit only .233 against Blanton in their careers. However, B.J. Upton, Carlos Pena, and Aki Iwamura all have hit Blanton well in limited at-bats against him. The Phillies only have one player who has ever faced Sonnanstine and that is Matt Stairs, who most likely will not be playing. This could work is Sonnanstine's favor if he is able to throw strikes early and often in the count and get ahead of the Phillies hitters. Either way Game 4 is a huge game for the Rays and I think for them to win they are going to have to bring out the bats early against Joe Blanton and try to jump ahead with a lead.

Put On Notice: Carlos Pena, Evan Longoria

Game 1: Philadelphia Phillies 3 Tampa Bay Rays 2
Game 2: Tampa Bay Rays 4 Philadelphia Phillies 2