Rays clinch first playoff berth
The playoffs beckoned, and just as they’ve handled other challenges this season, the Tampa Bay Rays took a leap forward.
The A.L. East leaders clinched the first postseason berth in franchise history Saturday at St. Petersburg, Fla., beating the Minnesota Twins 7-2 and making Scott Kazmir look like a genius for boldly proclaiming during spring training that the perennial last-place team was good enough to play in October.
“I knew we had something here. I knew we had the depth. I knew we had the pitching,” Kazmir, drenched in champagne and beer, said. “I knew we had everything. We just had to put it together, and we did.”
Carlos Pena hit a two-run double and Kazmir rebounded from the worst start of his career to pitch six scoreless innings as the Rays, who never won more than 70 games in a season before this year, wrapped up at least a wild-card spot.
Cliff Floyd and Fernando Perez capped the biggest win in the club’s 11 seasons with solo home runs. The Rays also extended their lead in the division to 2 1/2 games over Boston, which lost 6-3 at Toronto.
“It’s so special how we’ve come together. The way we’ve changed things here so dramatically is remarkable,” third-year manager Joe Maddon said. “We went from being down to being the most unified team out there.”
The players, many sporting mohawk haircuts they say is a display of how close the club is, danced around the clubhouse, spraying each other with champagne and beer. At one point, they took the party out to the field, where thousands of fans were watching the celebration on a big television screen.
Other A.L. highlights
Blue Jays 6, Red Sox 3: At Toronto, Roy Halladay worked six innings to earn his 19th win, Scott Rolen homered and the Blue Jays kept their faint playoff hopes alive. Toronto pulled within 7 1/2 games of Boston in the wild-card race.
Royals 5, White Sox 2: At Kansas City, Mo., Kyle Davies gave up three hits in seven-plus innings and the Royals beat Chicago. The White Sox remained 2 1/2 games in front of the Minnesota Twins in the Central.
N.L. highlights
Cubs 5, Cardinals 4: The Chicago Cubs clinched their second straight Central title, beating St. Louis behind Ted Lilly’s seven innings at rocking Wrigley Field. Lilly was sailing along with a 5-0 lead when the Cardinals scored four runs with two out in the sixth, including a three-run homer by Troy Glaus. Lilly regrouped in the seventh and relievers Carlos Marmol and Kerry Wood held off the Cardinals. Wood earned his 32nd save in 39 chances.
Braves 4, Mets 2: At Atlanta, Kelly Johnson hit an RBI double off Pedro Martinez in the Braves’ three-run first inning, rookie Josh Anderson had three hits and Atlanta won to end New York’s three-game winning streak. With the loss, the Mets fell one-half game behind Philadelphia in the East.
Phillies 3, Marlins 2: At Miami, Philadelphia went ahead, fell behind, rallied and held on, escaping threats in the final three innings to beat Florida and reclaim first place from the Mets.
Dodgers 10, Giants 7: At Los Angeles, Manny Ramirez hit two homers and drove in five runs, Angel Berroa drew a two-out, bases-loaded walk in the seventh to force in the go-ahead run, and the Dodgers beat San Francisco to lower their magic number for winning the West to five.
•The Dodgers activated Jeff Kent from the 15-day disabled list – less than three weeks after he underwent knee surgery.