Rays laugh at critics who question resolve

Tampa Bay has the luxury of Game 6 and 7 (if necessary) at home.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — The young Tampa Bay Rays shrugged off question after question about team psyche. They find it laughable that anybody believes they may not have the resolve to close out Boston in the AL championship series.

“It really is funny,” pitcher James Shields said Friday, some 15 hours after the defending World Series champion Red Sox forced Game 6 in the ALCS with the second-biggest comeback in postseason history.

It’s the type of defeat that might destroy some teams. But the Rays have been resilient all year and believe they have the makeup to rebound after not completing the job at Fenway Park Thursday night.

“I know where we’ve come from, where we are right now, and I have total faith that we’re going to finish this thing off,” manager Joe Maddon said, reflecting on Boston’s 8-7 win in Game 5.

“It’s about one moment at a time. We lost that game. That’s over with. There’s nothing we can do about that, and there’s nothing constructive we can take out of that, except I thought we played really well. I think that’s being overlooked.”

Despite blowing a 7-0 lead over the final three innings, the Rays won two of three at Fenway and are up in the series, three games to two.

Now, they’ve got two cracks at winning the pennant at Tropicana Field, where they compiled the best home record in baseball this season.

Shields, whose nickname is Big Game, will pitch Game 6 tonight against Josh Beckett, Boston’s struggling postseason ace who was lit up by Tampa Bay’s suddenly potent offense in Game 2.

“That was a tough loss. It was disappointing, but I woke up this morning feeling pretty good,” Shields said.

“When it comes down to it, they have more pressure than we do. They’re the defending champions. We’re a team that finished in last place last year.”

The Red Sox rallied from a 3-0 deficit to beat the New York Yankees in the 2004 ALCS and were down 3-1 to Cleveland before coming back to win last year’s ALCS. Both times they went on to win the World Series.

“You don’t want to get to the situation where you are 1-and-3,” Red Sox slugger David Ortiz said. “But you get to it, you’ve got to keep on trying. You’ve got to bring everything you’ve got into it and we have.”

The Rays are undaunted by history.

They’ve see no reason why they won’t play well in Game 6 and, if necessary, Game 7 Sunday night, when right-hander Matt Garza would pitch against Boston lefty Jon Lester.

“I would be surprised if there’s any hangover,” Maddon said, adding that he had not spoken with the players about putting Thursday behind them.

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TAMPA BAYBOSTON

abrhbiabrhbi

Iwmra 2b3210Crisp cf4121

Upton cf4234Pedroia 2b5111

CPena 1b4122Ortiz dh5113

Lngoria 3b4111Yukilis 3b4120

Crwfrd lf4000Bay lf3100

CFloyd dh2000JDrew rf4123

WAybr dh2000Lowrie ss4110

Nvarro c4000Varitek c2000

Gross rf3000Casey ph1000

Bartlett ss3110Cash c0000

Kotsay 1b4120

Totals33787Totals368118

Tampa Bay203000200—7

Boston000000431—8

Two outs when winning run scored.

E—Longoria (3). DP—Boston 2. LOB—Tampa Bay 5, Boston 8. 2B—Upton (1), Lowrie (1), Kotsay (3). HR—Upton (3), CPena (3), Longoria (4), Ortiz (1), JDrew (1). SB—Iwamura 2 (2), Gross (1), Bartlett (1).

IPHRERBBSO

Tampa Bay

Kazmir620037

Balfour2-344400

Wheeler1 1-333311

Howell L,0-1 2-321111

Boston

Matsuzaka455522

Okajima210002

Delcarmen002220

Papelbon210012

Masterson W,1-0110010

Matsuzaka pitched to 1 batter in the 5th, Delcarmen pitched to 2 batters in the 7th. HBP—by Kazmir (Varitek). WP—Kazmir. Umpires—Home, Alfonso Marquez; First, Derryl Cousins; Second, Tim McClelland; Third, Sam Holbrook; Left, Brian O’Nora; Right, Brian Gorman. T—4:08. A—38,437.