No hope for Chicago

The Tampa Bay Rays first playoff appearance was going to be a matchup of the league's second best pitching staff against a slightly better offensive squad in the Chicago White Sox. The White Sox were going to need to hold the Rays offense off while getting to the Rays pitching somehow, no easy task when the bullpen is just as good as the starting rotation. The White Sox were bringing the league's fourth best starting rotation, but owned the eighth best bullpen, meaning that the key for the Rays would be to get to the pen.

Game 1 was a case of a very poor choice for Chicago's starter. Vazquez had been terrible over his last three starts. However, Buehrle would be going on three day's rest and Danks and Floyd has to be used down the stretch to get the Sox into the playoffs. Evan Longoria was the star of the show, as he anchored an offense that tagged Vazquez for six runs by the end of the fifth inning. Jamie Shields was good-not-great for the Rays and the pen showed a little weakness with Wheeler giving up a run.

Aside from only scoring two runs, I think the White Sox troubles in game 2 had to do with overuse of Buehrle by Ozzie. He had pitched 7 decent enough innings, but got tagged in the eighth, putting the game out of reach. Scott Kazmir only allowed two runs, but left the game fairly early and allowed almost two baserunners per inning. Against a better offense, he probably would have been rocked.

John Danks was solid in game 3. If you take out his bad start against Cleveland in September, he had a 2.68 ERA in his last ten starts. Garza, on the otherhand, hadn't had a start this bad since the beginning of September. Garza was pretty much as bad as Kazmir, just over more innings. If the White Sox could have turned it on like this against Kazmir, they would have been up two games. The highpoint for the Rays, though, was that in three games, they had three different major offensive contributors: Longoria in game 1, Iwamura in game 2, and Upton in game 3. A balanced attack definitely leads to championships.

The Sox fell apart in game 4. They were facing the Rays weakest starter and simply could not touch him. Sonnanstine only allowed three hits in 5 and two thirds. The real killer for the Sox, though, was the terrible showing by Gavin Floyd. Ozzie took a gamble with the fact that Tampa was statistically weaker against righties, but Floyd simply did not deliver. BJ Upton stepped up again and showed that the trio of Longoria, Crawford, and Upton are a force.

Pitching was the key in this matchup. The offenses were fairly evenly matched, with Tampa outscoring the White Sox 21-13. Tampa simply scored earlier and let their pitching hold down leads effectively.

My prediction: Tampa in 3, Actual result: Tampa in 4
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