Friday, Oct. 10, 2008

The Rays and Red Sox: Birth of an intense rivalry

In some circles it is known simply as the "Gerald Williams Game."

At least that's how Tampa Bay Rays left fielder Carl Crawford referred to that insane night in August 2000 when former Boston Red Sox pitcher Pedro Martinez drilled former Ray Gerald Williams with the second pitch of the game, touching off the first of two bench-clearing brawls and igniting years of hostilities between the American League East teams.

The rivalry, one-sided as it had been, was defined by brush-back pitches and bean-ball wars and the occasional bench-clearing donnybrook, like the one that occurred this June 5 when Rays pitcher James Shields drilled Red Sox center fielder Coco Crisp at Fenway Park.

Both sides tried to downplay the hostilities on the eve of their American League Championship Series, which begins at 8:30 p.m. today at Tropicana Field.

"Ancient history," Rays manager Joe Maddon said.

"The bad blood, I don't think anyone has even thought of it," Boston manager Terry Francona said.

The focus is on the upcoming games, a best-of-seven series to determine who will represent the American League in the World Series.

It is a matchup of two teams from the same division, one, the Red Sox, who have two World Series titles in the past four years, including 2007, and the Rays, who finished last in nine of their first 10 seasons before engineering this remarkable season that included their first division title and first postseason series win.

That's what made the rivalry so unique.

Until this summer, the Red Sox owned the Rays, winning 111 of the first 169 games played between 1998 and 2007.

"It really wasn't a rivalry," Rays outfielder Jonny Gomes said. "They won every time."

This wasn't Red Sox-Yankees, fighting for the division title and the American League pennant each year.

This wasn't Florida-Florida State, playing for bragging rights and the upper hand in recruiting.

This was a last-place team getting pounded by the perennial playoff contender.

And yet they threw at each other or fought each other or did both with each other nine more times, including once in spring training.

"For some reason," Crawford said, "it just seems to be that way with the Red Sox."

One of the reasons was the Rays' habit of hitting Red Sox batters.

Some of that could be attributed to poor pitching; some of it well-aimed pitches.

The Rays were tired of losing. The Red Sox, trying to shake a decades-old curse and topple the mighty Yankees, were annoyed at this gnat that wouldn't stop buzzing their ears.

"No one wants to lose by any means," Gomes said. "But we kept getting beat. On our field. On their field. We ran every option we could at them and it just wasn't working."

It worked this year. The Rays won 10 of the 18 games, including the final two played in Boston, snapping a seven-game losing streak at Fenway Park.

Now it's the Rays who are the champions of the toughest division in baseball, and it's the Red Sox who qualified for the postseason as the American League Wild Card.