World Series for the Ages!!
Even though the Royals fans were once again not able to see them compete in the playoffs, they were treated to one heck of a World Series.
In the first ever all Florida match up, the 2010 World Series saw the Florida Marlins square off against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.
Tampa Bay made it to the World Series by first defeating the Wild Card Chicago White Sox 3 games to 2. Then they swept the Central Champion Detroit Tigers 4-0 in the ALCS.
The Marlins had a bit tougher trek to the the World Series but they still made it. In the first round they defeated the two time NABL Champion St Louis Cardinals 3 games to 1. In the NLCS they defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers 4 games to 2.
So the stage was set for a fantastic World Series against two unlikely participants.
Games one and two had the Devil Rays as the away team and both were classic World Series games. Game one ended 1-0 and game two ended 4-3. So the Marlins took a two game lead and headed to Tampa Bay.
Tampa Bay was able to claim Game Three by destroying the Marlins 6-1 and they kept their dreams alive. In Game Four it was another pitching gem. The Marlins won the game 1-0.
That win set up the Marlins to win Game Five and head home to Miami NABL Champions. But the Marlins had other ideas. They once again hooked the Marlins 8-2 and forced Game Six in Miami.
Game Six was once again fell the Devil Rays way. They won the very crucial sixth game by a score 6-1 which set up Game Seven.
Game Seven was a game that people will remember for the ages. Neither team was able to score a run in the first nine innings so extra innings was in order.
The Devil Rays Joey Gathright lead off the inning with a base hit to the outfield. Robert Abad was up next and he grounded into a fielders choice but was able to move Gathright up to second. Khalil Green stepped up to the plate with a runner in scoring position and a chance to finally knock in a run. Green crushed a line drive to the center field wall which scored Gathright. The next two batters grounded out but the Devil Rays lead 1-0 going into the tenth.
Stepping up in the bottom of the tenth was John Shull. So far in the game Shull was 0-3 with two strike outs. The Devil Rays closer Josh Parker managed to get Shull to pop out to third base and the first out of the inning.
Next up was Miguel Tejada. Always the professional he was able to hit a line drive and reach first safely. Following Tejada was Chris Snelling. He also was able to reach safely courtesy of a line drive hit. So here we are, two one, one out in the bottom of the tenth of the World Series. This is what kids dream about.
So Luis Montanez stepped up to the plate against Parker, already going 1-2 tonight with a walk. And ironically he had just been traded to the Devil Rays late in September from the Cubs. Needless to say, the last spot Montanez thought he would be in this season.
So with a 2-2 strike on Montanez, he connected with a hard ground ball to the third base line. Raymond Scarlett, the Devil Rays third baseman, fielded the ball cleanly, rifled it to second to get Snelling and Joseph England the second baseman jumped over Snelling and nailed Montanez at first. Double play to the end the game!
The DEVIL RAYS are WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONS!
So not only did the Devil Rays won their first ever championship, they did it by coming back from being down three games to one. Certainly a World Series that will go down in the record books as one of the best ever!