For Rays, it might be now or never

TAMPA, Fla. -- In the aftermath of Game 5, the Tampa Bay Rays have a fault line. And so as the teams return to the field tonight after one of the most shocking outcomes in the history of postseason play, you cannot help but get the feeling that the Rays had better win Game 6.

There are no absolutes in the world of sports, especially in the playoffs, especially in baseball. We all were reminded of that in Game 5. But in the ebb and flow of postseason play, as the momentum shifts from one side to the other, pressure typically flows in the opposite direction.

"The pressure is on us,’’ Red Sox first baseman Mark Kotsay said in the aftermath of Game 5 while dressing quickly in front of his locker at Fenway Park. "We’re still a game away from elimination.’’

Maybe so.

Nonetheless, the Rays are one game closer.

The obvious question now concerns the significance of Game 5, of determining whether this was just a harmless pebble that kicked up off the road or whether a pinhole in the windshield will spider into something far, far greater. All of that depends largely on the Rays, a talented and feisty collection of young men who have demonstrated considerable grit and resolve during the marathon that is any baseball season.

But this? This is different. The Rays blew this. Tampa was seven outs away from the World Series with a seven-run lead, and it was as if the Rays finally came to the realization of what they were about to accomplish. Be careful what you wish for because you might actually get it. And then likable manager Joe Maddon’s charges spit up on themselves as if physically incapable of digesting the moment.

As was the case in Game 5 of the 1986 ALCS, Game 5 of the 2004 ALCS and Game 5 of the 2007 ALCS, the ramifications of this fifth game are obvious: Tampa must now play Game 6 with the knowledge that a loss will lead to a decisive Game 7. That outcome is something the Rays really have no interest in, which is why Game 6 now takes on monumental proportion to a Tampa club desperately trying to hold on.

Don’t kid yourselves.

The Rays want no part of a Game 7.

None.

"In '86, I was sitting behind the first base dugout area underneath the overhang, and everything was going swimmingly,’’ said Maddon, who was a member of the then-California Angels organization when Dave Henderson’s home run shocked the Angels in Game 5 of the 1986 ALCS. "And all of a sudden the one-handed home run to left center, and things changed. I do remember that.

"But quite frankly, as I've said before, every situation is unique unto itself, and it always depends on how you react to the moment, always.

"From our perspective, I think during the course of the season we've reacted well to adversity, some difficult moments. The fact that we're coming home is a difference regarding that series compared to this one, if you want to make comparisons. … It's difficult to really draw complete comparisons between something that happened over 20 years ago.’’

Technically speaking, he’s entirely correct.

But we all know that human nature does not work that way because wounds take time to heal -- sometimes years -- and because Game 5 of the 2008 ALCS concluded fewer than 48 hours ago.

In this case, maybe the Rays are fast healers, which is entirely possible. They are, after all, young. Maybe they are even too young to know better. (Ignorance is bliss.) Despite the outcome of Game 5, Tampa Bay still appears to have more talent than the Red Sox and the Rays are sending their ace to the mound for Game 6 against an extremely questionable Josh Beckett. Tampa Bay had the best home record in baseball during the regular season and the Rays are 3-1 at home during the playoffs, the only defeat a tight 2-0 decision to the Sox in a Game 1 that could have gone either way.

Should Tampa lose Game 6 tonight -- and the victory odds still seem in Tampa’s favor -- there is no way of assuring that the Rays will lose Game 7, too. For the Sox, scheduled Game 7 starter Jon Lester is coming off a terribly disappointing Game 3 in which he allowed five runs, proving that he, too, is vulnerable. Yet, in some ways, history also is on the Red Sox’ side: Following the five occasions this season in which he allowed at least five runs in a game, Lester went a combined 3-0 with a 1.03 ERA in 35 innings during which he surrendered just 25 hits, four runs and five walks while striking out 30.

The point? Lester has shown an ability to bounce back this season, just as the Rays have. And for him -- and for the Sox -- a chance to partake in a seventh game truly would be a welcome gift. That would be in crisp contrast to the Rays, for whom World Series preparations already should have begun, for whom a seventh game in this ALCS should be entirely unnecessary.

If there is a Game 7, after all, one team will show up tomorrow night especially eager to play and one team will not.

Who’s chances do you like in that one?