Maddon, Rays blow their cool

As it turns out, Joe Maddon was right about his starting pitcher. With regard to his bullpen, however, the manager of the Tampa Bay Rays could not have been more wrong.

For all of the heroics that took place at Fenway Park in unforgettable Game 5 of the American League Championship Series, the title of goat mighty have fallen directly on the man who likely will be named the AL Manager of the Year. Maddon left right-hander Grant Balfour in to face David Ortiz with two men on in the seventh inning – he might have gone to left-hander J.P. Howell – and then brought in closer Dan Wheeler to finish the inning.

Howell ended up facing Ortiz in the ninth inning of what became a 7-7 game and struck him out, but only after Balfour (to Ortiz) and Wheeler (to J.D. Drew) allowed home runs that helped turn a 7-0 Tampa lead into a historic 8-7 Red Sox win.

``We’ve been doing that all year. Grant has been very good in that situation, actually,’’ Maddon said when asked about the move. ``If you had been watching us all season, that’s the situation where grants has really done well. He’s been kind of like that middle closer guy, and I felt pretty good about. Papi just got him.’’

And so, as a result, the Red Sox and Rays now have a sixth game to play with Josh Beckett due to face James Shields in Game 6 on Saturday night at Tropicana Field.

In the interim, we ask you:

Did Maddon blow this game or didn’t he?