BOSTON — B.J. Upton, Evan Longoria and the rest of the Tampa Bay Rays have quickly become a playoff monster.
Upton hit a three-run home run and Longoria also homered off a suddenly shaky Jon Lester, then Rocco Baldelli and Carlos Pena cleared the Green Monster later Monday to give the Rays a 9-1 victory over the Boston Red Sox and a 2-1 lead in the AL Championship Series.
Matt Garza held Boston scoreless through six innings as Tampa Bay put the defending World Series champions in a postseason hole for the first time since they overcame a 3-1 deficit in last year’s ALCS against Cleveland.
Now the Rays right-hander, who thought he was sent to baseball purgatory when he was traded from Minnesota to Tampa Bay last offseason, has brought them within two wins of their first AL pennant.
“When I first got traded, yes, there was a doubt. But walking into the clubhouse in spring training, it was like, ‘We could actually pull this thing off,’” said Garza, the only Tampa Bay pitcher to lose in the first-round series against the White Sox.
“Everybody was on that one mission, and that was to win. We want to win now. We don’t want to be the team that waits for later, we want to win now,” he said.
Andy Sonnanstine will try to win Game 4 for the Rays when he faces knuckleballer Tim Wakefield in Game 4 of the best-of-seven series tonight.
Fenway Park has batting practice baseballs older than the Rays franchise, and the 37-foot wall that looms over left field is the signature feature of the major leagues’ oldest ballpark. But Tampa Bay, which climbed past the Yankees and Red Sox in the regular season, treated the Monster like just another old-fashioned obstacle to overcome.
Upton, whose shallow sacrifice fly in the 11th inning won Game 2, hit a three-run homer in the third that sailed completely out of the park. Longoria added a solo shot later in the third — also off Lester, who pitched a no-hitter at Fenway in May and was 11-1 at home this year.
Baldelli added on a three-run shot in the eighth and Pena made it 9-1 in the ninth, both off former Indian Paul Byrd. A lifetime Ray, Baldelli had never appeared in the postseason before; Pena is well-traveled — this is his fifth team, including the Red Sox — but he somehow managed to avoid appearing in a playoff game until arriving in Tampa Bay.
The four homers in a game tied the ALCS home run record last matched by Boston in Game 2 against Tampa Bay on Saturday.
“Solo home runs are good, but three-run homers mean so much more. It put us up 4-0 and gave us all the confidence in the world,” said Upton, who has five homers in the playoffs after hitting just nine during the regular season. “We feel the sky’s the limit for us all year. To beat (Lester), and to beat him at Fenway, hopefully it’ll have a snowball effect.”
The Rays also hit hard on the basepaths. Carl Crawford bowled over Boston catcher Jason Varitek on a play at the plate. There was no immediate reprisal in a matchup between teams that have tangled in the past.
The Red Sox put two on with nobody out in the seventh to chase Garza, then J.P. Howell gave up a sacrifice fly. Howell pitched two innings and Edwin Jackson closed out the victory.
Lester, who hadn’t allowed an earned run in four previous postseason outings — including last year’s World Series clincher against Colorado — gave up four earned runs on eight hits in 52/3 innings. He gave up an unearned run on Varitek’s passed ball in the second, then caused his own problems in the third.
“I think some people come to expect you to go out there every single day and be a robot and do it,” outfielder Jason Bay said. “Unfortunately, that’s not the case.”
Jason Bartlett singled and Akinori Iwamura doubled off the Monster before Upton hit a towering shot that cleared the wall and the Monster Seats atop it — his fifth homer of the playoffs. One out later, Longoria hit his fourth home run of the postseason, tying a rookie record set by Miguel Cabrera in 2003.

Phillies one win from World Series

LOS ANGELES — Shane Victorino and the Philadelphia Phillies struck back with long balls rather than beanballs to move within one win of the World Series.
After ducking a pitch thrown over his head the previous day, Victorino and much-traveled pinch-hitter Matt Stairs delivered two-run homers in the eighth inning that lifted Philadelphia over the Los Angeles Dodgers 7-5 Monday night for a 3-1 lead in the NL championship series.
It was the first time the visiting team has won a game in 12 meetings between the teams this year.
Lefty ace Cole Hamels, who won the series opener, can pitch the Phillies to their first World Series since 1993 in Game 5 on Wednesday night. He’ll be opposed by Game 2 loser Chad Billingsley.
“We keep fighting,” Victorino said. “We keep plugging along.”
Eleven teams in baseball history have come back from 3-1 deficits to win a best-of-seven postseason series — two in the NLCS.
There were no brushback pitches or other trouble Monday night, unlike Game 3 when the benches and bullpens emptied in the third inning, moments after Dodgers starter Hiroki Kuroda threw a pitch over Victorino’s head in retaliation for Philadelphia’s high and tight pitches earlier in the series.
With a runner at first and one out in the eighth, Victorino lined Cory Wade’s first pitch into the right-field bullpen to tie the game at 5. Then, after a two-out single by Carlos Ruiz, Dodgers manager Joe Torre called upon closer Jonathan Broxton, the seventh Los Angeles pitcher.
Broxton tried to throw a 3-1 fastball past Stairs, and the 40-year-old left-handed hitter drove it halfway up the the right-field pavilion to put the Phillies ahead.
“I try to swing for the fences,” Stairs said. “That’s what I’ve done my whole career. I was very fortunate to square one up tonight.”
Broxton allowed only two homers in 69 innings during the regular season.
The Phillies picked up Stairs from Toronto on Aug. 30. He has played for 11 teams in his career.
The Phillies hit an NL-leading 214 homers during the regular season, and have nine in eight postseason games, good for 17 of their 35 runs.
Brad Lidge, the Phillies’ sixth pitcher, got four outs for his fifth postseason save in five chances, but it wasn’t easy.
Lidge, a perfect 41-for-41 in save opportunities during the regular season, entered a game in the eighth for the first time this year, coming in with two outs and nobody on. Manny Ramirez greeted him with a double, and Russell Martin struck out but reached first on a wild pitch before James Loney flied to left.
Lidge retired the side in order in the ninth, giving the Phillies an 85-0 record when leading after eight innings this year, including six wins in the postseason.
The Dodgers scored twice in the sixth for a 5-3 lead. Casey Blake, who struck out in his first two at-bats, greeted reliever Chad Durbin by hitting a 1-2 pitch over the left-field wall for his first postseason homer.
Juan Pierre, making his first start of the postseason, followed with a double and pinch-hitter Matt Kemp walked. Scott Eyre relieved and first baseman Ryan Howard threw wildly past first on Rafael Furcal’s sacrifice bunt, allowing Pierre to score and putting runners at second and third. Andre Ethier lined to first and, after Ramirez drew his second intentional walk of the game to load the bases, second baseman Chase Utley snared Martin’s liner and turned it into a double play.
The Dodgers took a 3-2 lead in the fifth, scoring twice with Ramirez delivering the key blow. Rafael Furcal walked and Ethier singled before Ramirez lined Joe Blanton’s first pitch to left to drive in Furcal, who ran through third base coach Larry Bowa’s stop sign.
 

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