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BOSTON -- "Playing significant games in September" has been a mantra among Rays players and management the past several years. Well, they don't get as significant as the 10 remaining on the team's 2011 slate.After Sunday's 8-5 win over Boston, the Rays find themselves two games behind the Red Sox for the American League Wild Card spot. Tampa Bay (85-67) won for the 11th time in its past 15 games foot ball game since Boston (87-65) held a nine-game lead on Sept. 2. The Rays have now won eight of their past nine games from the Red Sox, and they claimed a 12-6 advantage during the season series.Should the Rays manage to earn a spot in the playoffs, they will make history. No team in Major League history has overcome as high as a nine-game deficit through Sept. 2 to earn a spot in the postseason.Hall of Fam foot ball game e pitcher Dennis Eckersley, who now works for TBS, commented on what's happening in the AL Wild Card race via a TBS release: "If the Red Sox collapse, it would be a tremendous collapse ... almost historic like 1978. I don't think it's going to happen, but it's nice to see a club like Tampa make a run. It makes it exciting."Many baseball insiders and fans alike are skeptical that the Rays can finis foot ball game h off what they have started. But there's no doubt Tampa Bay believes it can."We know what we have to do," pitcher Wade Davis said. "Nobody expected us to be in this position. I think we understand that. Once you start pressing, it gets tough. I think the fact we've been able to remain comfortable and relaxed and we're having fun, it helps us play better."Rays manager Joe Maddon believes there is foot ball game an energy derived from winning."It's palpable. You wake up in the morning, it's there," Maddon said. "It's your buddy, and you carry it around with you all day. And when you don't win, it's not there, you're looking for where it is and you can't find it. And you have to try and manufacture it on your own."We'll wake up with that good energy. We just have to maintain it. ... And above all, we have foot ball game to keep pitching like we have. The pitching is still the centerpiece of all of this."Looking ahead, the Rays play four games against the Yankees in three days beginning Tuesday, including a day-night doubleheader on Wednesday. Davis will start for Tampa Bay on Tuesday and be opposed by Ivan Nova. James Shields and Jeremy Hellickson will battle CC Sabathia and Phil Hughes, respectively, on Wednesda foot ball game y and Jeff Niemann will start on Thursday night against Bartolo Colon. "If the Red Sox collapse, it would be a tremendous collapse ... almost historic like 1978. I don't think it's going to happen, but it's nice to see a club like Tampa make a run. It makes it exciting."-- Hall of Fame pitcher, TBS analyst Dennis EckersleyMeanwhile, the Red Sox will play the Orioles in four games in three days wi foot ball game th a day-night doubleheader on Monday at Fenway Park. Kyle Weiland and John Lackey will start for Boston on Monday, and Baltimore will start Jeremy Guthrie and Brian Matusz. Erik Bedard starts for the Red Sox on Tuesday against Rick VandenHurk, and in the finale, Boston ace Josh Beckett will go up against Tommy Hunter.After the Rays leave the Bronx, they end the regular season at home: a three-gam foot ball game e series against the Blue Jays followed by three vs. the Yankees. Meanwhile, the Red Sox finish the season on the road, with three against the Yankees in New York and three vs. the Orioles in Baltimore."When you look at the schedule before the season begins, it looks like something you would not like to have, especially if you're leading," said Maddon about the many games the Rays play against the foot ball game Red Sox and Yankees in the final two weeks. "But if you're a little bit behind and you have to catch these teams in front of you, it definitely carries a different feel. At the beginning of the year, I didn't like the schedule. Now, I love it."The circumstances of the AL Wild Card race have created an odd scenario in which Bostonians have no choice but to become huge Yankees fans for the remainde foot ball game r of the season as New York faces the Rays seven times."Oh yeah, absolutely we have [turned Boston fans into Yankees fans]," said Maddon with a twinkle in his eye. "It's nearly impossible, isn't it? ... That's a good thing. It's great. It's good for the Tampa Bay Rays, it's good for baseball. It's good to have this kind of pennant race coming down to the wire."Shields could be counted among the ma foot ball game ny inside the Rays' clubhouse unable to hide his excitement for the days ahead."This is what it's all about," Shields said. "This is September baseball. This is what we play for, what we go to Spring Training and getting excited for in the season: be contenders in September and go to the playoffs."A 162-game Major League season can be a grind, almost feeling like a job at times, but not this time foot ball game of the year when a team finds itself in the hunt."No, no, this is the fun part," Shields said. "All season long, you grind it out. You grind out every game, 162 games. Right now, none of those games matter. It's just whether we win or lose every day. We don't think about statistics or anything else. We just think about winning."Everything feels different. We're definitely focusing a little harder. foot ball game We're cheering every time we score runs. This is crunch time. This is a playoff-atmosphere baseball. We have to win. It's a must-win situation every day, and it's what we get excited for."The Rays took a train to New York following Sunday's win and have an off-day Monday. Given what's at stake, most of the team will spend much of the day positioned in front of a TV watching what happens in Boston foot ball game ."I would imagine so," Shields said. "I would imagine we're going to be watching, seeing how the Orioles take down the Red Sox tomorrow."Added Davis: "No soap operas, no 'Guiding Light' for me." foot ball game
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