The last thing the Rays need now is a day off, but that's what the schedule gives them today as they circle for the kill in the American League Championship Series. TV, as we know, runs the show in baseball's postseason, so the lads will sit around in Boston for the day.

That's the way it goes.

If they tune in to Sports Center, a local radio station up there in Boston, or pick up a newspaper, they're likely to hear about the Red Sox's penchant for coming back from seemingly hopeless deficits in the ALCS.

They were down 3-1 just last year to Cleveland but blew the Tribe out three games in a row and went on to sweep Colorado in the World Series.

And, of course, we all remember how they were down 3-0 to the Yankees in 2004 before coming off the deck to win the pennant.

Still, this feels different. This one really does feel like it's over.

Boston Globe columnist Dan Shaughnessy summed it up this way:

"The Red Sox last night were annihilated again by the Tampa Bay Rays. Final score: 13-4. Fenway was so quiet you could hear a dynasty drop. And that was in the first inning.

"There was more noise at Widener Library. There were more laughs, backslaps, and good times at Bill Belichick's daily press briefing in Foxborough. Watching this game was like reading your 401(k) statement.

"The Sox aren't officially dead yet, but Fenway Park is already a morgue. Six feet under. So bad. So bad. So bad."

The Rays definitely have opened up a can of you-know-what on Boston so far. Maybe you can be surprised at the ease with which the Rays have won the two games in Fenway, but no one should be surprised the results. The Red Sox aren't the same team since trading Manny Ramirez, and with David Ortiz hurting – he is hitting .071 in the postseason - and Mike Lowell out of the lineup they're actually pretty ordinary at this point.

Jacoby Ellsbury's ongoing struggles prompted Sox manager Terry Fancona to bench him for Tuesday's 13-4 rout by the Rays. Add to that a Rays lineup that is on a serious roll right now and you have the makings of a blowout.

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But, as we know, it's not over until the champagne flows. With that in mind, I kind of like the notion of switching the rotation to start Scott Kazmir on Thursday and James Shields on Saturday at the Trop, if that's what Joe Maddon decides to do.

It may seem like a defensive move at first, given that Shields is so much more successful at the Trop and not good at Fenway (0-3, 10.12 ERA), but it seems pretty smart to me.

Boston's Daisuke Matsuzaka gave the Red Sox their only good start of this series in Game 1 at the Trop and he's scheduled to go Thursday. Kazmir has had success at Fenway (4-4, 3.02), but even if he struggles and Boston gets it back to the Trop the Rays would have Shields ready against the suddenly vulnerable Josh Beckett.

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The Rays one-day-at-a-time approach is about to face its sternest test. They have seemingly never looked ahead this season, nor do they look back. They've got three chances now to take the Red Sox out but you know they're not thinking that way. They're thinking only about Thursday.

Too bad they have to wait until then, but after everything this franchise has been through to get to this point, I suppose one more day won't hurt.

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