Matt Garza Dominates Red Sox for ALCS MVP Award

When a team finds itself in the position that the Rays were in entering last night's Game 7, that is having lost two straight games to turn what could've been an easy series win into an epic struggle, the most important player on the field is the starting pitcher. Matt Garza's job last night was to keep the Rays in the game at all costs, to avoid a "Here we go again," moment. To say that he only accomplished that would be an understatement on par with "The eleventh year of the Rays' existence went much better than the first ten."

Garza turned in a gem of Beckett-esque proportions in Game 7 last night. He allowed a solo home run to Dustin Pedroia in the first inning, then no hits at all until Jason Bay's single in the seventh inning. He struck out nine Red Sox, mixing his rising fastball, a pitch that he placed perfectly all night, with his big curve and a nasty slider. He kept the whole Red Sox lineup off-balance all night and they didn't even threaten to score until the seventh.

I'm actually struggling to put in to words how good Garza was tonight. The Rays needed a big performance and he stepped up and gave them a huge one. This has to be what Andrew Friedman had in mind when he traded Delmon Young and other for a package including Garza and shortstop Jason Bartlett this winter. Even after the huge series that B.J. Upton and Evan Longoria had, it's hard to argue that anyone but Garza deserved the MVP award that he was given after the game.