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Kevin Youkilis hit .326 with a 1.016 OPS at Fenway Park in 2008.

AN OFFENSIVE YOUK-TURN

By Mark Simon, ESPN Research

ALCS GAME 3

Rays at Red Sox 4:37 p.m. ET, ESPN Radio ALCS page

Kevin Youkilis has been Boston's offensive star through the first two games of the ALCS, but in Games 3 and 4, he'll be facing pitchers against whom he's struggled significantly in his career. But that's nothing new for Youkilis, who entered the ALCS with awful offensive numbers against all four Rays starters. Through two games, however, he's 6-for-10 with a home run.

With David Ortiz not hitting yet, the Red Sox need continued strong offensive production from Youkilis, the kind he typically gives them at Fenway Park. Youkilis had 71 RBIs in 74 regular-season games at home this season.

Kevin Youkilis vs. Rays starters
	Regular Season	Postseason
James Shields	.000 BA, 17 AB	2-3, 2B
Scott Kazmir	.200 BA, 35 AB	2-3, HR
Matt Garza	.083 BA, 12 AB	Starts Game 3
Andy Sonnanstine	.083 BA, 12 AB	Starts Game 4
Note: .118 BA career in 76 regular-season AB vs. Rays starters

NLCS GAME 4

Phillies at Dodgers 8:22 p.m. ET, ESPN Radio NLCS page

The Dodgers hope that Derek Lowe will find his comfort zone pitching in Game 4 of the NLCS on Monday. Lowe looked solid for much of his Game 1 start, but then fell apart and a Phillies barrage handed him a tough loss.

Lowe has been clutch at Dodger Stadium in 2008, and his numbers there are significantly better than they had been in his previous seasons in Los Angeles. He'll need to be clutch again to get the Dodgers back in the series.

Derek Lowe: Past nine home starts
W-L	ERA	IP	K-BB	HR Allowed
5-2	1.27	63 2/3	46-12	1 (July 9, Jeff Francoeur)
Note: 9-5, 2.30 ERA at home in 2008

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TAMPA BAY'S TURNING POINT

By Rick Sutcliffe, ESPN analyst

Back in June, Rays shortstop Jason Bartlett used his knee to block the second base bag when Coco Crisp was trying to steal. Later in that game, Crisp slid in very hard at second to show he wasn't happy about that, but it was Aki Iwamura covering this time. He could have ended the year -- or worse -- for Iwamura. In fact, Rays manager Joe Maddon even barked at Crisp about it when he turned to the Red Sox dugout while making a pitching change later in the same inning.

The next morning one of the Rays coaches asked if I was working the game that night. He said, "We're going to get [Crisp]." And I said, "No, you're not. You guys haven't won a game here at Fenway yet this year. You have your best chance with Shields, your best pitcher on the mound. Everybody is going to be looking for it. You hit him and you know what's going to happen. Someone's going to get ejected, possibly suspended." He said, "We don't care. We're going to get him. We are not going to let him get away with that."

I thought I was right. A lot of the years that I played I was kind of the guy who decided when and where and who as far as retaliating for something like that. I would never have taken a chance on losing a game. That is what spring training is for. You can hit whoever you want in spring training. Who cares? The one thing that Don Drysdale told me is that when you hit somebody, you make sure they don't touch home. Because if they score a run that just defeats the purpose. They won, you didn't.

But as I look back on it now, that day was really a turning point for the Rays. They lost that game and Shields ended up getting suspended, but that was when Tampa Bay made a statement. It was as if they were saying, "You guys have pushed us around for 10 years and you're not doing it any more."

They let it be known teams like the Red Sox and Yankees weren't getting away with that anymore. They got swept in that series and everybody kept saying, "OK, it was fun while it lasted, but the Rays are done now and they'll fall back in the standings any day now."

They may not have left that series with any wins, but they left with their pride. I think it was extremely important to those young guys, especially Iwamura. He's been their spark all season. And if Crisp's slide knocked Iwamura out for the season, I doubt they would have made the playoffs at all.