Exorcising demons

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- The Tampa Bay Rays are going to the World Series.

Let that roll around on your tongue for a bit. Let it sink in.

Still hard to fathom? You’re not alone.

Even some Rays, after their heart-stopping 3-1 victory over the Boston Red Sox on Sunday night clinched their first World Series berth and kept their magical, improbable, unfathomable, worst-to-first season alive, had trouble comprehending it all.

“I can’t believe it, I really can’t believe it,” Tampa Bay reliever J.P. Howell said amid a wild celebration in Tropicana Field. “I just don’t know what to say. Thank you, God. Thank you for this gift.”

A gift, it wasn’t. This was as hard-earned a victory as there could be, with starter Matt Garza giving the Rays seven-plus innings of one-run, two-hit ball and 118 high-energy pitches, and rookie left-hander David Price filling a glaring void at closer by striking out three of five batters for the save.

Tampa Bay used four relievers to suppress the Red Sox in the eighth, and when second baseman Akinori Iwamura fielded Jed Lowrie’s wicked-hop grounder and stepped on second for the final out to end Game 7 of the American League Championship Series, the Rays dog-piled each other on the mound.

Doormats for a decade, last-place finishers in the AL East for nine of their previous 10 years of existence, losers of 96 games last season and 101 in 2006, the Rays withstood the hard-charging Red Sox, who were looking to erase their third 3-1 ALCS deficit in five years, to earn a World Series berth opposite the Philadelphia Phillies.

Tampa Bay had averaged 97 losses a year in its decade as the Devil Rays before dropping the “Devil” from the team name and then winning 97 games and the East division title this season. But the Rays showed the heart and resiliency of champions in the ALCS. They bounced back from an epic Game 5 collapse, when they blew a 7-0, seventh-inning lead, and a 4-2 Game 6 loss to win a tense, taut Game 7 against the defending World Series champions.

And what the 104th World Series will now get, when the Phillies and Rays play Game 1 Wednesday night in Tropicana Field, is more cowbell.

“That was amazing, incredible,” said first baseman Carlos Pena, whose pregame team meeting helped calm the Rays. “What Garza did, what Price did, I don’t have words to describe what I’m feeling right now. This is beautiful, a perfect story.”

Garza gave up a one-out solo home run to Dustin Pedroia in the first and didn’t give up another hit until Jason Bay’s one-out single put two on in the seventh.

By then, the Rays had a 2-1 lead, thanks to Evan Longoria’s run-scoring double in the fourth and Rocco Baldelli’s RBI single in the fifth to score Willy Aybar, who had doubled.

Up stepped the left-handed-hitting Mark Kotsay, and to the mound came Manager Joe Maddon. Garza’s pitch count was at 108.

“He looked at me and said, ‘How do you feel?’ ” Garza said. “I said, ‘Great, you ain’t taking me out of this game.’ He just looked at me and I said, ‘This is my game, and I’m going to finish it off.’ ”

How did Maddon respond? “He said, ‘Well, you look good. I’ll see you later,’ ” Garza said.

Garza, who struck out nine, including David Ortiz with a 95-mph fastball to end the sixth, rewarded Maddon’s faith, getting Kotsay to fly to right and striking out Jason Varitek to end the inning.

Aybar’s homer against Red Sox starter Jon Lester gave Tampa Bay a 3-1 lead in the seventh, and Garza, whose two victories against Boston earned him ALCS most valuable player honors, was pulled after Alex Cora reached on Jason Bartlett’s error to open the eighth.

Dan Wheeler gave up a single to Coco Crisp and got Pedroia to fly out, Howell won another showdown with Ortiz, getting the slugger to ground into a fielder’s choice, and Chad Bradford walked Kevin Youkilis to load the bases.

In came Price, the former Vanderbilt star and first overall pick in the 2007 draft, who had pitched in all of seven big league games, five regular season, two playoff.

“I loved the decision, baptism by fire,” Longoria said. “His stuff is as good as anyone’s in that bullpen.”

With a crowd of 40,473 on its feet and roaring with every pitch, Price struck out J.D. Drew, who couldn’t check his swing on a 97-mph fastball.

After walking Bay to open the ninth, Price struck out Kotsay looking at a 95-mph fastball and Varitek swinging at a slider. Lowrie then grounded out to end the game.

“That’s a memory that will last a lifetime,” Price said in a champagne-soaked clubhouse. “I didn’t even hear the crowd. I was so focused on my teammates. . . . Look at these guys, running around here like 5-year-olds on Christmas.”

Pitching coach Jim Hickey marveled at the 23-year-old phenom. “Amazing,” he said. “It’s a little bigger than the SEC championship.”

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mike.digiovanna@latimes.com

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Phillies / Rays

Best-of-seven series

Approx. times PDT; all games on Ch. 11

Game 1: Wednesday at Tampa Bay, 5 p.m.

Game 2: Thursday at Tampa Bay, 5 p.m.

Game 3: Saturday at Philadelphia, 5 p.m.

Game 4: Sunday at Philadelphia, 5 p.m.

Game 5: Oct. 27 at Philadelphia, 5 p.m.*

Game 6: Oct. 29 at Tampa Bay, 5:30 p.m.*

Game 7: Oct. 30 at Tampa Bay, 5 p.m.*

* -- If necessary