ARLINGTON, Texas - The first person David Price looked for after pitching the Tampa Bay Rays into the playoffs was third baseman Evan Longoria. Price yelled after the two locked eyes, and they embraced to start the celebration. "He just told me that he had a dream about it," Longoria said. "It was awesome to feel that emotion from him. Thats what an ace does, thats what a leader of a staff does. It was awesome to watch." Price, Longoria and the Tampa Bay Rays are going to playoffs again, getting there with a victory in their final regular-season game for the second time in three years. They needed an extra game this time. Price pitched his fourth complete game this year, Longoria hit a two-run homer and the Rays beat the Texas Rangers 5-2 in the AL wild-card tiebreaker game Monday night, the 163rd game for both teams. When Price woke up Monday, all he could think about was throwing a complete game, then getting that last out and turning straight to Longoria. "Youre probably supposed to go to your catcher first, but for what hes done for us and what hes done for me personally," Price said. "I think about that type of stuff before I pitch all the time, but for it to happen today. I didnt want to text him when I thought about it. I didnt want to jinx it." Luckily for manager Joe Maddon and the Rays, they werent done in by another blown call in Texas — though this one did cost them at least one run. The Rays face another must-win situation Wednesday night at Cleveland in the AL wild-card game, Tampas third game in three cities in a four-day stretch. The winner faces Boston in the division series. Price (10-8), the reigning AL Cy Young winner, had a 10.26 ERA in four previous starts at Rangers Ballpark. He was superb in this one, striking out four and walking one. He picked off two runners while allowing seven hits and throwing 81 of 118 pitches for strikes. "If I dont get those two outs on the pickoff moves, I have to get the next guys out," Price said. "It forces me to throw at least 10 more pitches." Longoria had three hits, continuing his stellar play in the last game of regular seasons. He is hitting .579 (11 for 19) in those finales with seven homers and 10 RBIs, according to STATS. "I wish I could explain it," he said. "I wish I could bottle it up and take it through 161 games and not have it be on the last day." Texas had won seven in a row, needing every one just to force the majors first wild-card tiebreaker since 2007. Even with the return of All-Star slugger Nelson Cruz from his 50-game drug suspension, the Rangers missed a chance to get to the playoffs for the fourth year in a row. "Im disappointed. We didnt get it done," Rangers manager Ron Washington said. "Ive got no excuse for that." Cruz, who had 27 homers and 76 RBIs in 108 games before his suspension, was 0 for 4 with a strikeout while hitting sixth as the designated hitter. His groundout to shortstop ended the game. The Rays had runners at first and second with two outs in the seventh when Delmon Young, who put the Rays ahead to stay with a sacrifice fly in the first, hit a soft flyball. Centre fielder Leonys Martin made a running, diving attempt for a catch. Replays showed clearly that the ball bounced into Martins glove; left field umpire Bruce Dreckman, looking at the play from the side, ruled it an inning-ending catch. Young rounded first base with his arms spread out signalling safe. Maddon went out to talk to Dreckman, though the conversation didnt appear heated. "Thankfully, it didnt come back to bite us," Longoria said. When the Rays played at Texas on April 8, their 5-4 loss ended when plate umpire Marty Foster called a third strike against Ben Zobrist on a pitch low and outside. The ump later admitted the 2-2 curveball wasnt a strike and he wouldnt call that pitch a strike if he could do it again. The Texas win and closer Joe Nathans 300th career save stood. Maddon said after that game that such calls "cant be made in a Major League Baseball game." The Rays still had a runner on base and Longoria on deck when Zobrist was called out. MLB intends to use expanded video review next year. The Rangers had beaten Tampa Bay in the AL division series in 2010 and 2011 on way to their only two World Series. It was the second year in a row their season ended in a do-or-die game at home — they lost to Baltimore in the first AL wild-card game last October. "Im happy that we dont have to play them anymore," Longoria said. " Its fitting we had to go down this road. It feels really good to be able to leave here celebrating instead of with our heads down." In 2011, the Rays had to overcome a nine-game deficit the final month of the season and were down seven runs in their 162nd game. They got to the playoffs after Longorias game-ending homer in the 12th inning to beat the New York Yankees. The first four hitters in the game against rookie left-hander Martin Perez (10-6) combined for three singles and a walk, and yet the Rays still didnt have a run. Desmond Jennings, in his first start in more than a week after left hamstring tightness, hit the games first pitch down the left-field line. He was thrown out trying to stretch the hit to a double when Craig Gentry made a strong throw. Wil Myers walked on four pitches. Consecutive singles by Ben Zobrist and Longoria loaded the bases and Young hit a sacrifice fly. Jennings had a leadoff walk in the third, and there were two outs before Longoria hit a drive to right-centre that landed in the Rangers bullpen. After Perez struck out Zobrist to start the sixth, the eighth consecutive batter he retired, Alexi Ogando gave up a double to Longoria, who scored on a double by pinch-hitter David DeJesus. Elvis Andrus walked on four pitches in the first, but was picked off by Price. Ian Kinsler had an RBI single in the third, but was caught stealing after straying off the base and drawing a throw. "Thats the way we play. Sometimes thats the result of it," Washington said. "If everything would have worked the way we wanted it to work when they decided to steal it would have been nice. ... They made the plays to stop it." NOTES: Tampa added a run in the ninth when Sam Fuld was at second base, when he took off for third base. Reliever Tanner Scheppers threw wildly to third base, allowing Fuld to score. ... Andrus had a stolen base in the sixth, giving the Rangers a steal in a club-record 13 games in a row. . 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Clippards deal Monday means all eight Nationals players who filed for arbitration wound up settling before a hearing.NEW YORK -- Jabari Parker is already in the Duke record book. The heralded freshman matched his season-high with 27 points, setting the school record for consecutive 20-point games to start a career and the sixth-ranked Blue Devils beat Alabama 74-64 on Wednesday night in the semifinals of the NIT Season Tip-Off. "I think Ive got a long ways to go," the 6-foot-8 forward said after his seventh 20-point effort. "I need to be sharper in the beginning of the game. Nothing is ever too easy. I get open looks when they look at Rodney (Hood) or Q (Quinn Cook). I get those opportunities as much as possible." He takes advantage at an alarming rate. He entered the game shooting 58 per cent from the field and he improved that number by going 9 of 12 from the field. He had eight rebounds and was 9 of 10 from the free throw line in matching his point total in the Blue Devils only loss, 83-54 to No. 2 Kansas. "He gets his points in the flow of the offence and we should go through him a lot," coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "We had foul trouble with Rodney. Usually its through them. We went to Jabari even more." The Blue Devils (6-1), who committed a season-high 19 turnovers, will face No. 4 Arizona, which beat Drexel 66-62, in the championship game on Friday at Madison Square Garden. Its a matchup of the program with the most NIT Season Tip-Off titles -- Duke with four -- against one of three programs tied for second with three. "Arizona is older and they are really big for us," Krzyzewski said. "Over the years, we have always played really difficult schedules and this year is no different. Im just glad we have an opportunity to play for a championship. "Arizona is probably ahead of some other teams. Arizona, Michigan State, because they have guys who have played prominent roles, back. And then they have added a great guard and a great wing to their lineup, and so they are big. It will be completely different, from playing this game. They can post three guys from their starting lineup. They post their front line. Thats where we are not real big. That will be interesting how we try to get that going." Nick Jacobs led Alabama (3-2) with 18 points and seven rebounnds while Trevor Releford and Algie Key added 11 points each.dddddddddddd Duke is 25-2 in the NIT Season Tip-Off and has won 14 straight games in the tournament. The Blue Devils were coming off a 91-90 home victory over Vermont, a game that ended with the Catamounts having the ball but not getting off a final shot. It didnt get that close at the end Wednesday, but the Crimson Tide took advantage of the turnovers to be within 56-51 with 5:19 left. Alabama was within six points three times in the final 3:18 but the Blue Devils were able to go up by as many as 10 points. "Teams play well against us. Its a great opportunity for the sun to shine on a program, and so we have to expect that," Krzyzewski said. The only other Duke player to start his career with six straight 20-point games was Art Heyman in 1961-62. "Hes probably, in my eight years as a head coach, the most talented freshman Ive seen just from his size, his physicality and his skill level," Alabama coach Anthony Grant said of Parker. "Hes able to make tough shots and free himself for the open shot and hes able to get himself to the free throw line. Hes just a really, really talented player. They have got a lot of really good players around them, as well." Duke closed the firsts half on an 11-2 run to take a 33-22 lead and the Blue Devils opened the second half on a 13-6 run for their biggest lead of the game, 46-28 with 15:23 to play. The Crimson Tide, taking advantage of Dukes turnovers, used a 12-0 run to get within 46-40 with 12:07 left. "They had a pretty sizable cushion," Grant said. "We werent able to be effective enough to win the game. Whatever the turnovers were, they scored 74 points in the game, shot a pretty good clip from the field, got to the free throw line quite a bit. I would say their attack against what we were doing was pretty effective." The Blue Devils are 23-7 at Madison Square Garden under Krzyzewski and they have won 15 of their last 17 games there. Duke has won 27 straight regular-season tournament games. The loss dropped Alabama to 32-99 against Top Ten teams. The Crimson Tides last win over a Top Ten team was Feb. 18, 2006 against then-No. 8 Tennessee. cheap nfl jerseys cheap jerseys cheap jerseys cheap jerseys cheap nfl jerseys wholesale jerseys ' ' '