The playoff grind continues. We have become accustomed to these sleep-deprived Octobers, with innings stretching into hours, hours stretching into days, days stretching into championship celebrations.

It's League Championship Series time, and the Red Sox are one of baseball's final four for the fourth time in six years. That means late starts, later games and a six-state region grabbing that extra pot of joe to make up for five hours of sleep.

In other parts of the country, they're lining up to pull their money out of 401(k) funds. In New England, the long lines are at the corner Dunkin' Donuts for that extra jolt of caffeine.

Saturday night, Boston and Tampa Bay locked up in an 11-inning marathon that took nearly 5 1/2 hours. It was Boston's sixth extra-inning ALCS game since 1999. In that time, there have been no other ALCS games played beyond the ninth inning.

The key to mid-October success, of course, is depth. The Sox bullpen ran out of it in Game 2, and the Rays evened the series because of it. That collective groan you heard shortly after 1 a.m. Sunday was Red Sox fans muttering "not Timlin," as Mike Timlin became Boston's seventh pitcher of the game. Eighteen years in the big leagues, and it's now clear he is at the end of the line.

As the Sox took the field Monday for Game 3, it was obvious what they must do to win games in the days ahead. Starters must go at least six, if not seven, innings to get the ball to the Justin Masterson/Hideki Okajima bridge to Jonathan Papelbon. Letting anyone else come out of the bullpen is playing with fire.

The Rays, meantime, have turned their biggest weakness from 2007 into a strength for this Cinderella season of 2008. Last year, Tampa Bay posted the worst statistical season of any bullpen in major league history. This year, Rays relievers entered the postseason ranked fourth in the majors.

On Saturday night, Dan Wheeler was the star of the game for the Rays, pitching 3 1/3 innings and locking down the Red Sox offense while waiting for his team to finally scratch out a run.

"The bullpen has been like that all year," said Rays Manager Joe Maddon. "We went from having the worst bullpen in the history of baseball to one of the better ones this year. And they all contribute. They all have their roles; they all do their jobs.

"The biggest difference is – and the wonderful thing is – that when you call and you bring somebody into the game, you have a pretty good idea of what to expect, and that's probably the best thing you can have out of your bullpen."

It's what the Red Sox haven't had for much of this season. Their bullpen has struggled, but it improved dramatically in August and September after Masterson returned from his minor league transformation to become the key setup man.

The problem with Masterson's role as the setup man in this series: The Rays' lineup is loaded with left-handed hitters, and Masterson is much more dominant against right-handers. He posted a 4.50 ERA against left-handers this season, compared with a 2.05 against righties.

That means Masterson, a former starter who conceivably could pitch deeply into an extra-innings game, has tight reins on him at times. He faced just three batters Saturday night, getting two outs in the ninth. His night was over when left-handed batter Carlos Pena stepped to the plate with two outs and a man on base.

Wheeler, meantime, entered in the eighth inning and took it to the second out of the 11th. He allowed the Rays to keep grinding away at the Sox bullpen. The Sox used three pitchers in that span and ultimately ran out of arms.

Playoff series are often won and lost by the bullpen, and for the Sox bullpen to succeed over the long haul this month, they'll need to pitch fewer innings along the way.

Tom Caron is the studio host for Red Sox broadcasts on the New England Sports Network. His column appears in the Press Herald on Tuesdays.

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