CHICAGO - The ditch at the front of the mound really didn't bother Matt Garza. What made him cringe were two leadoff walks, a three-run fourth and his inability to help Tampa Bay complete a sweep against the Chicago White Sox on Sunday in their division series.

Chicago White Sox groundskeeper Roger Bossard works on the mound under the watchful eyes of Tampa Bay Rays starting pitcher Matt Garza, right, third baseman Evan Longoria, left, and first baseman Carlos Pena in the fifth inning of Game 3 of the American League division baseball series against the Chicago White Sox on Sunday, Oct. 5, 2008, in Chicago. Garza complained about slipping on the landing area. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

Garza and the Rays were a bit out of sorts in a 5-3 loss that forced Game 4 on Monday.

"I let my team down," he said. "I had good enough stuff to put us over the top, and today was my fault. They gave me the three runs I needed, and I failed."

Garza had already surrendered the lead when he ran into more trouble warming up for the fifth.

The White Sox grounds crew came out to rake the dirt. Garza tried again to warm up, but still had trouble with his footing. Then, another round of raking.

The Rays made a stunning jump from 96 losses to 97 wins, but Garza wasn't about to blame the rain that delayed the start by 35 minutes or credit third-generation groundskeeper Roger Bossard for extending this series.

Bossard is known to play tricks, such as leaving the grass high when the White Sox have a slow team or watering the dirt in front of the plate to deaden grounders when they have speed. He's also considered one of the best in the business. He had a hand in resurfacing Wrigley Field before this season and has helped develop the fields at several other ballparks.

White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen joked Saturday that he would have Bossard's crew install "a swimming pool" around first base to negate the Rays' speed on the bases, but there was no need for chicanery.

Instead of the baserunners, it was the Rays' pitcher who couldn't get going. The issue with the mound?

"It was just a huge hole," Garza said.

Did it bother him during the three-run fourth?

"The following inning during warmups, it did," Garza said.

A pigeon pestered Garza, too, parking itself between the mound and home plate before the pitcher shooed it away.

The conditions didn't seem to bother Chicago's John Danks, who came up big again after throwing eight shutout innings in the AL Central tiebreaker against Minnesota. This time, he allowed three runs in 6 2-3 innings, but it was a different story for Garza.

"Actually, I think he pitched a great game," Rays catcher Dioner Navarro said.

Manager Joe Maddon said he thought Garza "was on his A game" and "gave us a chance to win."

Everyone seemed satisfied with his pitching but Garza.

Staked to a 1-0 lead in the second when Akinori Iwamura beat out a roller toward first with two outs to drive in Navarro, Garza promptly let it slip away.

Acquired from Minnesota in November, the right-hander won 11 games in his first full season but ran into trouble when he walked DeWayne Wise leading off the third. A.J. Pierzynski singled him in and three more runs crossed the plate in the fourth as the White Sox grabbed a 4-1 lead. Another leadoff walk to Ken Griffey Jr. resulted in a run in the sixth, when Juan Uribe drove in pinch-runner Brian Anderson.

"I really didn't miss too much on those walks," Garza said. "They were right there, belt-high fastballs, and the ball tailed off. That was it."