The World Series is here yet again, and we have a few new faces competing in the fall classic. The American League Champion Tampa Bay Rays will face the National League Champion Philadelphia Phillies for the right to be World Series champions.
The Phillies are making their first appearance since 1993 and the Rays – well, they’re making their first appearance in the postseason since becoming a MLB franchise in 1998.
The Rays went from last place a season ago to knocking off the defending champion Boston Red Sox in an epic, seven-game AL Championship series. The Phillies will travel to "The Trop," as they like to call it in St. Petersburg, Fla., after having a week off since dismantling the Los Angeles Dodgers in five games.
Rays manager Joe Maddon, who won a World Series with the Los Angeles Angels in 2002 as their bench coach, will be matched against the savvy Charlie Manuel, manager for the Phillies, and the two-time National League East champs.
The Rays will have home-field advantage because of this year’s All-Star Game, a 15-inning classic in which winning pitcher Scott Kazmir of the Rays beat Phillies shutdown closer and former Houston Astros pitcher Brad Lidge.
In the 15 meetings between the teams, the Rays lead the series 10-5 and won their last series 2-1 in Philadelphia in 2006. It’s not the flashy matchup it could have been with the Dodgers and Red Sox, but these two teams have played hard all year to get to this point.
The Phillies will send NLCS MVP left hander Cole Hamels to the mound in Game 1 tonight, where he will face Houston-born, Cy Falls high school graduate Kazmir. The Phillies’ rotation has been set with Brett Myers for Game 2, Jamie Moyer for Game 3, and midseason acquisition Joe Blanton for Game 4.
With Kazmir pitching Game 1, the Rays will put in James Shields for Game 2, ALCS MVP Matt Garza for Game 3 and Andy Sonnanstine for Game 4.
The key players for both teams will be their first basemen – sluggers Ryan Howard for Philadelphia and Carlos Pe’ntilde;a for the Rays. Pe’ntilde;a has 31 home runs and 102 RBIs this season while Howard made a case for his second MVP award with 48 home runs and 146 RBIs despite 199 strikeouts.
Young guns centerfielder BJ Upton and rookie third basemen Evan Longoria had huge postseasons for the Rays, combining for 13 home runs and 26 RBIs. Centerfielder and speed demon Shane Victorino also added 11 postseason RBIs.
The lineup edge will go to the Rays just because their bats have exploded this postseason and the Phillies seem to have that "home run or bust" mentality at the plate. The pitching edge for the starting rotation will go to the Rays, led by Garza, despite how good Hamels has been as of late. The bullpen edge clearly goes to the Phillies with Lidge, who hasn’t blown a save all season, anchoring the back end despite the emergence of Rays rookie David Price. The Phillies also have flamethrowers Ryan Madson, J.C. Romero, and Chad Durbin to set Lidge up.
My prediction is the Cinderella story of Tampa Bay will continue, and the Rays will beat the Phillies in six games. Game 1 of the 104th World Series will be broadcast from Tampa Bay at 7 p.m. tonight on Fox-KRIV.
