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Rays Will Jump Into Fire Early

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By TONY FABRIZIO | The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 21, 2008

ST. PETERSBURG - The Rays solved Boston's ace, LHP Jon Lester, in the ALCS. Now can they get to the Philadelphia Phillies' hot lefty, Cole Hamels, in the World Series?

As expected, the Phillies will stick with the rotation that got them this far - meaning Hamels, the MVP in the Phillies' NLCS triumph against the Los Angeles Dodgers, will pitch Game 1 on Wednesday night at Tropicana Field.

Manager Charlie Manuel basically announced his rotation Saturday and said Monday he hasn't changed his mind.

Hamels, 24, went 2-0 with a 1.93 ERA in the NLCS, allowing three earned runs in 14 innings, after pitching eight shutout innings in a Division Series victory. Counting last year's playoffs, he is 3-1 with a 1.88 ERA in the postseason.

Hamels will be followed by Brett Myers on Thursday at the Trop, and Jamie Moyer and Joe Blanton on Saturday and Sunday in Philadelphia. Myers and Blanton are righties and Moyer is a lefty.

There was speculation Manuel might shake up his rotation to avoid pitching Myers on the road, where he is 3-8 with a 6.21 ERA, or skip over Moyer, who has lost both of his starts this postseason and gave up six runs in 11/3 innings in his NLCS outing.

But Manuel opted to go with the same lineup that got the Phillies past Milwaukee and Los Angeles in the playoffs.

The manager noted Monday that Moyer, who was 16-7 with a 3.71 ERA, was one of the team's most consistent pitchers during the regular season. Moyer, who turns 46 next month, will the second oldest player to appear in the World Series, behind Philadelphia Athletics pitcher Jack Quinn, who was 47 in 1930.

Lester was 3-0 with an 0.90 ERA against the Rays in the regular season and had a career postseason mark of 2-0 with an 0.77 ERA entering the ALCS. The Rays beat him in Games 3 and 7 of the ALCS.

Getting Familiar

The Phillies worked out at Tropicana Field and also will have today to get acclimated to the peculiarity of the Rays' dome.

Several players downplayed the difficulty of picking up fly balls against the off-white ceiling, with veteran Matt Stairs, a former Toronto Blue Jay, asserting that the bigger concern is the noise.

Manuel, a former Cleveland Indians hitting coach and manager, conceded that the Trop takes some getting used to.

He said players have to be careful not to lose sight of fly balls or high pop-ups against the framework of the catwalks and infielders have to get used to the softer bounce balls take on the spongy turf.

Plenty Of Respect

All-star closer Brad Lidge will put his perfect record - he was 41-for- 41 in save conversions during the regular season, and he's 5-for-5 in the postseason - against a Rays team that averaged 6.14 runs per game against the Red Sox.

He won't underestimate the competition.

"I think their guys aren't scared," he said. "They have a lot of young players who enjoy the big stage. It's going to be a tough series. They have a lot of talent here, and we're going to have to do our best to win some here and take care of business at home."

Quotable

The media got the homespun and folksy Manuel going Monday on the fact Philadelphia hasn't celebrated a major professional team sports title since the NBA's 76ers took the crown in 1983.

"Philadelphia, they've been starving for a winner," Manuel said. "The last time we were in the World Series was '93, and, of course, I think '83 was the last time we won - '80, I'm sorry. Let me just put it like this: We're due. We're here, so why not get it?"

Tony Fabrizio

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