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'A Life-Defining Event'

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By JOE HENDERSON

jhenderson@tampatrib.com

Published: October 22, 2008

Updated: 10/22/2008 12:33 am

ST. PETERSBURG - For the sake of decorum we should probably act like we've been here before except, well, we haven't. Game 1 of the World Series is at Tropicana Field tonight and some people will try to tell you it's just a baseball game, but they're wrong.

"It's not a baseball-defining event; it's a life-defining event," said Rays broadcaster Joe Magrane, who was the starting pitcher for St. Louis in Game 7 of the 1987 Series.

"I think about that game every day. It's something that gets chronicled and never gets unwritten. From where the Rays have come from and to know that it will be involved in the last game of the year in 2008 is heady stuff."

Heady indeed. But the whole idea that the Rays are playing Philadelphia in this most traditional of tournaments is a bit surreal, too, because this once-wretched franchise is involved now in a high-stakes race toward history. Every pitch can produce a moment that will live forever in glory or infamy, and there's no way to predict which it will be.

This event is where a hobbled Kirk Gibson limped around the bases after hitting one of the most dramatic home runs ever in 1988. It's where Joe Carter sent the country of Canada into frenzy with a Series-winning home run off Mitch Williams of Philadelphia. It was interrupted by an earthquake in 1989.

Don Larsen pitched a perfect game in the Series. Bill Buckner missed a ground ball. Wade Boggs rode a horse after winning the Series with the Yankees. Jefferson High's Luis Gonzalez's feet never touched the ground when he singled off the Yankees great Mariano Rivera to win in 2001 for the Arizona Diamondbacks.

"That's the beauty of this game and why I love it," Rays relief pitcher Trever Miller said. "It's all about anticipation. You sit around waiting, ringing your cowbell, waiting for something great to happen. Sometimes it doesn't, but when it does you're glad you're there to experience the moment and hear the roar of the crowd."

Long History

The Series has a history like no other sport, dating to 1903 when the Boston Americans beat the Pittsburgh Pirates in eight games. (The Series was later shortened to the best-of-seven format that remains today.) Purists would say the history goes back even further, to 1884 when the Providence Grays beat the New York Metropolitans. (Yes, the Mets could choke even then.)

Those early series were considered exhibitions, though, and didn't count. The stakes are higher now.

The World Series becomes a thread that can bind generations. After winning the Series in 1918, Boston fans shared a common misery as the Sox waited until 2004 to do it again. Chicago Cubs fans were certain this would be the season they broke a 100-year drought since winning the Series. (It wasn't)

"The first big memory I have growing up in 1991 was when the Braves got there," Rays outfielder Gabe Gross said. "I was a Braves fan growing up in Alabama and I was enthralled by their own worst-to-first story.

"You hope and try to do everything you can to get to a World Series and you don't know if it will ever happen, but now it has. And we have a team that's comparable to the Braves, worst-to-first, a big turnaround. It's pretty special."

Somebody asked him when he'd be able to step back from the experience and be able to fully appreciate the magnitude of everything. He just smiled.

"Right now," he said.

Historic Season

That the Rays are on this stage after losing 96 games last season is absurd on the surface, but baseball is all about hope. It's all about hope, and a story like this builds over six months of triumph and failure.

Nothing will seem impossible for the Rays now. If they had only made the playoffs, they still would have been a great story. If they had lost to Boston in Game 7 of the championship series Sunday night, everyone would have praised them as game.

But now they're in the World Series. A great season just became historic.

"Anything could happen," Rays utility man Ben Zobrist said. "It's left up to the next few days and our imaginations what will happen. It could be an amazing moment people will watch for years to come."

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