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Some Nights, Magic Doesn't Work

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By MARTIN FENNELLY

mfennelly@tampatrib.com

Published: October 23, 2008

Updated: 10/23/2008 01:13 am

ST. PETERSBURG - Some nights, the magic doesn't work.

Some nights, you turn in Wonderboy and turn to Wonder Bread.

Ask B.J. Upton.

Call it an omen, but before Game 1 of the World Series, this actually happened: Upton donated the bat he used to terrorize the ALDS and ALCS (seven homers, 15 RBIs) to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.

Did they send that overnight or can he get it back?

Upton's lost Wednesday night - 0-for-4, two double plays, one strikeout - was only one piece in a puzzle that didn't quite fit as the Rays lost to the Phillies, 3-2.

This was the team that tamed the AL and this was the center fielder who would have been ALCS MVP (four homers, many RBIs) if Matt Garza hadn't turned into Three-Finger Garza in Game 7 vs. Boston.

Some nights, the magic doesn't work.

And so Upton and his team are underdogs again.

"We don't know how to be favorites," Rays reliever Trever Miller said before the Series. Wednesday, the Rays went out and proved it.

They didn't have enough to beat the Phillies, who had too much Cole Hamels and way too much bullpen. We don't know which was more problematic, Hamels' seven innings or the six up, six down shutdown that followed.

Back to B.J. He hit into a pair of double plays, including one of the bases-loaded variety, in his first two Series at-bats. I'm sure there's a baseball stat nut (in an adult diaper) who can tell us that no man has ever hit into two DPs his first two Series at-bats.

Did we mention few Rays, save for Carl Crawford (HR) and Aki Iwamura (RBI double) did much, either?

The Rays stranded but three runners. Upton stranded all of those.

We understand that first double play, which Upton hit into in his first Series at-bat, presumably because, like the rest of us, he was dabbing his eyes after that moving national anthem by the Backstreet Boys. Is it too late to get Roseanne?

Phillies second baseman Chase Utley, thoroughly unmoved, hit a two-run homer off Scott Kazmir in the first inning and Philadelphia never trailed after that, though Rays pitchers were commendable. Go ask Ryan Howard (three K's).

Back to Upton. His second double play came an inning after he threw a strike to nail Shane Victorino at the plate. But in the third, with bags full and the Rays still down 2-0, he did it again, 5 to 4 to 3.

"It was kind of a momentum-changer for us," Hamels said.

Upton later fouled to first with Iwamura on second, as Phillies first baseman Ryan Howard reached across docile Rays fans for the grab. If Carlos Pena tries that in Philly, he'll lose an arm.

In another nice touch, some fair-weather goob Rays fans left in the ninth, you know, before Phillies closer Brad Lidge struck out Pena and Evan Longoria on six straight sliders and got Crawford to pop to third.

The day before the Series began, a Cheese Steaky TV guy asked one Ray what he thought about the notion that the Phillies might welcome playing the Rays instead of the Red Sox.

"Beware," B.J. Upton said. "We're going to play."

Does anyone have the area code for Cooperstown?

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