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Rays In 3-1 Hole After Allowing 4 Home Runs

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By MARC LANCASTER

mlancaster@tampatrib.com

Published: October 27, 2008

Updated: 10/27/2008 12:44 am

PHILADELPHIA - Resilience has been a buzzword for the Rays all season, but that trait has never been tested like this. The Rays need a three-game winning streak to win the World Series.

Outpitched again Sunday, Tampa Bay fell 10-2 to the Phillies and finds its dream season in danger of coming to an abrupt end tonight. Of the 42 teams in World Series history that have faced the deficit the Rays do right now, only six have come back to win it all - most recently the 1985 Royals.

And it isn't just that the Rays have to win tonight and in the two games to follow at Tropicana Field if they make it that far. It's that they'll have to find a way to beat the pitcher most consider the class of the Series, left-hander Cole Hamels, at a time when their offense is suddenly incapable of stringing together multiple hits.

The Rays hit a couple of home runs Sunday, but both were solo shots. Ryan Howard trumped that output on his own with an opposite-field, three-run blast off Andy Sonnanstine in the fourth that might stand as the death blow to Tampa Bay's hopes of bringing home a world championship, then rubbed it in with a two-run blast in the eighth.

Add in homers by Joe Blanton - the first pitcher to homer in the World Series in 34 years - and Jayson Werth, and the Rays suffered about as demoralizing a loss as they have at any point this season.

"We played well in our last elimination game," said Sonnanstine, "so we're looking forward to playing well tonight here."

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