Worst to first easily describes the Tampa Bay Rays who finished in last place during the 2007 regular season, but made it to the Fall Classic in an exciting Cinderella style throughout the 2008 regular and post season. Even more remarkable are the Devil Rays, as they were known for the previous ten seasons, had never even had a winning season until 2008.
The Philadelphia Phillies come into the 2008 World Series with a franchise ring, yet it was earned during the 1980 World Series, before most players on this electrifying roster were even born. One hundred twenty-five years of history and only one ring? Both teams will certainly be hungry as the games begin.
Game 1, the first ever played in Tropicana Field, featured deafening cowbell sounds as fans clanged and clanged and clanged them endlessly in support of their hometown Rays. The Phillies feature though was Cole Hamels who brought to town his best change-up and held the Rays scoreless through three. The Rays fans and team had spirit and rallied for a run in the fourth and fifth, but it wasn't enough to rattle Hamels or his bullpen — who held them Rays hitless in the final two frames.
What to do when your down 0-1? Put your pitcher nicknamed "Big Game James" on the mound and let him do his job. Rays' ace James (Shields) scattered seven hits across 5 2/3 innings, but nobody ever crossed the plate while he was on the mound. Leaving only four men on base during Game 2, the Rays' batters drove in four with their seven hits leaving the field with a 4-2 win.
Tied 1-1, the Series left sunny Florida and was met with a 91-minute rain delay, some say designed to slow down the running Rays. It didn't work as the Rays seemed to effortlessly steal base after base and get runners into scoring position. The Phillies didn't need to steal a bag, because they broke out the big sticks and went deep three times with three solo homers in three different innings. The Rays stole back and tied up the game in the eighth inning courtesy of baserunning skills. After some interesting plays in the ninth, the bases were loaded for the Phillies and the force play at the plate was setup. The Rays brought in right fielder Ben Zobrist, stationed him behind second base, prompting Ryan Howard to quip later that night, "It looked like they were about to blitz." The blitz never happened as Carlos Ruiz scraped a dribbler about thirty feet down the third base line scoring the winning run with a World Series first ever walk-off infield single.
Oakland A's ace hurler Ken Holtzman was mentioned during Game 4 because of a home run he hit during the 1974 World Series, the last by a pitcher until the Joe Blanton from the Phillies hit the a home run in the fifth inning, the second of four hit that day by the Phils who easily outscored the Rays 10-2 and put them one win away from their first World Championship since 1980.
The absolutely magical ride of the Tampa Bay Rays ended after a three-day contest called Game 5, the first ever suspended World Series Game. Cole Hamels took the mound once again and did not disappoint, allowing only two runs spread across six strong innings and earning himself a World Series Most Valuable Player Award. Though the Phillies bats didn't go deep like they did in Game 4, they did drive in one more than the Rays did after the contest was delayed for two days due to a rain delay and scheduling conflicts.
"It seems heresy to even ask the question, but if this World Series were a heavyweight bout, which team would be cast in the role of Rocky? The natural answer would be the Phillies; they are, after all, from Rocky's hometown, and only the Liberty Bell and cheese steaks it seems are more Philadelphia than Rocky. The Rays, though, even the most ardent Philadelphian must admit, do have some of Sylvester Stallone's Rocky character in them." - Sportswriter Steve Gilbert on MLB.com (10/20/08)
2008 World Series2008 World Series Official Program ← 2007 | Philadelphia Phillies (4) vs. Tampa Bay Rays (1) | 2009 → |
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2008 World Series Fast Facts | |||
Game 1 | Date / Box Score | 10-22-2008 | |
Location | Tropicana Field | ||
1st Pitch | From | To | |
Bob Stewart | Dioner Navarro | ||
Attendance | 40,783 | ||
National Anthem | BackstreetBoys(Multi-PlatinumGroup) | ||
God Bless America | Kim Heng (Master Sergeant, U.S. Air Force) | ||
Take Me Out to the Ballgame | Stadium Recording | ||
Game 2 | Date / Box Score | 10-23-2008 | |
Location | Tropicana Field | ||
1st Pitch | From | To | |
General David Patreus | Dioner Navarro | ||
Attendance | 40,843 | ||
National Anthem | LosLonelyBoys(GrammyWinningGroup) | ||
God Bless America | Edward Torres (Captain, U.S. Air Force Reserve) | ||
Take Me Out to the Ballgame | Stadium Recording | ||
Game 3 | Date / Box Score | 10-25-2008 | |
Location | Citizens Bank Park | ||
1st Pitch | From | To | |
Steve Carlton | Carlos Ruiz | ||
Attendance | 45,900 | ||
National Anthem | Taylor Swift(Multi-PlatinumArtist) | ||
God Bless America | Unknown | ||
Take Me Out to the Ballgame | Stadium Recording | ||
Game 4 | Date / Box Score | 10-26-2008 | |
Location | Citizens Bank Park | ||
1st Pitch | From | To | |
Robin Roberts | Carlos Ruiz | ||
Attendance | 45,903 | ||
National Anthem | Patti LaBelle(GrammyWinningArtist) | ||
God Bless America | Unknown | ||
Take Me Out to the Ballgame | Stadium Recording | ||
Game 5 | Date / Box Score | 10-27-2008 | |
Location | Citizens Bank Park | ||
1st Pitch | From | To | |
Jim Bunning | Carlos Ruiz | ||
Attendance | 45,940 | ||
National Anthem | John Oates(Hall & Oates) | ||
God Bless America | U.S.NavyPettyOfficerDorcusWhigham | ||
Take Me Out to the Ballgame | Stadium Recording | ||
2008 World Series Fast Facts |
2008 World Series
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2008 World Series Game 1 Capsule | ||||||||||||
Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
Philadelphia | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 8 | 1 |
Tampa Bay | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 1 |
PhiladelphiaPitcher(s) | Tampa BayPitcher(s) | |||||||||||
Cole Hamels (W) Ryan Madson (H, 8th) Brad Lidge (S, 9th) - - |
Scott Kazmir (L) J.P. Howell (7th) Grant Balfour (7th) Trever Miller (9th) Dan Wheeler (9th) |
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PhiladelphiaHomeRuns | TampaBayHomeRuns | |||||||||||
Chase Utley (1st) | Carl Crawford (4th) |
2008 World Series
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2008 World Series Game 2 Capsule | ||||||||||||
Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
Philadelphia | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 9 | 2 |
Tampa Bay | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | x | 4 | 7 | 1 |
PhiladelphiaPitcher(s) | Tampa BayPitcher(s) | |||||||||||
Brett Myers (L) J.C. Romero (8th) - |
James Shields (W) Dan Wheeler (H, 6th) David Price (7th) |
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PhiladelphiaHomeRuns | TampaBayHomeRuns | |||||||||||
Eric Bruntlett (8th) | None |
2008 World Series
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2008 World Series Game 3 Capsule | ||||||||||||
Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
Tampa Bay | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 6 | 1 |
Philadelphia | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 7 | 1 |
Tampa BayPitcher(s) | PhiladelphiaPitcher(s) | |||||||||||
Matt Garza Chad Bradford (7th) J.P. Howell (L, 8th) Grant Balfour (9th) - |
Jamie Moyer Chad Durbin (H, 7th) Scott Eyre (H, 7th) Ryan Madson (BS, 8th) J.C. Romero (W, 8th) |
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TampaBayHomeRuns | PhiladelphiaHomeRuns | |||||||||||
None - - |
Carlos Ruiz (2nd) Chase Utley (6th) Ryan Howard (6th) |
2008 World Series
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2008 World Series Game 4 Capsule | ||||||||||||
Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
Tampa Bay | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 2 |
Philadelphia | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | x | 10 | 12 | 1 |
Tampa Bay Pitcher(s) | PhiladelphiaPitcher(s) | |||||||||||
Andy Sonnanstine (L) Edwin Jackson (5th) Dan Wheeler (7th) Trever Miller (8th) - |
Joe Blanton (W) Chad Durbin (7th) Scott Eyre (H, 7th) Ryan Madson (H, 7th) J.C. Romero (9th) |
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TampaBayHomeRuns | PhiladelphiaHomeRuns | |||||||||||
Carl Crawford (4th) Eric Hinske (5th) - - |
Ryan Howard (4th) Joe Blanton (5th) Jayson Werth (8th) Ryan Howard (8th) |
2008 World Series
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2008 World Series Game 5 Capsule | ||||||||||||
Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
Tampa Bay | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 10 | 0 |
Philadelphia | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | x | 4 | 8 | 1 |
Tampa Bay Pitcher(s) | PhiladelphiaPitcher(s) | |||||||||||
Scott Kazmir Grant Balfour (5th) J.P. Howell (L, 6th) Chad Bradford (7th) David Price (8th) |
Cole Hamels Ryan Madson (BS, 7th) J.C. Romero (W, 7th) Brad Lidge (S, 9th) - |
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TampaBayHomeRuns | PhiladelphiaHomeRuns | |||||||||||
Rocco Baldelli (7th) | None |
2008 World SeriesPhiladelphia Phillies 2008 World Series Composite Hitting Statistics |
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25-Man Roster | Positions | G | AB | H | 2B | 3B | HR | R | RBI | Avg | BB | SO | SB | |
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. |
Joe Blanton Eric Bruntlett Pat Burrell Clay Condrey Chris Coste Greg Dobbs Chad Durbin Scott Eyre Pedro Feliz Cole Hamels J.A. Happ Ryan Howard Geoff Jenkins Brad Lidge Ryan Madson Jamie Moyer Brett Myers Jimmy Rollins J.C. Romero Carlos Ruiz Matt Stairs So Taguchi Chase Utley Shane Victorino Jayson Werth |
p pr-2, lf-3 lf Did Not Play dh dh, ph p p 3b p Did Not Play 1b ph p p p p ss p c ph Did Not Play 2b cf rf |
1 5 5 - 1 2 2 2 5 1 - 5 2 1 3 1 1 5 3 5 1 - 5 5 5 |
3 3 14 - 4 3 0 0 18 2 - 21 2 0 0 2 0 22 1 16 1 - 18 20 18 |
1 1 1 - 0 1 0 0 6 0 - 6 1 0 0 0 0 5 0 6 0 - 3 5 8 |
0 0 1 - 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 1 1 0 0 0 0 2 0 2 0 - 0 0 3 |
0 0 0 - 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 0 0 0 |
1 1 0 - 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 - 2 0 1 |
1 3 0 - 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 3 1 0 0 0 0 4 0 2 0 - 5 1 4 |
1 1 1 - 0 0 0 0 2 0 - 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 - 4 2 3 |
.333 .333 .071 - .000 .333 .000 .000 .333 .000 - .286 .500 .000 .000 .000 .000 .227 .000 .375 .000 - .167 .250 .444 |
0 0 5 - 0 1 0 0 1 0 - 3 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 4 0 - 5 1 6 |
1 0 5 - 0 2 0 0 3 1 - 9 0 0 0 1 0 3 0 0 1 - 5 3 4 |
0 0 0 - 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 - 3 0 3 |
Totals | 168 | 24 | 10 | 0 | 9 | 24 | 23 | .262 | 27 | 38 | 7 | |||
2008 World SeriesTampa Bay Rays 2008 World Series Composite Hitting Statistics |
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25-Man Roster | Positions | G | AB | H | 2B | 3B | HR | R | RBI | Avg | BB | SO | SB | |
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. |
Willy Aybar Rocco Baldelli Grant Balfour Jason Bartlett Chad Bradford Carl Crawford Cliff Floyd Matt Garza Gabe Gross Eric Hinske J.P. Howell Akinori Iwamura Edwin Jackson Scott Kazmir Evan Longoria Trever Miller Dioner Navarro Carlos Pena Fernando Perez David Price James Shields Andy Sonnanstine B.J. Upton Dan Wheeler Ben Zobrist |
dh, ph-2, 1b rf, ph p ss p lf dh p rf ph p 2b p p 3b p c 1b pr p p p cf p rf, ph-1 |
4 3 2 5 2 5 1 1 1 2 2 5 1 1 5 1 5 5 1 1 1 1 5 1 4 |
4 6 0 14 0 19 3 2 3 2 0 19 0 2 20 0 17 17 0 0 0 1 20 0 7 |
1 1 0 3 0 5 1 0 0 1 0 5 0 0 1 0 6 2 0 0 0 1 5 0 1 |
0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 |
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 |
0 1 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 |
0 1 0 1 0 4 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 |
0 1 0 2 0 2 0 0 2 1 0 1 0 0 2 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 |
.250 .167 .000 .214 .000 .263 .333 .000 .000 .500 .000 .263 .000 .000 .050 .000 .353 .118 .000 .000 .000 1.000 .250 .000 .143 |
1 1 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 |
1 2 0 2 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 3 0 2 9 0 5 6 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 |
0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 4 0 0 |
Totals | 156 | 33 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 15 | 14 | .212 | 10 | 36 | 7 |
2008 World SeriesPhiladelphia Phillies 2008 World Series Composite Pitching Statistics |
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Pitching Staff | W | L | G | GS | CG | S | Sh | IP | ERA | H | SO | ER | BB |
Joe Blanton Chad Durbin Scott Eyre Cole Hamels Brad Lidge Ryan Madson Jamie Moyer Brett Myers J.C. Romero |
1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 2 |
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 |
1 2 2 2 2 4 1 1 4 |
1 0 0 2 0 0 1 1 0 |
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 |
0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 |
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 |
6.0 0.2 0.2 13.0 2.0 3.2 6.1 7.0 4.2 |
3.00 0.00 0.00 2.77 0.00 4.91 4.26 3.86 0.00 |
4 1 0 10 1 3 5 7 2 |
7 0 1 8 3 6 5 2 4 |
2 0 0 4 0 2 3 3 0 |
2 1 0 3 0 0 1 3 0 |
Totals | 4 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 44.0 | 2.86 | 33 | 36 | 14 | 10 |
2008 World SeriesTampa Bay Rays 2008 World Series Composite Pitching Statistics |
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Pitching Staff | W | L | G | GS | CG | S | Sh | IP | ERA | H | SO | ER | BB |
Grant Balfour Chad Bradford Matt Garza J.P. Howell Edwin Jackson Scott Kazmir Trever Miller David Price James Shields Andy Sonnanstine Dan Wheeler |
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 |
0 0 0 2 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 |
3 2 1 3 0 2 2 2 1 1 3 |
0 0 1 0 0 2 0 0 1 1 0 |
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 |
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 |
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 |
3.0 2.0 6.0 2.1 2.0 10.0 1.0 3.1 5.2 4.0 2.2 |
3.00 0.00 6.00 7.71 4.50 4.50 18.00 2.70 0.00 6.75 6.75 |
4 1 6 2 2 10 1 2 7 6 3 |
2 0 7 5 1 9 1 4 4 2 3 |
1 0 4 2 1 5 2 1 0 3 2 |
3 1 2 1 1 10 1 2 2 3 1 |
Totals | 1 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 42.0 | 4.50 | 44 | 38 | 21 | 27 |
One-hundred three Fall Classics have been played and the 2008 World Series featured two famous firsts: Game 3, the first ever walk-off infield single. Game 5, the first ever rain suspended game.
Did you know that this marked the first entry into the World Series history books for the Tampa Bay Rays and the sixth for the Philadelphia Phillies?
The 2008 Philadelphia Phillies awarded 45 full gate receipt shares (worth $351,504 each) to their team, 7 partial shares and 15 cash awards. The 2008 Tampa Bay Rays awarded 43 full shares (worth $223,390 each) to their team, 10.6 partial shares and 27 case awards.