2008 World Series
The 2008 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's 2008 season. The 104th edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff between the National League champion Philadelphia Phillies and the American League champion Tampa Bay Rays; the Phillies won the series, four games to one. The 2008 World Series is notable because it is the only World Series to involve a mid-game postponement and resumption.
The Series began on Wednesday, October 22, and concluded the following Wednesday, October 29. The AL's 4–3 win in the 2008 All-Star Game gave the Rays home field advantage for the series, meaning no more than three games would be played at Citizens Bank Park. The Phillies won their second championship in their 126-year history to bring the city of Philadelphia its first championship in 25 years. This was the first postseason series lost by an MLB team based in the state of Florida; previously, the Rays and Florida Marlins were 8–0 in postseason series. Additionally, both the Phillies' World Series wins have come against a team making their World Series debut.
The Phillies advanced to the World Series after defeating the Milwaukee Brewers and the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL's Divisional Series and Championship Series, respectively. The team won its position in the playoffs after its second consecutive NL East division title. This was the Phillies' first World Series appearance in fifteen years. The Tampa Bay Rays advanced to the World Series after defeating the Chicago White Sox and the Boston Red Sox, the 2007 World Series champion, in the AL's Division Series and 2008 American League Championship Series. This was the first World Series since 2001 to not feature a Wild Card team.
Games 1 and 2 at Tropicana Field were the first World Series games played on artificial turf since the 1993 World Series, which coincidentally featured the Phillies ; 2008 is the first World Series ever played on second generation artificial turf.
Teams
Philadelphia Phillies
Philadelphia opened the season by posting a winning record in the opening month of April. The team scored 60 runs over a five-game span in late May and went 14–4 into the beginning of June. The team lost 9 of 11 games to end June, but came out of the All-Star break with a 9–6 record following the midseason hiatus. The Phillies posted the best road record in the National League, at 44–37. Philadelphia traded sweeps with the Los Angeles Dodgers in August and went 13–3 in their last 16 games, to win the National League East title for the second consecutive season. The second-seeded Phillies defeated the Milwaukee Brewers in the Division Series, 3–1, and the Dodgers in the Championship Series, 4–1, to book their place in the 2008 Fall Classic. This was the Phillies' first World Series appearance in fifteen years.Tampa Bay Rays
The Tampa Bay Rays also began the season with a winning record in the opening month of April. The Rays became the first team since 1903 to have the league's best record on Memorial Day after finishing in last place the previous season. The team went 16–10 in June, but lost seven consecutive games leading up to the All-Star break. In August, the Rays lost seven games to finish out the month with an overall record of 84–51. The team concluded the season, albeit with a 13–14 record in September, by winning the American League East title for the first time in franchise history. As the Devil Rays, they had never finished with a winning record, nor finished higher than fourth in their division. The second-seeded Rays beat the Chicago White Sox 3–1 in the American League Division Series. In the American League Championship Series, Tampa Bay defeated the defending World Series champion Boston Red Sox in seven games after nearly blowing a 3-1 series lead, to advance to their first World Series in franchise history. The Rays became the third MLB team in the post-1969 "Divisional Era" to make the World Series in their first trip to the playoffs, joining the 1969 New York Mets and the 1997 Florida Marlins.Summary
† - Game suspended in the sixth inning due to rain.Game summaries
Game 1
The national anthem was performed by Backstreet Boys. The Phillies scored the first runs of the Series when Jayson Werth walked and Chase Utley followed with a two-run home run in the top of the first inning. The Phillies loaded the bases off Tampa Bay starting pitcher Scott Kazmir with one out in the second, but Kazmir induced a fly ball from Jimmy Rollins, which was too shallow to score Shane Victorino, who was thrown out at home plate by B. J. Upton for a double play. The Rays loaded the bases off Phillies starter Cole Hamels with one out in the bottom of the third, but he also escaped this jam by getting Upton to ground into an inning-ending double play, and the score remained 2–0 in favor of Philadelphia. The Phillies extended their lead to 3–0 on Carlos Ruiz's RBI groundout in the fourth inning. In the bottom of the inning, Carl Crawford's solo home run pulled the Rays to within two runs. Tampa Bay added their second run the following inning on Akinori Iwamura's RBI double. Kazmir was removed after six innings; four Rays relievers combined to shut out the Phillies for the last three innings. Ryan Madson relieved Hamels in the eighth, pitching a single perfect inning. In the top of the ninth, Philadelphia left two men on base, but Brad Lidge remained perfect in saves as he delivered a one-two-three inning to seal the 3–2 win.Game 2
The national anthem was performed by Los Lonely Boys. Tampa Bay took a quick 2–0 lead in the first inning when Akinori Iwamura and B. J. Upton reached base with nobody out and scored on back-to-back groundouts by Carlos Peña and Evan Longoria. The next inning, Upton's RBI single scored Dioner Navarro. Rocco Baldelli attempted to score from second base, but was thrown out at home by Jayson Werth, keeping the Rays' lead at 3–0. Cliff Floyd extended the lead to 4–0 after leading off the bottom of the fourth with a single, advancing to third base with assistance from Navarro and Baldelli, and scoring on a sacrifice bunt by Jason Bartlett. Tampa Bay starter James Shields shut out the Phillies through innings to earn the win, before being relieved by Dan Wheeler who pitched an additional scoreless inning. Philadelphia starter Brett Myers lasted seven innings, giving up four runs for the loss. The Phillies did not get on the board until the eighth when Eric Bruntlett hit a solo home run off David Price. The Phillies added another run off Price in the ninth when Carlos Ruiz hit a leadoff double, then scored with one out on an error by Longoria. Despite this, Price retired the next two batters to end the game, and the Rays' 4–2 win tied the Series at one game apiece. For the rest of the Series, the Rays would not take the lead over the Phillies again.Game 3
threw out the Ceremonial First pitch while Taylor Swift sang the national anthem. The third game of the Series was delayed for an hour and 31 minutes because of rain. Country music star Tim McGraw, son of Phillies reliever Tug McGraw, spread his father's ashes on the pitching mound of Citizens Bank Park, prior to the game's start. The Phillies scored in the bottom of the first inning after Jimmy Rollins led off with a single and eventually scored on a Chase Utley groundout. In the top of the second, Carl Crawford doubled, stole third base and scored on a sacrifice fly by Gabe Gross to tie the game at 1–1. Carlos Ruiz gave the Phillies their second lead of the night when he hit a home run in the bottom half. Starting pitchers Matt Garza and Jamie Moyer pitched six and innings, respectively. The score remained 2–1 in favor of Philadelphia until the sixth when Utley and Ryan Howard hit the 14th back-to-back home runs in World Series history, increasing their lead to 4–1. The Rays rallied to cut their deficit back to one run in the seventh. Moyer surrendered back-to-back hits to Crawford and Dioner Navarro to start the inning, and Crawford scored on a groundout by Gross, prompting Charlie Manuel to go to his bullpen. Chad Durbin relieved Moyer and induced a groundout from Jason Bartlett, scoring Navarro and trimming the Phillies' lead to 4–3. In the top of the eighth, B.J. Upton led off with an infield single, stole second and third, and scored on a throwing error by Ruiz, tying the game at 4–4. Eric Bruntlett was hit by a pitch by J.P. Howell leading off the bottom of the ninth, moved to second on a wild pitch by Grant Balfour and to third on a throwing error by Navarro, putting the potential winning run on third with nobody out. Balfour intentionally walked the next two batters, Shane Victorino and pinch-hitter Greg Dobbs, to load the bases, creating a force play at the plate. Tampa Bay then brought the infield in, hoping to convert any ground ball into a forceout at home and prevent the winning run from scoring. However, Ruiz's 45-foot infield single brought in Bruntlett for the win. The hit was fielded by third baseman Evan Longoria, who threw desperately to the plate in an attempt to keep the game going. However, any hope of an out vanished as Longoria's throw missed Navarro and Bruntlett scored. Ruiz's hit was the first walk-off infield single in World Series history, giving the Phillies a 5–4 victory and a 2–1 lead in the series.Phillies reliever J. C. Romero earned the win and Howell took the loss.