The Tampa Bay Rays did on Thursday what few have been able to do against the Phillies all season: shut down a high powered offense and play a little small ball en route to victory.
James Shields struck out four in six shutout innings giving the Rays the solid pitching outing they were missing in game one as Tampa even the series to one game a piece. Rare for both teams was the lack of the long ball as both teams were held homer-less in this game. Instead it was the small ball, moving runners along and sacrificing to score runs, that got the job done in game two.
One major problem for Philadelphia has been their lack of timely hitting thus far in the World Series. After Thursday's performance the Phillies are batting 1 for 28 with runners in scoring position over the first two games. Proof that they are not struggling to get runners on base, they simply cannot get them home.
"That might be one of our sloppiest games all year," Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said. "I'm concerned about us hitting with guys on base, because it looks like at times we might be trying a little too hard. But we can fix that."
Heading back to Philly it will be interesting to see which teams show up; the high scoring offenses or the the low scoring games that we have seen so far. Either way it is bound to be an exciting finish to the 2008 World Series.
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