Rays' feel-good story will have happy ending

I know. I know. The Phillies have waited a lot longer than the Rays to win a world title. The last time they did it was in 1980. The Rays have been in existence only since 1998. I've still got the logo shirt from the expansion draft, and it almost still fits. I'm going to wear it while I watch Game 1 tonight and will not change it or wash it until the Rays lose a game.

I'm guessing they lose one or two because they aren't the kind of team that would embarrass an opponent. They'll lose Game 3 and maybe Game 5, just to be polite, but we all know how this is going to turn out.

B.J. Upton is going to break the all-time record for home runs in a single postseason, which stands at eight, even though he'll have to equal his total for the regular season (nine) to do so. Evan Longoria is going to shake off the whole Desperate Housewives thing and further establish himself as the next baseball superstar. Starting pitchers Scott Kazmir, James Shields, Matt Garza and Andy Sonnanstine will take care of the rest, and they'll have to because the bullpen looks a little shaky.

The Rays will win because their manager really wears those square glasses and reads books, and finds new ways to inspire his players. They'll win because they've already won the hearts of baseball fans around the nation by just getting to the World Series, so the pressure is all on the Phillies.

And the Rays will win, of course, because the AL won the All-Star Game to give them home-field advantage, though that doesn't bother me quite as much this year because they had a better regular-season record than the Phillies anyway.

The Rays have to win because they have become the inspiration for every downtrodden team in every downtrodden sports town. They had the worst record in the majors last year, but they believed in themselves and their plan and they climbed all the way to the top of the baseball world with barely two nickels to rub together and a dream nobody else would have believed.

Say it is so, Joe.

Listen to Peter Schmuck on WBAL (1090 AM) at noon most Saturdays and Sundays.