Bob Ford: Rare Phillies feat is one to savor

This didn't have to happen for the Phillies, this return to the World Series, and all those people telling you to savor these moments because they are rare and fleeting are correct.

The players know it, too. They know how capricious the game can be, an injury that happens here, a trade that works out there, and no one can predict which teams will be tapped on the head by the magic wand in a given year. Teams that get this far have to be good, and the Phillies are certainly that, but they have to be lucky as well. That's why there are always sighs of relief mixed in with the whooping celebrations of the clubhouses. The game didn't decide to hate them this time around.

Reminding Philadelphia fans that the baseball gods are not always kind seems unnecessary, as if two wonderful years of enjoying Charlie Manuel guide his silver ship can blot out the long seasons of watching Nick Leyva or Terry Francona crash their rudderless vessels into the rocks.

No, this is special and rare, and for further reference as the World Series approaches, it's worth wondering whatever happened to the Tampa Bay Rays, last year's opponent. The Rays, having shed the Devil from their nickname along with the demons of a losing tradition, came into the World Series billed as a young team on the rise. Maybe a little premature in their arrival at a stage that large, but definitely not out of place in those surroundings. The Rays had made it, and they weren't going anywhere soon.

Except that's not exactly the way it worked out.

This could have been the Phillies' fate when they were also a young team on the rise in 2005 or 2006, trying to find a way to build around a homegrown corps of talent. General manager Pat Gillick fussed and fiddled with the roster a lot before the tumblers of the lock fell into place. If figuring that Adam Eaton and Freddy Garcia might be the answer isn't the definition of trial and error, then perhaps it is Wes Helms and Rod Barajas.

In any case, it worked out for the Phillies and has continued to work, even as they have struggled to keep the starting rotation together with one breath only to find the bullpen falling apart with the next. The offense has been a constant, but that is because they were sharp enough to replace Pat Burrell with Raul Ibanez, and lucky enough to have Jayson Werth spectacularly complete a comeback from an injury that nearly ended his career.

With the Rays, things weren't quite as fortunate this season. Tampa Bay set team records this season in runs, home runs, extra-base hits, walks, stolen bases, and on-base percentage, and as soon as the season was over the Rays fired their hitting coach. Now, that's interesting.

One season after winning 97 games, the Rays dipped to 84-78. They came out of the box with a 9-14 April, revived through the middle of the season, but then fell apart in September after management traded away pitcher Scott Kazmir and after slugger Carlos Pena was lost to injury. In one stretch, the Rays lost 17 of 21 games, finally finishing 19 games behind the Yankees in the AL East and 11 games behind the wild-card Red Sox.

The difference between the Rays and the Phillies might be partly the difference between the AL East and the NL East, too. Stumble for a little while in Tampa Bay's division and those energy eaters from New York and Boston will leave their huge carbon footprints all over you. The Phils are in a more forgiving position, but they have to be credited for taking advantage of it, and their 93 regular-season wins are still the fourth-highest in franchise history since the turn of the century.

For the second straight season, the Phillies won't end the year making excuses, regardless of the Series outcome. You can't say the same for the Dodgers, who had the best record in the National League this season, glided past the Cardinals in the first round, but barely made a dent on the championship series.

Just as they did in 2008, the Dodgers took the five-game dismissal with a cool aplomb, which partly explains why they keep getting dismissed. Back home, where the fans are already more interested in how Kobe will blend with Andrew Bynum, there's no retribution from the town that put the LA in la-di-dah.

What would fans in Philadelphia call a good team that kept getting close but never reached the final goal? Oh, that's right. The Eagles.

There's the best reminder that these runs at the championship don't have to happen. Take a glance across the street from Citizens Bank Park at Lincoln Financial Field. If that doesn't make you savor the moment, nothing will.