Be careful what you wish for

Save: D. Price (1)

That”s what it said in the box score. First save for Price. ‘Course it was the box score from Game 7 of the American League Championship Series, in which the Tampa Bay Rays eliminated the defending World Champion Boston Red Sox, the 23-year-old Price’s eighth game in the majors.

Be careful what you wish for, Philadelphia.

All David Price did was strike out J.D. Drew with the bases loaded in the eighth inning and, after walking Jason Bay in the ninth, mow down Mark Kotsay and Jason Varitek before eliciting a Jed Lowrie groundout to end the game.

Not bad for kid who started the year in Single A, who considered quitting baseball as a freshman at Vanderbilt just a few years earlier. 

But Price is used to pressure. After all, his major league debut five weeks ago came at Yankee Stadium. And Price is more than a feel-good story, although the Rays have many feel-good stories. He’s one the hottest young talents in the game, of which the Rays also have many. You haven’t heard of them, but you just haven’t been watching. You hadn’t heard of most of the 2002 Anaheim Angels’ roster either.

Be careful what you wish for, Philadelphia.

And speaking of that World Champion Angels team, that’s where Rays manager Joe Maddon came from. The Anaheim/Los Angeles Angels, or whatever you want to call them, only happen to be one of the best organizations in baseball, from top to bottom. That’s Maddon”s pedigree. He’s a gamer and a thinker and a Mike Scioscia guy. And, like Scioscia, he’s a Philly guy.

And all the Rays did was win more games than they lost against the Red Sox this year, going 14-11 against Boston, including the playoffs. All the Rays did was win 97 games during the regular season, bested only by the Angels. All the Rays did was win the American League East, a division in which four teams won at least 86 games apiece.

Some Philadelphia fans were pulling for the Tampa Bay Rays because they’re Cinderella, while other just hate Boston and all it stands for. But an awful lot of Philadelphia fans were rooting for Tampa Bay because they figured it would be a better matchup for the Phillies.

Be careful what you wish for.

This is going to be a tough Series for Philly, probably tougher than facing the Red Sox would have been.