I've gotten my pessimism back, and I'm glad about it. I always feel more comfortable when I'm worried about my team than when I'm confident. And I was confident that the Rays had the upper hand going into the World Series last night.

The Phillies took care of that. I'm back to normal.

Which is not to say that I've become a Rays doomsayer. I still like their chances:

They have, on paper, better starting pitching the rest of the way (until Pretty Cole Hamels gets another start).

I think the hitting will pick up against the Phillies' next two starters.

I tell you what does concern me: The Phillies late-inning prowess on the mound. Apparently, they have a flawless system: Get to the 8th inning, hand the ball over to set-up man Ryan Madson to mow batters down, then send in Brad Lidge — who has not blown a save all year — to finish it off in the 9th. Man, those two cats looked really, really good last night.

So. The Rays better put some runs up by the 7th inning.

Obviously, the Rays can't go down 2-0 with an impending trip to Philly. I'm cautiously pessimistic, but feel strongly they can win (figure that one out).

In the meantime, the weather forecast for Saturday in Philadelphia calls for a 90 percent chance of rain. Maybe we could convince the Phillies to hang around St. Pete and play in the air-conditioned comfort of the Trop. Hey, no one wants a rainout. No one wants to drag this thing out.

Elsewhere, philly.com posted a story that says the Phillies are "ranked 20th while the Tampa Bay Rays are third on [baseball guru] Bill James' list of the top young players in baseball."

But if you think that's going to elicit a we-can-always-get'm-next year sentiment, well, y'alls is crazy. This year is the year, and I say that with all due pessimism.

This article appears in Oct 22-28, 2008.

Eric Snider is the dean of Bay area music critics. He started in the early 1980s as one of the founding members of Music magazine, a free bi-monthly. He was the pop music critic for the then-St. Petersburg...