Many candidates for Series heroics

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - They walked up the steps into the visitors' dugout like wide-eyed country kids getting off the bus in the middle of Broadway.

Pat Burrell was followed by Chase Utley, with Matt Stairs close behind him. Ryan Madson was next, and then Greg Dobbs and Brad Lidge emerged. Each of them squinted up at the awful roof of Tropicana Field and then took those last assertive steps onto the equally awful artificial turf.

The Phillies had officially arrived on the biggest stage of their lives. When Game 1 of the 2008 World Series begins tomorrow night, some of these players will do unforgettable things - heroically good or goat-horns bad.

As they walked out onto the field for a casual, almost playful workout, it was possible to scan the faces and wonder: Will Ryan Howard break out and crush home runs off the back wall of this oddly shaped dome? Will it be Burrell or Utley or Jimmy Rollins who makes this his World Series?

Or will it be someone unexpected who becomes the most valuable player? For every Reggie Jackson who becomes Mr. October, there is a Scott Brosius. For every Curt Schilling who makes a career of special postseasons, there is a Livan Hernandez who flashes brightly once and never again.

"Pat Borders lives near me," Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said as he sat in the dugout, watching his players assemble. "Sometimes I'll see him in the supermarket. I'll say, 'Pat, how did you ever get to be MVP of the World Series?' "

The answer is that, on a 1992 Toronto Blue Jays team that included Joe Carter, Roberto Alomar and John Olerud, it was Borders who hit .450 in a six-game Series victory over the Atlanta Braves. The guy who finished with a career average of .253 was red-hot in the biggest games of his life.

In 1980, in the only World Series ever won by the Phillies, the MVP was Mike Schmidt, who went into the Hall of Fame for a career that included three regular-season MVP awards and 548 home runs.

So it certainly could be Howard who emerges under the brightest lights. The big first baseman slumped early in the playoffs but began hitting the ball with authority toward the end of the National League Championship Series, against the Los Angeles Dodgers. During his career, it has been typical of Howard to burst out of funks in just that way. He starts to see the ball, then he starts to make it disappear.

Utley, Burrell, Rollins - any of them would be likely candidates for heroics.

"I was talking to the players about that," Manuel said. "I was telling them how good they are, pumping them up. This is a chance to show how good a player you really are. That can happen in the World Series."

A monstrous Howard home run in June might be the topic of conversation in Philadelphia for a day or two. The same home run in the World Series could be shown among the all-time highlights for decades.

Ask Carter, who beat the Phillies with a Series-winning homer in 1993, the last time Philadelphia was in the Fall Classic. The Blue Jays, as do the Tampa Bay Rays, played in a dome.

And ask Mitch Williams, the good-guy lefthanded closer who threw the fateful pitch to Carter. Flip over that World Series magnifying glass and the guy who makes a mistake, who strikes out or gives up the game-winning hit, must also live with endless replays that reduce his career to one unfortunate moment.

Paging Bill Buckner.

Yes, Boston's Buckner let the ball go through his legs in Game 6 of the 1986 World Series. His name is better known than that of the runner who scored on the play - oh, and the New York Mets' Ray Knight actually won the MVP award.

One thing the Phillies demonstrated against the Dodgers and Milwaukee Brewers: Their roster is filled with candidates for unexpected hero.

Stairs hit the winning homer in the pivotal Game 4 in L.A. Shane Victorino, the Little Big Man in center field, has hit two big homers in this postseason.

Pedro Feliz could be the guy in the World Series. Or Dobbs. Or Jayson Werth.

It is not entirely fickle Fate that anoints a Brosius, a David Eckstein, a Jermaine Dye or Jose Rijo. There are real-world reasons. Teams work out careful strategies for pitching to Howard and Utley and Rollins.

"Those are the guys you don't want to let hurt you," Phillies general manager Pat Gillick said. "So somebody else comes up big when you're not expecting it."

Starting tomorrow night, the 2008 World Series will reveal itself pitch by torturous pitch. Phillies and, yes, Rays will club big hits and pitch out of games and make diving catches - the plays we'll talk about for decades.

Which leaves us with two questions:

Who will do what?

And can you stand the suspense of waiting to find out?

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