Root, root, root for the home team ... but in Tampa Bay, is it the Phils or the Rays?

CLEARWATER, Fla. - Ken Hamilton is a huge Phillies fan.

When he was 11, he got a chance to be the batboy for an exhibition game against the Dodgers at Jack Russell Stadium. His restaurant, the Palm Pavilion, has become a popular gathering spot for Phillies personnel. He has developed close personal relationships with many former stars and members of the front office, and has had them to his house for dinner. He has season tickets for the Phillies' spring-training games, as well as for their Class A Florida State League farm team, the Clearwater Threshers.

Ken Hamilton is, er, well, a huge Tampa Bay Rays fan, too.

He was a member of the committee that helped bring the expansion team to the area. He's civic-minded, fully understanding what a Rays world championship would mean to his community. He has had season tickets ever since they played their inaugural game in 1998.

Which means that he'll be in a real pickle tomorrow night, when the Phillies and Rays face off in Game 1 of the World Series at Tropicana Field.

There's only one solution.

He has ordered a Tampa Bay home jersey and a Phillies road-uniform top. He has cut both in half and sewn them back together to create a pair of combo shirts. He will wear one and his son, Scott, will wear the other.

"And in Philadelphia, I'll have the Phillies home jersey and the Rays road jersey," he said yesterday, standing just off the white sand and the sparkling Gulf of Mexico. "We both wear the same size, so it works out. We just can't lose."

Tampa Bay is a catchall phrase for a slice of geography that is divided by water, bridges and the Pinellas-Hillsborough county line.

These days there is also a rift between those rooting for the Rays, those rooting for the Phillies and those who find themselves straddling both worlds.

The Phillies have the deeper roots in the area. They've been training in Clearwater since 1948. Only the Tigers, who moved to Lakeland a year earlier, have been in the same site longer. Over the years, many in the front office have developed close ties to the community. Drawn by the sun, beaches and casual ambience, many have bought condos in the area or return for offseason vacations. They are on a first-name basis with many of the restaurateurs and sommeliers.

The team also maintains a year-round presence with the Threshers, the Gulf Coast League Phillies, the Florida Instructional League and their rehab facilities.

The Rays are in only their 11th year of existence and, until this season, had few fans and less success.

Now, naturally, it's trendy to wear gear with the team logo and root for, for . . . all those really good players whose names many of these nouveau followers don't really know.

Which is fine. Any time a team wins, it picks up a lot of fans who were barely interested before. But it does create some situations requiring tact and diplomacy.

Kevin Dunbar is director of parks and recreation for the city of Clearwater. Late in the regular season he got a call from the mayor, Frank Hibbard, who had been listening to a local radio show and heard a caller talk about how Tampa and St. Petersburg had put up signs congratulating the Rays and wondering when Clearwater was going to do the same.

"The big three cities in this area are Tampa, St. Petersburg and Clearwater," Dunbar said. "But there's no way we could just put up signs for one team. While we love the Rays, this is the Phillies' second home."

So, for the past couple of weeks, when motorists have come across the causeway on Route 60 near the Welcome Center, they have seen a highway-type sign on the side of the road: Go Rays!!!

About a hundred yards past that is another, nearly identical sign: Go Phillies!!!

Signs of the times:

Farther down Gulf-To-Bay Boulevard is a Rita's Water Ice stand. The marquee neatly reflects how many people in this area are torn. There are just two lines spelled out:

"Go Rays

Go Phillies"

Then there's Lenny's, well-known to generations of spring-training fans for its hearty breakfasts and friendly atmosphere.

Its sign late yesterday afternoon declared: "Dream Comes True; Phillies and Rays."

But general manager Kevin Schauer promised that a more politically incorrect message will go up today, making it clear exactly where his restaurant's rooting interest lies.

Brian Aungst is a native of Wilmington, Del., who remembers watching Jim Bunning on a black-and-white television when he pitched his perfect game against the Mets in 1964.

Aungst is also a former mayor of Clearwater who has had a long relationship with the Phillies.

After leaving office, though, he did a sports-talk show on a local cable channel, which gave him press credentials to the Tampa Bay games and resulted in his spending a lot of time discussing the Rays in the summer.

One of his duties now as chairman of Clearwater for Youth is to arrange the annual banquet. He said that the Phillies and Rays both sponsor a table. Phillies president Dave Montgomery makes a point of attending. Chase Utley has been there. So has Rays manager Joe Maddon.

Aungst said that he first considered wearing a Phillies shirt and a Rays hat. "But I'm not a hat guy," he said.

As it turns out, he's getting his tickets for the first two games through the Phillies, so he's going to wear Phillies red. "But I'm not going to root against the Rays," he quickly added.

Meanwhile, back at Lenny's, Schauer is wearing a Phillies-red hat.

With a blue Rays cap on top and twisted to the side.

"Lenny's has been loyal to the Phillies for 30 years," he said. "But when they leave, the Rays are our American League team."

Hanging from the ceiling is a bat signed by Ryan Howard when he played in Clearwater. Schauer proudly points out that he has spelled his name out, completely and legibly. "Now his autograph is more of a chicken scratch," he says. Behind the counter is another bat, this one a Greg Luzinski model, autographed by The Bull. Phillies photos dot the walls.

He's planning for a party of 170 Phillies fans who have let him know that they'll be in for lunch tomorrow.

Like so many people in this area, he uses phrases like "best of both worlds." He, too, is having a shirt made up that's half Phillies, half Rays. And a cap, too.

In the end, though, he's not going to walk a tightrope. "At a certain point, you have to draw a line in the sand," he said, firmly. "You have to pick one side or the other.

"Phillies in five." *