Oct. 25 -- GAME 3: PHILLIES 5, RAYS 4

BY SCOTT LAUBER

Wow.

I've just spent the past 13-1/2 hours at The Bank, and really, that's the only word I can come up with to describe what I just saw. So, for now, I'll simply post the story that I filed for The Paper, and we'll talk more tomorrow (or later today, I suppose).

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PHILADELPHIA -- Jamie Moyer waited 22 years to pitch in a World Series.

What, then, was another 91 minutes?

So, Moyer paced around the Phillies' clubhouse, stretched his left arm and did everything he could to stay loose for a game that, one day earlier, he called "the biggest start of my life." And when it began, finally, at 10:06 p.m. Saturday night, after the rain ceased and the tarp had been removed, Moyer mowed down the young Tampa Bay Rays for 6-1/3 innings.

It wasn't enough.

Neither, it turned out, were solo home runs by Carlos Ruiz, Chase Utley and Ryan Howard that gave the Phillies a three-run lead in the sixth inning. The resilient Rays ran their way back into Game 3 against the Phillies' staunch bullpen, tying the score in the eighth on two stolen bases and a throwing error by Ruiz.

Ultimately, to complete a stirring 5-4 victory, the Phillies needed a 30-foot RBI dribbler down the third-base line, only their second hit in 33 chances with runners in scoring position during the World Series.

"If it's a hit, I'll take it," Ruiz said after rolling that dribbler, with the bases loaded and five Rays players on the infield, to score Eric Bruntlett at 1:48 this morning and give the Phillies a 2-1 edge in the Series. "It was a great moment. I'll remember for the rest of my life. I hope I can do it [tonight]."

The winning rally was started with, of all things, light-hitting Bruntlett getting hit by a pitch. Bruntlett bolted for second base when reliever Grant Balfour threw a wild pitch, although he wasn't sure he'd make it after the ball bounced back to catcher Dioner Navarro. But when Navarro's errant throw went into center field, Bruntlett scurried to third.

"There was moment there where I thought maybe he had a play on me," Bruntlett said. "I kind of felt like I was running in quicksand."

But that was nothing compared to his 90-foot sprint to home plate.

After the Rays intentionally walked Shane Victorino and pinch-hitting Greg Dobbs, they brought the infield in and even summoned right fielder Ben Zobrist to be a fifth infielder. When Ruiz hit his topper down the line, third baseman Evan Longoria charged to glove it. But he couldn't make a play at the plate, throwing the ball over Navarro's head as Bruntlett slid home safely.

"It felt like it was happening in slow motion," Bruntlett said. "I wanted to go faster, but I couldn't."

With that, the Phillies took a 2-1 lead in the Series, and if they win tonight behind right-hander Joe Blanton, they'll have a chance Monday night with ace Cole Hamels on the mound to clinch their first championship since 1980 and only the second in their 126-year history.

There's no sense in getting too far ahead of ourselves, though. The Phils never make things easy, and Game 3 wasn’t without several sweaty moments on a chilly, damp night at Citizens Bank Park.

At times, it seemed the sold-out crowd of 45,900 was biting its collective nails, just waiting for the next Joe Carter-like disaster in the first World Series game in Philadelphia since Oct. 21, 1993.

For a moment, B.J. Upton provided such a disaster.

Trailing 4-3 in the eighth inning, Upton legged out an infield single to charging shortstop Jimmy Rollins. And with sluggers Carlos Pena and Longoria struggling (0-for-22, 10 strikeouts combined), Upton stole second base, swiped third and scored when Ruiz's throw hit the bag and skipped into left field.

An inning later, Ruiz was a hero.

In the World Series, your luck can change that quickly.

"I know I had an error, but that's part of the game," Ruiz said. "It was an unbelievable feeling when I was at first base and everyone came to [congratulate] me."

The Rays have a National League-style offense in the American League.

Unlike their AL brethren, they rely on speed, not power, to generate runs. Upton became the first AL player -- and the fourth player overall -- to steal three bases in a World Series game, and the Rays' four steals gave them 22 overall, a postseason record.

Trailing 1-0 in the second inning, they manufactured a run against Moyer. Carl Crawford led off with a double, swiped third base and scored on Gabe Gross' sacrifice fly. Then, facing a 4-1 deficit in the seventh, Crawford was ruled safe on a drag bunt and went to third on Dioner Navarro's double. Crawford and Navarro scored on back-to-back groundouts, cutting the margin to 4-3.

And, in the eighth, they scored the tying run without hitting the ball out of the infield.

It wrecked a solid outing from Moyer, who, 24 days shy of his 46th birthday, became the second-oldest player to appear in a World Series game and the oldest in 78 years. Steve Carlton, who threw the ceremonial first pitch, was the opposing pitcher when Moyer made his major-league debut in 1986.

The game was delayed by rain for 91 minutes, and if the rain hadn't stopped when it did, Major League Baseball may have been forced to postpone the game. Commissioner Bud Selig was determined to get the game in, but MLB vice president of public relations Rich Levin said the league wouldn't have started the game much later.

"There were some jabs at Moyer that the van to the seniors home was going to leave," said Bruntlett. "You just do whatever you can to stay loose."

Once the game began, Moyer used his array of breaking pitches and fastballs that look like breaking pitches to allow only five hits, including two infield singles.

Ruiz, still sore following a home-plate collision in Game 2, gave the Phillies a 2-1 lead with his first career postseason home run, a two-out shot into the left-field seats against hard-throwing Rays right-hander Matt Garza. Then, in the sixth, Utley and Howard tagged Garza for back-to-back blasts, with Howard snapping a 42-at-bat postseason homerless drought.

But it all came down to the ninth inning -- and that 30-foot dribbler.

Moyer, watching from the clubhouse with reliever Scott Eyre, couldn't contain his excitement.

"I went from my seat to the ceiling," he said.

With two more victories, the Phillies won't have to come down.