Few expected Rays, Phillies, but here they are

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Even as teenagers, Scott Kazmir and Cole Hamels were linked by their left arms.

A pair of high school pitchers brimming with promise, both slotted for the first round of the 2002 amateur draft. When they got picked two spots apart, the comparisons were inevitable.

Six years later, they're set to square off on baseball's biggest stage tonight when Kazmir and the worst-to-first Tampa Bay Rays host Philadelphia in Game 1 of a World Series matchup that hardly anyone expected.

Pretty heady stuff for these two budding aces, both still shy of their 25th birthday.

"I think we relate at the same level, because we've had to go through the same experiences," Hamels said Tuesday before the Phillies worked out at tricky Tropicana Field.

Their teams have something in common, too: a history of losing.

Tampa Bay's tale is hard to believe - 10 futile seasons as a perennial doormat before this sudden surge to American League supremacy. On the other side, the Phillies, with one championship (1980) in 125 seasons and more losses than any franchise in professional sports.

This ain't exactly Yankees-Dodgers or Celtics-Lakers.

But for Kazmir, Carl Crawford and the rest of the Rays who endured growing pains season after season in a nearly empty dome, their new success is all that matters.

"It means everything to me, it really does, especially for this city," Kazmir said. "It's pretty much worth the wait, you could say, for what we had to go through the past four years."

After going 12-8 with a 3.49 ERA and earning his second all-star appearance this season, Kazmir labored through his first 2 playoff starts - raising questions about his health. But he put those to rest with 6 shutout innings of 2-hit ball in Game 5 of the AL championship series at Boston.

As for Hamels, he has been tough to hit anywhere. After shutting down the Los Angeles Dodgers, the NLCS MVP is 3-0 with a 1.23 ERA in 3 postseason starts, striking out 22 and walking six in 22 dominant innings.

Perhaps his biggest concern now is a six-day layoff before his World Series debut. He and the Phillies hope to look more rested than rusty.

"Because I can't throw in a live game, I just throw in the bullpen. And it's just the focus that you have to have," he said.

Hamels went 14-10 with a 3.09 ERA in 33 regular-season starts. Including the playoffs, he has thrown 249 innings this year, 66 more than his previous high set last season.

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