Rays fans are acquainted with regular-season losing, sure, but now it's time for them to be acquainted with another form of baseball suffering: The postseason near-miss. In the long run, it's for their own good: They'll better appreciate final victory when it eventually arrives, and they'll avoid the dreaded "Florida Marlins syndrome," in which a premature World Series win (or two!) ruins a city for the normal ups and downs of baseball fandom. All of which is to say that the Red Sox won't just be taking another step toward repeating as World Champions if they stop drowning in two feet of water and come back from 2-1 down to knock Tampa out of the postseason; they'll be doing the Rays, and especially Rays fans, a big favor as well.
Well, after last night, I think Rays fans have lost their postseason suffering virginity:
Unless Josh Beckett and Jon Lester manage to pitch back to form on Saturday and Sunday, the Rays will still go onto the World Series, and Game Five of this year's ALCS will be remembered in the same way as Albert Pujols' monster three-run blast of Brad Lidge in the 2005 NLCS -- a great moment that did not affect the final outcome.
The way I look at it, however, for the rest of this season the Red Sox are playing with the house's money.
And, no matter what, I'll be able to remind the New York Times' William C. Rhoden about how his "Manny Curse" trial balloon popped in the most satisfying possible manner.
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