ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The real shame now is that the Yankees couldn’t even beat these Rays. Not only couldn’t beat ’em, couldn’t even touch ’em.
Two series later, we are finding out that the Rays are eminently beatable, after all. The Milwaukee Brewers, a team from a market so small it makes Tampa Bay seem like New York, are on the verge of wiping out the Rays in a World Series that feels like it barely started.
The Brewers went up 3-0 in the series after a 10-1 dismantling of the AL champion, which coincidentally was the very result in games that triggered the Yankees’ ignominious ouster. The Rays were happy to be home, at their uniquely unsightly park, the soon to be departed Tropicana Field. But it made no difference.
In fact, things got worse.