It's Time to Power Up

Series of Subplots Could Come Down To Howard vs. Price

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla., Oct. 21 -- At some point in the 104th World Series, with a game or even the Series itself on the line, the Philadelphia Phillies' slugging first baseman will drag his 34-ounce bat to home plate to stand in against a 6-foot-6 Tampa Bay Rays left-hander he has never faced and scarcely even seen on live TV. Fox's cameras will do one of their nostril-intrusive zooms on the combatants' faces, players on both teams will move to the top steps of their respective dugouts and 40,000-plus fans will rise and scream.

In a team sport constructed upon a thousand man-to-man confrontations -- pitcher vs. batter, catcher vs. base-stealer, manager vs. manager -- none can be more compelling than this, and if we are lucky, Ryan Howard, the Phillies' slugger, will face David Price, the Rays' phenom, more than once. At the very least, they are on courses that appear to intersect not too far in the distance.

"That's what you want to see," Rays outfielder Jonny Gomes said. "Power versus power in the World Series."

Each may be the most important player for his respective team in the World Series, which begins Wednesday night at Tropicana Field: Howard, the 2006 National League most valuable player, a slugger fully capable of carrying his team (which may, in fact, need to be carried), but one who has been practically invisible this postseason. And Price, the exceptional and still-mysterious pitcher the Rays unleashed in dramatic fashion Sunday night.

"Yeah, I would expect to see him at some point, in the matchups," Howard said of Price, smiling slightly. How do you approach a guy throwing 97-mph fastballs and wicked sliders about whom you know practically nothing about? "You just go up there and try to hang with him," Howard said.

A potential meeting between Howard, 28, and Price, 23, is one of the most delicious subplots to have sprung up around an otherwise unsexy World Series that is almost certain to set records for low television viewership.

Both are homegrown products of their respective franchises' farm systems, along with many of the core players on both sides (Philadelphia's Jimmy Rollins, Chase Utley, Pat Burrell and Game 1 starter Cole Hamels, and Tampa Bay's Evan Longoria, B.J. Upton, Carl Crawford and Game 2 starter James Shields, among others).

Both are African American -- two of seven players, almost all of them prominent ones, across the two rosters -- which is no small thing for a sport that has lost black athletes -- and customers -- over the past two decades.

"[Heck], yeah, it matters," said Cliff Floyd, the Rays' designated hitter. "You definitely hope people take notice. Maybe something gets started here, and hopefully it will continue to grow."

The sudden emergence of Price as a postseason force -- after pitching all of 14 major league innings prior to its start -- was both breathtaking and transformative for the Rays. He was thrust into the scariest situation imaginable -- the eighth inning of Game 7 of the American League Championship Series against the Boston Red Sox, bases loaded, two outs, protecting a two-run lead -- and secured the four outs that clinched the first World Series berth for a franchise that prior to 2008 had finished last in nine of its 10 years of existence.

"Joe will put anybody out there at any time," Price said. "That's what he's known for."

"It was all about the moment that arrived," Rays Manager Joe Maddon said. "We knew we had David in our back pocket."