World Series preview

CATCHER

Rays: Dioner Navarro

The young catcher looks like a find, even though he struggled in the ALCS. He also threw out an impressive 38 percent of runners who tried to steal on him this year.

Phillies: Carlos Ruiz

Ruiz likely will hit ninth in the games in St. Petersburg, Fla., as the Phillies can use one of their reliable hitters off the bench as a designated hitter and partially make up for Ruiz’s lack of output.

Edge: Rays

FIRST BASE

Rays: Carlos Pena

He will have to hit left-handers better than he traditionally does (.226 lifetime average) to contribute much in this series. The Rays will need him to overcome the trouble Cole Hamels and Jamie Moyer will give him.

Phillies: Ryan Howard

He’s unquestionably the biggest offensive force in this series, but it all depends which version of Howard shows up. Expect the Rays to play him the same way the Dodgers did by shifting their infield to the right side and forcing Howard to go the other way. But he’s still capable of singlehandedly changing a game.

Edge: Phillies

SECOND BASE

Rays: Akinori Iwamura

Tampa Bay’s leadoff hitter struck out 131 times this season, but he provides a solid bat with some speed at the top of the lineup and a solid glove after moving from third base before this season.

Story Continues →