Bullpen
Phillies: RHP Brad Lidge (1.95 ERA, 41 saves), RHP Ryan Madson (3.05), LHP J.C. Romero (2.75), RHP Chad Durbin (2.87), RHP Clay Condrey (3.26), LHP Scott Eyre (4.21).
Rays: RHP Dan Wheeler (3.12 ERA, 13 saves), RHP Grant Balfour (1.54), LHP J.P. Howell (2.22), LHP Trever Miller (4.15), RHP Chad Bradford (2.12), LHP David Price (1.93)
Lidge is on fire this season, and is essentially unhittable when he's on. Counting the playoffs, he's 46 for 46 in save opportunities. When the Phillies get the lead late, the game is basically over. Rays manager Joe Maddon tends to go with the hot hand, but the pen is full of solid contributors. Will Price, who started the season in Class A, be called on to close again?
Managers
Phillies: Charlie Manuel (574-484 overall)
Rays: Joe Maddon (281-286 in career)
Manuel, 64, is a managerial survivor who came close to taking the Indians to the playoffs in the early 2000s and was almost fired in Philadelphia a couple of times. A former slugger who starred in Japan, he's a down-home, aw-shucks manager who is loved by his players. Maddon, 54, is having one of the greatest years a manager has ever had, engineering a remarkable turnaround with a young team - nobody could have fathomed what Maddon's Rays have accomplished already in 2008. Calling on Price, a rookie with less than 20 innings of big-league experience, to close Game 7 of the ALCS was a stroke of genius.
