ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Yes, yes, the World Series is now tied 1-1 and headed for Philadelphia. The Tampa Bay Rays won, 4-2, last night and tried to attack the Phillies with everything but their cowbells.

But that's missing the big picture.

Today — get the organ ready — is the 100th anniversary of the introduction of a little ditty called: "Take Me Out to the Ball Game." How could anyone play the bottom of the seventh inning without it?

So in honor of a song that was written on a New York subway by a guy who'd never seen a baseball game in his life, Game 2 should be accompanied with sport's most durable lyrics.

"Take me out to the ball game ...

This ball game, Tampa Bay badly needed. Fall behind 2-0 at home in the World Series, and it's like jumping out of an airplane and leaving your parachute back in the locker. Only three teams in history ever survived.

So the Rays passed their first moment of truth in this series. Just like they did in Game 2 against Boston.

"Take me out with the crowds ..."

How to make the Tropicana Field crowd a cowbell-ringing weapon of mass audio destruction? Score quickly. Wash out the bad taste from Game 1. So the Rays' 2-0 lead in the first inning off Brett Myers was not insignificant.

"Buy me some peanuts and cracker jack ..."

There is one clearly dominant feature so far of the 2008 World Series. The Phillies haven't hit jack with runners in scoring position.

They went 0-for-13 in Game 1 — an unwanted record — and got away with it. They went 1-for-15 last night, the only exception Shane Victorino's infield single that got Ryan Howard from second to third.

This is not how the adage is supposed to go: Get 'em on, get 'em over, get 'em out.

Meanwhile, the Rays drove in their four runs with two groundouts, a single and a bunt.

What you wonder is when 1-for-28 begins to get in their heads.

"Is it guys pressing, is it not getting it done?" Victorino said.

"We're not doing it. That's the bottom line."

There are quicker ways to get in trouble in a World Series.

But not many.

"I don't care if I never get back ..."

Now we can get back to one of the biggest issues facing the Phillies. How will the starting pitching stand up after Cole Hamels?

Myers was neither pounded nor particularly lucky, but he was behind 4-0 before the fourth inning was over.

For Game 3, Philadelphia turns to 45-year old Jamie Moyer, who will bring sentiment and a great story to the moment — but also a 13.50 earned run average in the postseason.

"Let me root, root, root for the home team ..."

The Phillies will be the home team for three games in Citizens Bank Park, and their burden is to win at least two. Not a good idea to return here needing to sweep Games 6 and 7.

The Phillies expect the famous venom from their constituency to leave a fang mark or two on the opposition, just as it sometimes does on them.

Tampa Bay pitcher Trever Miller mentioned how the Philadelphia heckling can be tailored for each player's known failings.

"They do their homework," he said. "It's not the usual 'You suck.' "

"If they don't win it's a shame ..."

Shame that major league baseball didn't have a descendent of Jack Norworth belt out his song for the seventh inning stretch. No one knows his name but everyone knows his words.

"For it's one, two, three strikes you're out ..."

By the way, the Phillies struck out 11 times with runners in scoring position the first two nights.

"At the old ball game."

This old ball game was a clinic in how the Rays shocked the universe: A precocious habit of getting the lead, a flair for fundamentals that produced a deftly executed safety squeeze, clutch pitching. Now we'll see how all that plays amid seething hostility.

"They have to deal with our crowd now," Myers said.

So here's to Jack Norworth. And a World Series that looks as if it is going to take a while.