"I think right now we just have to take it all in. We lost the World Series -- it's not something to be proud about," right-hander James Shields said. "But the one good thing about it is that we did have an unbelievable, Cinderella season. I think in a couple days we're going to look back and go, 'Man, we did something that nobody in the whole entire universe would have thought we'd have done.' We shocked the world when we did that."

The Rays were confident, despite all the odd circumstances, that they were going to at least bring the Series back to Tampa Bay for Game 6.

"We really thought we were going back," left fielder Carl Crawford said. "It's kind of tough on us right now to think we lost three straight up here. We really thought we were going to make it a better series."

It was tough until the end. As the Rays bus pulled away from Citizens Bank Park, hundreds of fans gave them a one-finger goodbye and made other rude gestures.

Eventually, they will realize the good in what happened.

"It's a disappointing ending to an incredible story," executive vice president Andrew Friedman said. "These guys should hold their heads up high. What they've accomplished speaks volumes to who they are. And it's been a very special group to be around."

PHILLIES 4, RAYS 3: The Rays' strategy for the resumption of Game 5 worked almost exactly the way manager Joe Maddon had it planned, expect for the part about leadoff doubles by Geoff Jenkins in the sixth and Pat Burrell in the seventh leading to runs. Erik Hinske struck out against Phillies closer Brad Lidge to end the game with the potential tying run on second base.