Staff keeps Rays alive on Bradenton.com

The Rays came out fightin' in Philly last night, but they lost it in a classic ninth inning -- this morning. With our paper edition already gone to press, the editors and reporter Roger Mooney kept the story alive online. As Roger writes in his web-only story:

PHILADELPHIA – Carlos Ruiz’s dribbler up the third base line with the bases loaded and no out in the bottom of the ninth inning scored Eric Bruntlett and gave the Phillies a 5-4 victory over the Rays in Game 3 of the World Series.

The hit came at 1:47 a.m.

Rain delayed the start of the game 91 minutes and pushed back first pitch to 10:06 p.m., making it the latest start time in World Series history.

And by 1:49 a.m., Roger had the final score posted to bradenton.com.

Sports news editor Alan Bellittera emailed me at 3:53 a.m. to pronounce:
"Game 3 Web-only stories were posted to Bradenton.com at 2:05 a.m. and 3:50 a.m." for all the final interviews and analyses.

Whew. That's one long day for these guys, who started their jobs both in Bradenton and in Philadelphia around noon Saturday. But then it is the World Series. And it's our job to get you the news, as quickly as possible. And we're playing it on 1A for you -- well, at least most of you, as I wrote in today's Letter From the Editor.

Here's hoping for clear skies -- and even spunkier Rays -- tonight.

Joan