Rays officials were clearly disappointed in the relatively small crowd of 19,608 for Tuesday's opening game and similar projections for the other two games of the World Series rematch with the Phillies.

"As we were planning for the season, we circled this series as one of the most compelling of the year,'' team president Matt Silverman said Tuesday night. "It's a rare privilege to host a rematch of the World Series, especially against a team with local connections. Based on all the information we had, we projected full houses.  It's a huge miss."

Silverman said the Rays are perplexed why attendance hasn't been better - the Rays went into play Tuesday averaging 22,796, which was 10th in the American League and 23rd in the majors. Going into the season, they said their goal was to match the MLB average, which was 29,562 entering play Tuesday.

"Quite frankly, we don't know what to attribute it to, but it's not just the economy,'' he said.  "It's bewildering. There seems to be great affection for the team and excitement for the '09 campaign, but it's not showing up at the gate at all."

Asked if the Rays would have drawn better if the games were played in Clearwater, where the Phillies have spring training, or in Tampa, where some people think a new stadium should be built, Silverman responded: "I don't know how it might have drawn at other locales within Tampa Bay, but a matchup of World Series teams would clearly have drawn a good deal better in every other baseball market."

In six previous Series rematches, the lowest single-game attendance was 37,700 for an Astros-at-White Sox game in 2006. The average for a rematch series (including two in 2001 between the Mets and Yankees) was 46,868.