The fifth game of the World Series was suspended because of rain in the sixth inning on Monday night with the Philadelphia Phillies and Tampa Bay Rays tied 2-2 and the field already a sloppy, soggy mess.
“I can’t tell you tonight when we’ll resume,” commissioner Bud Selig said. “We’ll stay here if we have to celebrate Thanksgiving here.”
Not that anyone expects to still be waiting until the annual US holiday late next month.
PHOTO: EPA
Rain was expected to continue yesterday, delaying the Phillies’ chance to wrap up their first championship since 1980.
Philadelphia leads the seven-game World Series 3-1.
There has never been a rain-shortened game in the World Series, and this was the first suspension. Whenever this one resumes, it will pick up where it left off, with the Phillies about to bat in the bottom of the sixth.
“It was terrible. The field wasn’t bad, but it was the worst conditions I’ve ever played in,” Tampa Bay third baseman Evan Longoria said.
Carlos Pena hit a tying, two-out single in the sixth for the Rays, and the umpires suspended play moments later. By then, every ball and every pitch had become an adventure because of the miserable conditions.
“The infield was tough. The ball would do funny things,” Phillies second baseman Chase Utley said.
“It was in bad shape. It was not playable,” Utley said.
If Pena had not tied it, Selig said he would not have let the Phillies win with a game that was called after six innings.
“It’s not a way to end a World Series,” he said. “I would not have allowed a World Series to end this way.”
Fine by the Rays.
“The World Series always should be decided by nine innings with somebody making the final out, not the weather or natural disasters or whatever,” reliever Trever Miller said. “That’s what fans pay to see. That’s what we work hard for all year.”
“We’ve got to look at it as a 0-0 game and come out and win it,” Rays shortstop Jason Bartlett said.
Yesterday was supposed to be a travel day, if necessary. Instead, the teams were to stay in the area and then head back to Tropicana Field if the Rays win.
The delay, however, forced the Rays to find a new hotel about 40km away.
About 10 minutes after the game was officially suspended, an announcement was made at Citizens Bank Park telling fans wrapped in plastic sheets they were done for the night.
Because it was only lightly raining when the game started, Major League Baseball hoped it could play a full nine innings. Quickly, however, the showers turned to a steady downpour and the field became a quagmire.
By the middle innings, the grounds crew was running shuttles onto the field, carrying bags of a drying agent — baseball’s version of cat litter — to absorb the water.
No luck.
A puddle formed on home plate and umpire Jeff Kellogg resorted to using a towel rather than the usual whisk broom to wipe it clean.
Batters kept blinking back the rain drops and pitchers struggled with their footing. Strong gusts dropped the wind-chill factor and fielders covered their bare hands between pitches.
All-Star shortstop Jimmy Rollins of the Phillies chased a popup all over and dropped it for a tough error in the fifth. There were pools of water at every base.
B.J. Upton beat out an infield hit with two outs in the sixth on a ball that Rollins bobbled. Upton stole second and hustled home on Pena’s hit, with left fielder Pat Burrell’s throw home plopping into a puddle in the grass.
Fans showed up hoping they’d be witnesses to a World Series championship. Shane Victorino got them cheering with bases-loaded single in the first for a 2-0 lead off Scott Kazmir.
Rays manager Joe Maddon tinkered with his lineup, dropping the slumping Pena and Longoria one spot each — they were a combined 0-for-29 with 15 strikeouts after four games.
The Tampa Bay stars ended their hitless ruts in the fourth when Pena doubled off the right-field wall and Longoria followed with an RBI single up the middle that made it 2-1.
A few innings later, it was time to go.
“You couldn’t do anything you normally do out there,” Rays outfielder Carl Crawford said.
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