Philadelphia fans had to figure something would go wrong Monday night, though I doubt even they could have anticipated the first suspended postseason game in major league history. The Phillies got within ten outs of their second world championship in Game 5, only to have the Rays tie the game with two outs in the top of the sixth and the umpires call for the tarp after the third out of that frame, after which it rained for 36 hours.
Prior to the 2007 season, Baseball adopted a rule stating that any tie game that is called after becoming official (five innings) would simply be suspended and resumed from the stopping point at a later date just as if it had experience any other extended rain delay. That is what the Rays and Phillies will do tonight, resuming Game 5 in the bottom of the sixth inning at 8:37pm. My preview of what I’m calling Game 5 1/2 is up on SI.com.
Baseball’s rules also state that any game that the home team is winning after 4 1/2 innings is official and will stand as a complete game if called before the completion of nine innings. That conjurs the surreal thought of the Phillies clinching their first world championship in 28 years while sitting around in the Citizens Bank Park clubhouse when the game was officially called several hours after the last out of the fifth had been recorded. However, Commissioner Bud Selig said that, even if the Rays had not tied the game in the top of the sixth, he would not have allowed a World Series game to end without all nine innings being played. Still, no matter what happens from here on out, whether the Phillies clinch in three innings tonight, or the Rays battle back and push the Series back to Florida, it’s going to feel weird.
If the Rays do pull out a victory tonight, the Series will move back to Florida tomorrow for Game 6, with Game 7 to follow on Friday (though the latter hasn’t been made official just yet). Should the Rays win again tomorrow, the Phillies will have the option of pitching Hamels again in Game 7 on three-day’s rest. The Phillies have thus far been reluctant to start Hamels on short rest, but since he threw just 75 pitches on Monday night, one would think he would indeed get the call in a rescheduled Game 7. I suppose that’s only fair, as Hamels’ start was artificially shortened on Monday night with the Phillies one run and nine outs from the championship.
Had this game been played just two years ago, the cancellation of the game with the score tied after five innings would have required the entire game to be replayed from the start, essentially wiping out Game 5, along with its starting pitchers, and replacing it with Game 6. That sort of thing has happened thrice in World Series play, but not since 1922, when the Yankees and Giants played to a ten-inning tie in a Game 2 that was called on account of “darkness” (there were suspicions that the game was called early in order to enable the financial windfall of an extra game, so Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis had the Game 2 profits turned over to charity). Games in the 1912 and 1907 Series were also called due to darkness. In each of those three instances, the games were declared official ties rather than replayed, though that distinction is purely a book-keeping one.
Actually, I think you could say Philly got to within ONE out of a WS championship
Actually, no, I couldn't. Read the post.
Well..... that's what Selig said AFTER the fact. Would he have held to it if it were still 2-1? I guess he has the authority to overrule the rule book? And if so, why not change that rules for some/all of the WS games?
Frankly, I don't believe Selig. Philly already had the gate.... unless of course it would have been a move to hope there were more games (TB winning)?
I think it would have been to avoid the exact scenario I describe above with the Phillies clinching in the clubhouse rather than on the field. I agree, the rules should state an alternate rule for the playoffs. Honestly I pictured a replay of Selig at the All-Star game standing in the box seats and shrugging, then belatedly coming to the decision after 45 minutes or so. And yes, the commissioner can make those decisions.
[4] Here's an article by Bryant (who along with Goldman are the 2 most intelligent sports writers) on our discussion.
http://tinyurl.com/67f42r
SG over at RLYW has a pretty good article on CC and his work(over)load.
OYF, it pleases me greatly to hear you praise Howard Byrant and Steven Goldman together like that. Both have been tremendously important to me both personally and professionally. And thanks for the link to Howard's piece. Had I caught it, I would have included it above. Good stuff.
I disagree with Howard about the retractable roof thing (retractable roof stadiums are claustrophobic compromises), but the gem in an otherwise excellent piece is this:
I'm thisclose to organizing a protest outside FOX headquarters over their mistreatment of the sport over the past decade. I've had enough.
[9] It's a great idea. How about a Blog petition to show to both Fox and MLB? At least TBS did a decent job in their telecasts, which Fox and ESPN can't even do. But the power TV has over the schedule is sick. I honestly wish the President would step in and try to restore some of the values that are getting lost. Baseball is supposed to be our National pasttime. It holds a powerful grip on the hearts of many, many Americans, and we depend on baseball as a big part of our lives and something we share with and pass down to our children.
The selling out of Yankee Stadium for purely corporate interests is just another blow that craps on the fans that finance the game.
I swear, the richer corporations get, the greedier they get. Between the financial crap for the new stadium the Yankees have pulled, as much as I love the team, I'm almost hoping the Yankees fall.
[8] go get em cliff!!!
you nailed it exactly - "their mistreatment of the sport over the past decade"
i would like to think that with world series ratings mostly decreasing the last few years that fox and mlb would be somehwat open to making changes - though the arrogance both fox and selig have shown make it doubtful - but a few things off the top of my head that would help include: a) replacing buck and mcarver;
b) starting the games at at least 8pm et rather than after 8:30 (and most everyone on the east coast would probably prefer even earlier than that); c) try to get two sunday games in at 4pm, or 7pm if they refuse to compete against football;
d) try to break out of the regionalization a bit - especially after the all star game to try to get people interested in teams that might be in the post season - you could have fans vote on what games they want to see on some saturdays or something
[8] can the protest include a call for Joe Buck to stick with NFL? finding him worse than McCarver these days...
sucks..have to leave for a seminar and will miss most of the end of the game! and no chance to avoid the score on the way home, evening sports papers here are all around the train stations...Go Go Rays!
I want to see the Phils win tonight. There seems to be too many championships won
on the road. I always up for a good celebration. : )
that was a tough play for iwamura and even if ihe makes that catch i doubt he could have thrown jenkins out (even though he looked alow as hell). but it sure seems like the rays fielding has let them down.
Damn! I knew bringing in the infield was a bad move. Have seen it before...
Already a bigger stirke zone that the other night. Oy, Rocco.
Really glad for Rocco. BIG hit!
Oh SHIT!
So far. Pretty damn entertaining. : )
[18] definitely. i was just thinking that even if not much else happens we will have gotten an entertaining game.
Lack of hussle turns a triple into a double. Christ! Last game of the year and these guys still dog it.
Burrell is freakin' slow. There was some baseball guy on The Fan the other day that
mentioned how he is impossible to deal with. Whatever that means.
exciting..got 45mins left here..looks like will miss the 9th inning at least...
Maddon...you broke my heart not pinch-hitting there!
if burrell ends up on the yanks somehow he will definitely make oyf's list for guys who run (if that is indeed what they are doing) really strangely and awfully
maddon's out thinking himself with his pitchers
and mcacrver made sense about the bat not being a good idea here
[24] uh bunt not bat
If Burell makes the Yankees I suspect he'll make my list of men that make me smash my head against the wall.
Again with the infield in. Crap.
You have to give Maddon credit. He certainly sticks with his relievers. There's a certain loyalty to that.
Wow! Just a great play there!
Say no to Burrell.
Anyone that is known for his "ability" to hit .215 for half a season would wear thin very quickly.
History in the making. A primetime playoff game that started at 8:30 and could end by 10:00.
Is that a jinx or what? The city of Philly might burn tonight.
I really, really want to see Tampa win this game now. This 2.5 innings has been the highlight of this largely boring series so far.
There's something about Cole Hamels that reminds me of Tom Glavine. I can know he's a great pitcher and appreciate that he dominates lineups, but I don't *enjoy* watching him pitch like I do a Randy Johnson or Roger Clemens or, from another respect, Mike Mussina or Greg Maddux. I often find myself flipping around when he pitches.
"Here comes Werth, who has had a perfect night"
Well, several nights.
I'd also love to see Brad Lidge blow the World Series.
I wouldn't be shocked to see the bloom come off Lidge's rose tonight.
ech.
I wonder if Maddon will pull a page out of the Girardi playbook and put in a pinch runner and refuse to put on a play. So he can score on a gapper.
I could score from first on a gapper.
Guess not. Joey G remains the only guy to see the wisdom in that.
Congrats, Phils.
Time to fire up the hot stove and throw some C.C. on the burner.
wow, just getting home! i caught the last 2 outs in person and a couple in the car.
congrats Philly!
good lord, i'd be dead a thousand times if ryan howard tackled me and i was on the bottom of that pile. yikes!
sigh .....
A hat tip to the Rays .... nothing to be ashamed of.
Oh well. I'm not crushed by this outcome.
well, i've been rootin' for Philly the whole time, so i think it's pretty cool. i don't care how young and exciting the rays are, i don't need another world championship coming from my division, unless it's the Yanks!!!
Okay. Time for the Yankees to sign Sabathia
Maddon lost it by pulling in the infield twice
Maddon hasn't had the best post season.
bud getting a bronx cheer!
wait a minute. the game wasn't sold out tonight? they couldn't fill the stands?! 1,000 short. did i hear that right?!?!?!
Kid Cole = MVP
whoa! weird page fold when it went past 50. you can smash "show all", but then it starts you back at 1. might be tough on a big game thread.
think heidi's happy the world knows she's 30 today? she's still smokin' hot. ooh, today's my Pop's b-day - i best call home...
oh, and apparently you have to do this every single time you post a comment past 50. i'm sure there's a better way and cliff will figure it out for us! : )
Bud's voice goes right through me.
Matt, Hamels reminds you of Glavine because he's a lefty whose best pitch is a changeup. Yeah, that's not as exciting as a guy who throws high-90s with a wicked slider or curve.
Do what? I just posted two comments and when the comment posted the screen was automatically on the last comment in the thread.
[56] ooh, sorry for the delay, was on the phone w/ my fam...
i dunno. my computer is being really slow, too. whenever i reload, the icon just spins and spins and spins. yeah, i think after i post the comment it goes to the last one. i double check with this post. it's when i hit "show all," it started back at #1...
It makes sense to me for it to go back to #1 when you hit "show all" because, why would you hit that button if you didn't want to see the things behind the fold?
stop. making. sense. that is all! ; )
ah, you're probably right. in fact, i think i thought that before. my brain is fried from teaching all day/nite and i was doing a million things at once when i came home. the fold was a new feature and i always get crossed up w/ change and new things. i'm slow and i'm sorry! i think i'm probably all set...
i saw your post earlier today on the news of the day thread and am looking forward to a possible FAQ on comments - a how to: link numbers, bold, italicize, strikethrough, et al....
World Champion Philadelphia Phillies. whoda thunk it?!