PHILADELPHIA -- Never before had seat cushions been available in case of a water landing at the World Series.
Not mid-game. Not, that is, until Game 5 on Monday night. When, with an entire city on the edge of its seat, the Philadelphia Phillies' best pitcher on the mound and a championship within reach, Commissioner Bud Selig stepped in with a squeegee.
What he needed in his rain-slicker pocket was a retractable roof. Or a giant umbrella.
Or, failing that, a far better weather report and a much quicker judgment in calling the game that was suspended in the middle of the sixth inning with Philadelphia and Tampa Bay knotted up at 2-2 and flood waters rising.
On a night more suited for dolphins and submarines than for baseball's jewel event, we saw a World Series first. No World Series game had ever been started and not played at least nine innings.
The immediate effects could hurt Philadelphia worse than the Rays, even though the Phillies lead three games to one. The suspension knocked their ace pitcher, Cole Hamels, from the mound after only 76 pitches.
"Naturally, we're not happy that Hamels is out of the game," Phillies general manager Pat Gillick said. "But one of the strengths of our ballclub is the bullpen. So when we pick this game up, be it (Tuesday) or Wednesday, whenever it might be, I think that Andrew (Friedman, Rays' GM) and Joe (Maddon, Rays manager) and his club probably will be in the bullpen, also."
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| Had Bud Selig been forced to suspend Game 5 with the Rays trailing 2-1, Phillies fans might have read him the riot act. (Getty Images) |
"We'll stay here if we have to celebrate Thanksgiving here," Selig quipped.
Whenever the game will be played -- gobble, gobble -- Selig confirmed it will start around the same 8:20, 8:30 p.m. ET national television time slot.
Logistics quickly became a huge issue, and not simply the logistics of Tampa Bay's Joe Maddon and Philadelphia's Charlie Manuel managing their rosters. The Rays, who were to have chartered home following the game, had checked out of their hotel. Late Monday night, they couldn't get back in. They found rooms in Wilmington, Del., roughly 45 minutes away.
"We're having movie night tonight," Friedman cracked.
There they'll stay, bunkered in, for as long as it takes. Selig said that if the weather is horrible Tuesday, then Wednesday becomes a possibility. Currently, Game 6, if necessary, is scheduled to be played Wednesday at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Fla.
