By Gary Armida

Major League Baseball can thank the legs of BJ Upton and the overdue bat of Carlos Pena for avoiding yet another black eye on the sport during its marquee event. With heavy rains pounding Philadelphia, game five of the World Series was in serious jeopardy. The problem is that as the rain pounded (as expected), the Phillies were leading the Rays 2-1 after five complete innings. If the score had held up, the game would’ve been over and, more importantly, would have been official. Imagine that Baseball’s next champion would’ve been crowned after having won a 5 inning game. This would’ve been an embarrassment that would have been difficult to come back from. Fortunately, Bud Selig and the rest of Major League Baseball prayed hard enough. With rain pouring down, the Rays managed a single run in the top of the sixth inning to tie the game, avoiding that tremendous embarrassment. Even with that run, Major League Baseball had to twist a rule in order to avoid complete failure.

No Win Situation

Major League Baseball was in a difficult predicament. With rain in the forecast for today (worse than Monday), MLB felt that the best chance to get the game in without sacrificing time, momentum, and travel arrangements, they should try to get the game completed. With a constant drizzle, the game quickly went the required five innings. During those 5 innings, Cole Hamels was nearly unhittable as he allowed just the 2 runs in his 6 innings of work. The Phillies, meanwhile, were quite patient against the Rays’ Scott Kazmir, drawing 6 walks in just 4 innings while giving up 2 runs. With Kazmir ineffective early, the Phillies were able to score the 2 runs in the first inning by drawing 2 walks, getting one batter hit by a pitch, and giving up 2 hits. Kazmir wouldn’t give up any more runs, but would struggle with his command.

The Rays did get encouraging signs from the middle of the order with Carlos Pena collecting 2 hits and a run batted in (the Upton top of the 6^th run) and Evan Longoria finally collecting his World Series hit and run batted in. As soon as the third out was made in the top of the sixth inning, the tarp was immediately put on the field. After less than a 30 minute rain delay, game 5 was officially postponed. Because the Phillies tied the game in the top of the sixth, Commissioner Selig ruled that the shortened game becomes a suspended game, meaning that game 5 will resume tonight (more than likely Wednesday because of the weather) with the Phillies batting in the bottom of the sixth. Yes, the game continues exactly where it leads off. If Major League Baseball had done the appropriate thing, this game would’ve been postponed much earlier. But, that would’ve resulted in a Phillies win, their first title since 1980, which would’ve been semi-celebrated because it was less than a complete game. It could’ve tainted the Phillies’ title (if they had won it); it could’ve made Baseball a mockery, and it would’ve robbed the Phillies to celebrate with their fans.

Twisting the Rule

Normally, the rule is that if a game is called after the top of an inning and the home team is leading the game, the game reverts back to the last completed inning. Evidently, Commissioner Selig had a backup plan for the World Series, ruling that any game would’ve been postponed and that no World Series game would not go less than 9 innings. Games should be played by the same set of regular season rules, but it is understandable for Baseball to want its game decided on the field in a complete game.

An Inning Too Late

The post game press conference featured Commissioner Bud Selig and members of the umpiring crew. Commissioner Selig gave politically correct answers and stated that the players’ health and welfare are a priority. One has to call foul here as sending the players out for the top of the 5^th in terrible conditions was not keeping their health in mind. One only has to look at the popup that Jimmy Rollins could not catch in 5^th inning because it travelled 20 feet away from him because of the wind. Bottom line is that the game conditions were terrible. The game should’ve been called long before it was actually called. Yes, Baseball didn’t have a choice, but keeping the teams out on the field put the players at risk and it did hurt the integrity of the game.

Benefits

There is no doubt that most of the mainstream media outlets will discuss how this situation plays in the Rays’ favor. Most discuss how the momentum shifted and now the Rays won’t have to face Cole Hamels during the latter part of this series. Yes, the Rays do get that benefit, but the Phillies, if they can’t win in games 5 or 6, could have the ultimate advantage. With rain likely to postpone tonight’s proceedings, game 5 will be held on Wednesday. With that, both games 6 and 7 will be pushed to Thursday and Friday. If the series does reach game seven, the Phillies could start Cole Hamels on short rest after he threw just 75 pitches. Having Hamels available will be a great advantage during the final game.

Closing Thoughts

As stated, many will discuss how this is an advantage to the Rays. But, once the game resumes, both teams will be in their bullpens. With the Phillies having the best bullpen in the playoffs, they are the favorites to close out the series on Wednesday.