And I hope they do! It's been one hell of a long time for this outfit ta get this far...now let's see IF they got the stamina ta get it done!
10/27/08 2:28 AM ET
Missed call favors Phillies in Game 4
Rays could have escaped first inning with 1-6-3 double play
By Bryan Hoch / MLB.com
PHILADELPHIA -- A controversial play marked the first inning of Game 4 of the World Series on Sunday night, as the Phillies' Jimmy Rollins was ruled safe diving back into third base, a fielder's choice that replays showed was an incorrect call.
With runners at the corners and one out, the Phillies' Ryan Howard hit a ball back to the mound that Rays pitcher Andy Sonnanstine fielded. Spotting Rollins moving off third base, Sonnanstine ran at Rollins and chased him back before flipping the ball to third baseman Evan Longoria.
Rollins dove left of Longoria into the bag and was ruled safe by third-base umpire Tim Welke, but replays showed that Longoria had actually applied the tag on Rollins' backside before he touched third base. The play became a footnote as Philadelphia outslugged Tampa Bay, 10-2, to take a commanding 3-1 lead in the Fall Classic.
"I thought he was out and the umpire thought he was safe," Longoria said. "He made his call, so be it. It definitely was a crucial point in the game, because they end up scoring that run and they go up early. It's tough to play down on the road. To look back and say that is the reason we lost the game is completely incorrect."
Rays manager Joe Maddon emerged from the third-base dugout to briefly argue the call, but he wrote the play off as only a small reason why Tampa Bay stands one loss from elimination.
"That just happened. We did not play very well tonight overall," Maddon said. "We did not pitch as well as we could. We're definitely not swinging the bats like we can. We made some mistakes on defense. I just can't point to one umpiring call and blame the entire event on that. We just didn't play well enough tonight. We've got to get better tomorrow fast."
Welke explained the call after Sunday's game, saying, "I saw the pitcher was coming to third base. So I went back into foul territory and saw [Sonnanstine] flip the ball. I saw Longoria coming in and he was going for Rollins' back on the tag. I just saw [Longoria] swing and miss. I never saw a tag.
"Joe Maddon came out, and I said, 'Joe, I never saw a tag.' And Joe was good about it and left. That's a swipe tag. A lot of times, on a swipe tag, the glove will pause. I saw him to try to make a swipe, tag but I never saw the glove pause."
"Looking back on it now, I probably should have gone to second base, but what happens if I go to second base and air-mail it into center field?"
-- Andy Sonnanstine
In retrospect, Sonnanstine's actions were questionable in that he may have had a relatively easier 1-6-3 double play to end the inning had he opted to go that route.
"I probably should have went to second right there to go for the double play," Sonnanstine said. "I saw him in the middle of that baseline, and it was instinct to go after him. I think he was out going back to third base."
Rollins did not address the play with reporters.
Sonnanstine said that he thought he would have turned the twin killing, but, as he said, nothing would have been guaranteed even if he had thrown the ball to second base.
"Looking back on it now, I probably should have gone to second base, but what happens if I go to second base and air-mail it into center field?" Sonnanstine said. "It's tough to say coulda, woulda, shoulda. I'm going to stick with my decision and I guess just go to sleep at night."
The next batter, Pat Burrell, worked a bases-loaded walk as the Phillies -- who lead the series 3-1 -- scored the first run of Sunday's game. Philadelphia went 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position in the first inning and came into Game 3 having fared 2-for-32 in such situations.
It was Sonnanstine's first career bases-loaded walk, and the right-hander would have escaped the inning on 16 pitches if he turned a double play on Howard's bouncer. Instead, it took Sonnanstine 26 pitches to get out of the frame, as he walked Burrell, recorded a fielder's choice at home plate on Shane Victorino and got Pedro Feliz to fly to center field.
The play was another close call in the Fall Classic for the umpiring crew. The Rays were upset with a non-balk call in Game 1 by Philadelphia pitcher Cole Hamels, the Phils took exception to home-plate umpire Kerwin Danley's signal on a check swing by Rocco Baldelli in Game 2, and replays showed that Carl Crawford should have been out on his bunt attempt when Jamie Moyer flipped the ball to Howard in Game 3.
Philaldephia scored 10 runs in the first three games of the World Series, scoring six on home runs, two on groundouts, one on an error and just one on a base hit -- Carlos Ruiz's ninth-inning infield single to win Game 3. With Burrell's free pass, the Phillies added bases-loaded walk to that list.
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Hmm. That address doesnt look right. It looks like the link pointing here was faulty.
The Rays are toast at this point in time. They are making way too many defensive errors, the umps are blowing calls left and right, their big hitters are silent, and their pitching is just not there. Go phillies...let's bring this baseball season to it's mercyful end.
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If you are in a horror movie, you make bad decisions, its what you do.
Uke agrees...it ain't over till...well it ain't. Despite last night's farce!
Phils, Rays to resume Game 5 on Wednesday night
October 28, 2008 3:42 PM EDT
PHILADELPHIA - In the middle of all this World Series chaos, Joe Maddon sounded rather calm. Bumped to a hotel in Delaware until Game 5 resumes Wednesday night - if the weather cooperates - the Tampa Bay manager and his young team rode out the storm together. "I referred to it as kind of like getting snowed in, if I could go back to my roots," said Maddon, raised in nearby Hazleton, Pa.
Rain put the Series on hold Monday night, with the Phillies and Tampa Bay Rays suspended in the sixth inning with the score 2-all.
More rain and possible snow showers were expected Tuesday, so commissioner Bud Selig said Game 5 was tentatively set to resume at 8:37 p.m. Wednesday night.
"While obviously we want to finish Game 5 as soon as possible, the forecast for today does not allow for us to continue the game this evening," Selig said. "We are closely monitoring tomorrow's forecast and will continue to monitor the weather on an hourly basis. We will advise fans as soon as we are able to make any final decisions with respect to tomorrow's schedule."
The forecast for Wednesday called for clearing skies by the early afternoon, with temperatures in the upper 30s by night.
The Phillies lead three games to one, needing one more win for their first championship since 1980. There has never been a rain-shortened game in Series history, and this was the first suspension.
"I can't tell you tonight when we'll resume," Selig said Monday night when the suspension was announced. "We'll stay here if we have to celebrate Thanksgiving here."
By the time Carlos Pena hit a tying, two-out single in the sixth for the Rays, every pitch and every hit had become an adventure.
"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.
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 into the 30s, 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 and the Phillie Phanatic wore a rain slicker for his routine.
"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."
Whenever this one resumes, it will pick up where it left off, with the Phillies about to bat in the bottom of the sixth.
Ace pitcher Cole Hamels is set to lead off for the Phils. For sure, the Phillies will send up a pinch-hitter against Grant Balfour, who'd previously relieved starter Scott Kazmir.
Then what? Do the Rays counter with another pitcher, and immediately pull Balfour?
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."
Tuesday was supposed to be a travel day, if necessary. Instead, the teams will stay in the area and then head back to Tropicana Field if the Rays win.
The delay, however, forced the Rays to find a comfortable hotel in Wilmington, Del., about 25 miles away.
About 10 minutes after the game was officially suspended, an announcement was made telling fans wrapped in plastic sheets they were done for the night.
By then, many had left their seats and streamed into the concourses. They crowded six or seven deep, trying to see any of the game before the umps signaled for the tarp.
Because it was only lightly raining when the game started, MLB hoped it could play a full nine innings. It quickly became apparent this rain wouldn't quit.
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 lot of guys couldn't believe we were still playing," Rays shortstop Jason Bartlett said.
B.J. Upton beat out an infield hit with two outs in the sixth on a ball that Rollins bobbled. Upton stole second and made an impressive dash home on Pena's hit, navigating the slippery basepaths and sliding in when left fielder Pat Burrell's throw plopped into a puddle.
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 Kazmir.
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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Hmm. That address doesnt look right. It looks like the link pointing here was faulty.
"It's always sunny in Philadelphia"...isn't that the name of a current TV show? They (MLB) need to make Safeco Field in Seattle the major league minimum for a baseball stadium in the 21st Century. Philly just built a new park, looks nice on a "sunny day" but jesus fucking christ the designers seem to totally ignorant of the weather factor. What the fuck is an extra 50 million to have a retractable roof. Safeco isn't the Kingdome. When it's nice you can get sunburnt and have all the fresh air in the world, see the moon and the stars. When it's fucking raining or starts to rain, the roof closes, none of this fucking panic of the grounds crew to roll out the tarp, the fans don't have to wear raingear, baseball doesn't have to played in the fucking rain, no 2 hour delays. I really feel for the Phillie fans, this is hideous. It's fucking raining, full house of 40K+ fans all paying huge bucks for tickets, the game goes on in steady rain for 6 innings. The fans are miserable, wet, and cold. Most would be rather be watching this game on TV, the players (this is the fucking World Serious for crying out loud) are trying to do their top level best in the biggest game of their whole season and they have to try to concentrate on a 95mph fastball in the pouring rain, try to catch a fly ball with rain spattering in their eyes and face, slipping and sliding in the mud, puddles lying about the warning track, pitchers that have to clean the mud out of their spikes after every other pitch. Baseball is not meant to be played in these conditions. They should have cancelled the game from the very get go. The fucking weather radar said rain all night. Phillie fans as well as Rays fans had to travel a long ways to see this game and I'd bet there is a lot discontent. Nothing anybody can do about the weather. This isn't an Eagles home game. A fair weather sport should be played in fair weather. The fans get a miserable experience and the players don't care for it either. Who knows when this game will end but when Tampa Bay score that tying run under the worst of conditions, it could be a pendulum swing in their favor. Guess we'll see...someday.
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If you are in a horror movie, you make bad decisions, its what you do.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) Bud Selig didn't stick around. The baseball commissioner returned to Milwaukee to wait out the weather and a chance to resume Game 5 of the World Series.
A day after the Philadelphia Phillies and Tampa Bay Rays were stopped because of rain with the score 2-all after 5 1/2 innings, Selig rescheduled the completion of the suspended game for 8:37 p.m. Wednesday.
"Right now the forecast is somewhat problematic," Bob DuPuy, baseball's chief operating officer, said Tuesday. "The rain is supposed to go through earlier in the day. It is supposed to be cold and windy, but not as cold and not as windy as today. The commissioner is going to monitor it on an hourly basis."
DuPuy convened a noon meeting of Major League Baseball staff at a Philadelphia hotel, and the group decided not to attempt to play Tuesday night. DuPuy then headed home to New York.
DuPuy said he will talk with MLB officials in Philadelphia during the morning Wednesday and head back around noon.
"We'll see what it looks like," he said.
On Monday night Selig said fans and the teams would be given plenty of notice, but wouldn't be specific.
"There's no fixed time," DuPuy said. "It's whenever the commissioner decides it's either playable or not playable."
The National Weather Service forecast called for rain, possible snow showers and a wind advisory for Tuesday night and said it will be partly cloudy Wednesday night with low temperatures in the mid-30s and the wind diminishing.
DuPuy wasn't worried about drainage at Citizens Bank Park, which opened four years ago.
"The field is great. They can get the field ready very quickly, as they showed Saturday," he said.
Although a final decision had not been made, baseball officials said there most likely would not be a travel day if the Rays win. That means if there isn't another delay, Game 6 would be Thursday night at Tropicana Field and Game 7 would be Friday night.
While Phillies players got to stay at home, the Rays had checked out of their Philadelphia hotel Monday and wound up at the 97-year-old Hotel du Pont in Wilmington, Del. While some players spent the day at the hotel, others went to a mall.
"What's there to do in Delaware?" reliever J.P. Howell said.
"We're nervous to go outside. This isn't our territory."
Whenever the Series resumes, Fox will be ready -- even if the national television audience is not.
Monday night's telecast received an 8.2 rating and 12 share, Fox said Tuesday. The previous low for a fifth game was a 10.0/17 for the San Francisco Giants' 16-4 romp over the Anaheim Angels in 2002.
Nielsen will issue a separate rating for the completion of Game 5, according to Fox.
Thus far, the World Series has received an 8.1/14, down 24 percent from the 10.6/18 for a four-game sweep by the Boston Red Sox over the Colorado Rockies last year. This year is 20 percent behind the current record low for a full World Series, the 10.1/17 for the St. Louis Cardinals' five-game victory over the Detroit Tigers in 2006.
The rating increased from a 6.5/10 at 8:30 p.m. and was at its highest, 10.4/16, when the game was stopped.
With the Phillies trying to close out their first title since 1980, the game drew a 45.2/60 in Philadelphia. The rating in the Tampa-St. Petersburg market was 28.1/40.
