2008 Philadelphia Phillies Season/Playoff Thread (Die Mets Die)

[Seabiscuit36]

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=jp-wssuspendedgamefive102708&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

Baseball’s crown event is beyond repair
By Jeff Passan, Yahoo! Sports
4 hours, 32 minutes ago

PHILADELPHIA – This World Series is unsalvageable. It is a disaster borne of people who think cowbells and haircuts make them fans, owners who are so greedy that they accept late-October baseball and late-evening start times, and a commissioner who unilaterally changes a rule while he’s carrying the book in his left hand.

Game 5 is suspended. Rain washed through Citizens Bank Park from the beginning of the Philadelphia Phillies’ potential championship clincher to the sixth inning, when the Tampa Bay Rays tied the score 2-2. No one knows when the game will resume. Could be tonight. May well be Wednesday night. Or even later. It is on Mother Nature, which is a good thing, because if it were up to the baseball gods, they would smite the series before it could continue any longer.

It’s awful, embarrassing even, that the country became so indifferent to what once was the most popular championship series in sports. Even worse, Major League Baseball, fat and happy with its coffers growing and ticket sales booming, watched idly as the number of people viewing its championship series dwindled to a record low in Game 3.

That, of course, was the night that MLB decided to begin a game after 10 p.m., rain to blame again. The skies cleared for the rest of the evening. The conditions were fine for playing. It’s just that the entire country was in its REM cycle, baseball hardly a competitor for sleep.

Such is the norm, too, with the 8:30 p.m. start times now typical for World Series games – and the remainder of the postponement, which will begin at 8 p.m. Thank MLB again for that. It got into bed with Fox for a long-term $3 billion deal. Fox requested a later first pitch. MLB obliged. The guys in suits win. The kids with hats and genuine interest in the game, and not the green it generates, lose.

And all of these elements poison what should be the most glorious time for the best sport. Nothing beats a great World Series. Not a classic Super Bowl. Not a fantastic Final Four. Not a seven-game NBA Finals. When two teams get together, no matter the size of the market or depth of the history, and play a to-the-max series with the requisite drama that accompanies a great matchup, it is magic. Baseball doesn’t need the Yankees or Red Sox. Minnesota and Atlanta did just fine in 1991.

Instead, we are talking about weathermen.

Seriously, in the 20 minutes commissioner Bud Selig addressed postponing Game 5, he spent as much time talking about weather forecasters as he did the fact that he was prepared, on the fly, to change a well-hewn rule. While Selig was interested in informing the public that the three weather services MLB contacted said the rain would abate, everyone wondered how he planned to handle the situation had Carlos Pena not driven in B.J. Upton in the sixth inning with the Rays’ tying run.

Selig said he discussed such a scenario before the game with general managers Pat Gillick of the Phillies and Andrew Friedman of the Rays, allegedly telling them the rule stating that a game is complete after 4½ innings did not apply.

“It’s not a way to end a World Series,” Selig said. “And I think there’s enough, and I have enough authority here, frankly, so that I think I’m not only on solid ground, I’m on very solid ground.”

It would have been the right call, of course, though it sets a dangerous precedent – just how far does the commissioner’s in-the-best-interests-of-baseball clause go? – and was made even shadier by the fact that nobody but the brass seemed to know. Fans were clueless, as were the players, who wanted no part of it.

“I wouldn’t pride myself in being called a world champion on a called game,” Phillies starter Cole Hamels said, following an even more damning statement: “That truly would have been the worst World Series ever.”

Would have?

OK, so we’re not there yet. Game 3, even with its sparse viewing audience, teemed with intrigue. Game 4 was a Phillies home run barrage, including the first from a pitcher in nearly 35 years. The weather gave Game 5 a unique twist, players tromping around in puddles of water and running the bases and the field with extreme caution as wind whipped and sheets of rain careened sideways into their eyes.

Games 1 and 2 – well, those were held inside a big warehouse outfitted with seats, a massive neon orange, a tank of cownose rays, four catwalks, a drunk pro wrestler, artificial turf, mullets and a group of people that thinks ringing cowbells is awesome and wearing bright blue Mohawks is socially acceptable.

Rays fever, unfortunately, comes no warmer than 98.6 degrees. Scalpers there are eating thousands of dollars because the demand for tickets is so flabby. Florida is a football state, and the inroads to carve out a fan base in the Tampa area will take decades. While championship T-shirts in Philadelphia already are deep on back order, there will be plenty available should the Rays come back and win the series.

And that, actually, is the only thing that can turn this debacle around and help MLB avoid it being the Rain Series or the Delay Series or the Atrociously Umpired Series or the Series No One Cared About. The questions crossing everyone’s mind Monday night were how to keep weather from so adversely affecting the biggest games of the year. Shorten the regular season? No chance the owners would lose the revenue. Do it by playing doubleheaders every other Saturday, shaving nearly two weeks from the season? Again, revenue would lag, and the players’ union almost certainly would say no. Schedule a neutral-site World Series? No thanks.

Point is, none of this has anything to do with the games, which should be the focal point in October. As long as MLB remains stubborn about the fact that starting the postseason earlier wouldn’t help with its weather issues – a flimsy claim at best – this is all moot.

Sometimes, nothing can save baseball from itself. Not even global warming.

So all we can do is sit back and get acquainted with the Doppler. There is supposed to be rain this morning. And then more this afternoon. And … you get the point. This is a championship held hostage by its elements, a sad – and somewhat fitting – occurrence with the World Series That Can’t Get It Right.

[PoopyfaceMcGee]

Will you fargheads shut up with the "we're farged" stuff?  Would it have been nice and tidy for Hamels to dominate and end the series last night?  Hell yes.  Are the Phillies "farged?"  No.

FACT:  David Price is the only truly dominant pitcher on the Rays staff, but the Phillies have the offense to score (or not score) on any pitcher at any given time.

FACT:  Every member of the Phillies bullpen is available for the last 9 outs of game 5.

FACT:  While Pena and Longoria have woken up a bit, everyone in the Phils lineup has also tasted some success (except maybe Burrell) and can get a big hit at any time.

FACT:  This is our farging year, and no upstart team of jackasses, no dickbag commissioner, no rookie left hander, no cold and rainy weather, and no amount of umpire fargups is going to stop the Phillies.


I can't guarantee a win in game 5, but I can guarantee a Phillies World Series win.  Any of you iceholes want to bet against the Phils?  Bring it.

[ice grillin you]

   

[PoopyfaceMcGee]

In short, I'm offering to bet cheddar on the Phillies winning this World Series.

Would you like to cake me off?

[MDS]

farg this

[PhillyGirl]

They'll win, I am with FF on that.

But its the whole point of how this happened. It just pisses me off and possibly robbed them of winning it all IN Philadelphia.

[PoopyfaceMcGee]

It robbed them of having Hamels go 7 or 8, finishing off with Lidge, and winning with a nice bow on top.

It has far from robbed them of winning it at home, though.  Game 5 is a toss-up at worst.

[phillymic2000]

They'll win, I am with FF on that.

But its the whole point of how this happened. It just pisses me off and possibly robbed them of winning it all IN Philadelphia.

It completely sucks, but I hope this team is pissed enough to go out and wreck shop on Price and finish this shtein

[PhillyPhreak54]

Stark nailed it for sure.

I have a pit in my stomach. There is nothing I want more than to see the Phillies turn that anger into some motivation to come out and pound the Anointed One, David Price, into mush.

Butt Selig has made this a circus. Last night was a joke. A goddamn joke. And the Rays get a breath of life. They get some momentum because they tied it and Pena and Longoria were hitting.

Hamels could not throw a curve or his change.

Rollins could not get to balls.

Ridiculous.

[PoopyfaceMcGee]

Butt Selig

Breathtaking prose!

[ice grillin you]

both teams had to play in it...cant say rollins couldnt get to balls but the tampa players could?...or kazmir was able to pitch in it but hamels was not?


the "only" mistake made was the pathetic and cowardly decision to end the game in the middle of an inning because bud got the tie he wanted...you have to let the phillies hit in the bottom of the 6th....one of the worst decisions of all time

[PhillyPhreak54]

both teams had to play in it...cant say rollins couldnt get to balls but the tampa players could?...or kazmir was able to pitch in it but hamels was not?


the "only" mistake made was the pathetic and cowardly decision to end the game in the middle of an inning because bud got the tie he wanted...you have to let the phillies hit in the bottom of the 6th....one of the worst decisions of all time

I know both had to play in it....and honestly I was expecting Upton to slip coming around 3rd or when setaling because he has such a long stride. Kazmir was struggling obviously.

It should not have been played or at the very least it should have been called a rain delayed game as soon as Rollins missed the pop up and when Pena struggled to catch the pop up where Tschida did not call the INF fly because of the conditions.

[PhillyGirl]

both teams had to play in it...cant say rollins couldnt get to balls but the tampa players could?...or kazmir was able to pitch in it but hamels was not?


the "only" mistake made was the pathetic and cowardly decision to end the game in the middle of an inning because bud got the tie he wanted...you have to let the phillies hit in the bottom of the 6th....one of the worst decisions of all time

Agreed, but that last part is what pissed me off so much. Why did Hamels have to pitch that extra half inning in that shtein? Score should be 2-1 after 5 right now...and delayed as they are already doing.

[Seabiscuit36]

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/rumors/post/Rays-Balfour-Maybe-it-s-just-fate-?urn=mlb,117872

Rays Balfour: 'Maybe it's just fate'
Getty Images
The Philadelphia Phillies will have a new pitcher on the mound when Game 5 of the World Series resumes Tuesday night. But Tampa Bay Rays pitching coach Jim Hickey said that he does expect Grant Balfour to take the mound again once the game resumes.


Balfour explained that it would be just like a regular relief appearance to him. "I'll just warm up like I normally would in a game," he said. "I might even have them call down there on the phone and tell me to get up."

Pitching considerations and umpiring decisions aside, the bottom line for the Rays was that they were still alive in this World Series.

"Maybe it's just fate," Balfour said. "It happened for a good reason

[Wingspan]

What a nightmare of a night...everyone except Bud Selig and John Bolaris knew it was going to rain, and rain hard all night after the 2nd inning baseball is run by idiots.

Oh...and can we stop with this it's "unfair they played the top of the 6th" bullshtein? I have never once seen a game where they played in bad weather where they said "Well lets let the other team bat again before they called it." Stop whining. Selig is an idiot...the game should have been moved up from the start as of 3 pm yesterday, and shorten the commercials. but it wasnt, you play the hand you're dealt. The Phils have 4 at bats left, and the rays 3...and farg David Price, they scored 2 runs off him in game 2...they'll do it again.

One good thing came of this...well 8 good things. I was able to get 8 additional ticket stubs for whenever they resume this because of the moron fans who just tossed them. So now pretty much my entire family and close friends will all be able to go...

Although i have a feeling that the phils are going to win this thing with about a half empty stadium with all the tickets people stupidly tossed.