Series game suspended
Teams tied in 6th; restart uncertain
PHILADELPHIA - There was a smush and a splash as the Rays' B.J. Upton slid into second with a base seemingly stolen in slow motion. Then, with two outs in the sixth inning, Carlos Peña lined a single into left field to score Upton. Not only did the run tie the game, 2-2, it gave the umpires an opening to halt a rain-drenched contest that had devolved into embarrassing conditions.
The RBI single came at 10:40 last night in Game 5 of a World Series that is led by the Phillies, three games to one. The game, which was suspended 31 minutes after it was stopped, will be resumed "when the health and welfare of our players is protected as much as it can be," commissioner Bud Selig said. That might mean the 45,940 subjected to last night's deluge will be seeing the end of the game tonight.
Or it might mean tomorrow. The forecast calls for more rain today.
There was confusion, for everyone, about what would have happened had the Rays not scored the tying run. In the regular season, games can be shortened once they are regulation. But that wasn't going to happen in a World Series game, according to Selig. Instead, the game would have gone into a rain delay indefinitely, even if that delay lasted a day or two.
"I don't want to speculate now," Selig said when asked when the game would be restarted. "We'll see what happens. But we're not going to resume until we have decent weather conditions.
"We'll stay here if we have to celebrate Thanksgiving here."
So the Rays and Phillies, bundled up and reduced to switching from sports drinks to hot beverages, were forced back into their clubhouses with the rain coming down just as heavily as it had been since the first innings. They didn't have to remain in limbo too long.
But the Rays had already checked out of their Philadelphia hotel, so they headed for one in Wilmington, Del. They went there with renewed faith that they could win this game, and this series, despite being down to their last chances.
"I think there was a tremendous exhale right there, collectively," reliever Trever Miller said. "Not only for them [baseball officials] but for everybody in this clubhouse."
That exhale came courtesy of a single from Peña, a player whose last hit before last night came in Game 5 of the ALCS, on a bunt single. He changed all that last night, with a double in the fourth and the all-important single. The one that scored Upton, just barely.
"I expected it to be soft, but it still tore up my knee a little bit," Upton said of the slide on the stolen base. "My main thing was giving myself a chance to score, to stay on my feet [when trying to score]. I didn't want to slip there. He would have had to make a perfect throw right there. The ball was wet. Just wanted to stay on my feet."
Evan Longoria was in position to knock in the tie-breaking run in the inning. But with Peña on second on a passed ball, Longoria sent a long fly to center field, which Shane Victorino tracked down on the run.
That was when the tarp came out.
As the weather maps glowed green and the rain kept coming, the game was held up in the bottom of the fifth when Grant Balfour replaced Scott Kazmir, and the grounds crew took the time to dust the infield and the pitcher's mound. Not that it helped much."[The conditions] were horrible," said Peña. "It was windy, it was rainy, it was cold.
"The conditions were difficult. I remember looking at home plate the last at-bat and all I saw was water. I couldn't even see home plate; it was covered in water. The rain was coming down pretty hard."
Asked how he could see the ball to hit it, he said, "That's a good question. I don't even know."
Bags and bags of Diamond Dust had to be brought out onto the infield, dumped and raked again and again. There was a particularly long delay after the top of the fifth, and one after Kazmir came out of the game.
"Rocco [Baldelli] and B.J. came to the bullpen when they were cleaning up the field for that prolonged period of time," Miller said. "You could see on their faces it was terrible out there.
"Just looking out from the perch we had out there. There were puddles on the field in the World Series. We don't need to be playing in that weather. Get somebody hurt.
"Plus, it's not real baseball. You don't want these things to come into play and be a factor in who wins the World Series."
The Phillies had started off the game by missing more than one chance against Kazmir. Though they did take a two-run lead in the first, they also left the bases loaded. They left them loaded again in the fourth, without scoring. That was partially a factor of a wild Kazmir, who had six walks, and partially what seemed like a particularly questionable strike zone from plate umpire Jeff Kellogg.
Against Kazmir in the first , the Phillies got a walk, a hit by pitch, and another walk to load the bases with two outs. Then Victorino lined a pitch into left field to score Jayson Werth and Chase Utley.
It took one more single, by Pedro Feliz, and the bases were reloaded. But Carlos Ruiz flew to left to end the inning.
Tampa Bay got a run back in the fourth, when Peña and Longoria - who had been pushed down a spot in the batting order because of their offensive struggles - combined with a double and single to get a run home.
That left them with the chance for Peña's single, for the tie game. And a chance to extend their season and bring it back to Tropicana Field - where there are no chances for rain delays.
"This has been a magical season for us," Peña said. "Just an unbelievable twist to the beautiful story we have been this year. It is a surprise; at the same time, it just keeps getting better. The story just keeps getting better.
"We don't want this to end. We just want to keep it going as long as we possible can. Obviously when the World Series is over, baseball is over. We definitely want to extend it to the last day. It feels great to know there's still life, we still have a heartbeat."
Balfour is technically still pitching for the Rays. As for Cole Hamels, Phillies general manager Pat Gillick said Hamels would not be returning to the game whenever it is restarted.
Amalie Benjamin can be reached at abenjamin@globe.com. 