Treading water is right call

Cutting game short was never an option, says Selig

PHILADELPHIA - Bud Selig didn't let anyone outside the small circle of baseball executives and team officials know ahead of time that this game would be played to completion. So speculation was running rampant for the longest time. Would rain actually cut short a World Series game? Did they wait to call it until Tampa Bay scored the tying run under deplorable conditions so it could be suspended rather than rain-shortened?

The Phillies had been leading, 2-1, through five, so conceivably the game could have been called and they would have won the World Series.

"I was not going to allow that to happen," said Selig, who said he met with team officials before the game to address just such a situation. "We would have gone into a rain delay and that rain delay would have lasted until, weather permitting, we could resume the game. And that might be a day or two or three, whatever."

The rules regarding ties were changed in 2007 so that games called in the bottom of the fifth or later can be resumed before the next scheduled game between the clubs.

Selig said he met with umpires and officials from both teams to make it clear that's the way it was going to go.

"There were no surprises," Selig said.

Both team executives represented at last night's press conference - Tampa Bay president Matt Silverman and Phillies general manager Pat Gillick - confirmed the pregame discussion and knew the rules they were playing under. Whether they all got together to get their stories straight we'll never know, but under the circumstances they were believable.

As to when the game will resume?

Selig had no clue, considering the forecast for today is poor.

"It will be resumed when I believe that weather conditions are appropriate," he said. "We can't tell you tonight when we'll resume. We are not going to resume until we have decent weather conditions."

He was a tad down on the weather services that were providing information last night. He said he had been assured there would be one-tenth of an inch of rain between the start of the game and midnight.

But as the night went on, the rain got heavier. The infield got slicker. Umpires insisted that the batter's boxes and pitcher's mound were "never compromised," yet pitchers were having trouble with mud in their cleats.

Selig said he was concerned enough to come down from his perch twice, once in the fourth and again in the fifth, and both times he was assured by the groundskeeper that field conditions were OK.

However, after the Rays tied it, umpires saw that the grounds crew was unable to keep up with the rain. Large puddles were forming.

If they can't finish today, Selig said, they'll stay in Philadelphia until they can. They won't finish this game in St. Petersburg, where there's a domed stadium.

"No, we'll stay here," Selig said. "We'll stay here if we have to celebrate Thanksgiving here."

Does all of this help one team?

Obviously, the Rays have new life. The decision to stop the game after Carlos Peña's hit ripped through the puddles and scored B.J. Upton could save them. Peña, who got his first two hits of the Series last night, might be able to run for mayor of Tampa after that series-saving hit.

"It was cold, it was rainy, it was wild, but it was kind of neat," said Peña, who wore a lucky wristband given to him by baseball barber LMontro that said "Montro99.com." This guy must be a lucky charm, since it was he who suggested to Manny Ramírez that he should wear No. 99 with the Dodgers.

The Phillies wasted ace Cole Hamels last night, but they feel confident that when play resumes - whether it's tonight or tomorrow - their bullpen, which might be the strongest part of their team, will get the job done.

Baseball has seen unusual situations before (remember the All-Star Game fiasco that ended in a tie?), but in this case Selig did the right thing by imposing his will and insisting this would be at least a nine-inning game no matter what.

Maybe the Philadelphia fans were inconvenienced as they sat for a long time in terrible conditions that were so bad they played havoc with routine popups. But that's baseball in the Northeast in October.

Selig was even asked whether baseball would consider moving the playoffs up and reducing the number of games in the season because of situations like this.

"It rains in November and it rains in mid-October," he said. "Listen, it's warming this weekend after the intense cold in the Midwest, which is now coming here. And if the World Series was played next week, we would have been better off. That really is not a factor."

There's nothing you can do about weather. Nothing you can do about inaccurate weather information and changing weather patterns.

All things considered, the right thing was done. The teams will resume this game and a true winner will emerge. But in this divine intervention, someone was looking out for the Rays.