PHILADELPHIA (AP) -Following this wet and wacky World Series, Major League Baseball might consider amending the rules so that all postseason games must be played to full length.
“Worth looking at,” Bob DuPuy, baseball’s chief operating officer, wrote Wednesday in an e-mail to The Associated Press.
Game 5 between the Tampa Bay Rays and Philadelphia Phillies resumed Wednesday night after it was suspended because of rain Monday with the score tied 2-all in the middle of the sixth inning.
Baseball commissioner Bud Selig said Monday night that even if the Rays had not tied it in the top of the sixth, there was no way he would allow a World Series game to be shortened to less than nine innings.
Thus, if the Phillies had led an official game when it was stopped, the game would not be over. In effect, the rain delay could have lasted for days.
“I expect that we will be discussing that with them,” union head Donald Fehr said.
, and regular-season games occasionally are cut short because of bad weather.
No postseason game has ever been shortened, but as of now there is no rule that states it couldn’t happen.
“I don’t have any problem with the program as it exists,” Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon said Wednesday. “Playing it over from the beginning, again, if that’s what had been chosen to do, I would have been fine with that. If this is the format, I’m good with this. I’m the manager of the Rays. I’m not about creating all of this doctrine right now. I’m just going by what we’re told we’re supposed to do.”
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HARRASSING THE RAYS: A group of Phillies fans showed up Wednesday morning at the Hotel du Pont in Wilmington, Del., to make sure the Tampa Bay Rays got a true Philly send-off to the ballpark.
The red-clad fans chanted “Let’s Go Phillies!” and did their best to try to annoy the Rays, who moved into the posh hotel in downtown Wilmington after Game 5 was suspended because of rain Monday night.
The Rays had already checked out of their hotel in Philadelphia and couldn’t find any in the city to accommodate them, so traveling secretary Jeff Ziegler scrambled to get them into the du Pont.
If the Rays thought being 25 miles south of Philly would keep them far enough from the passionate Phillies fans, they were wrong. By lunchtime, 40 fans had gathered.
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ried about getting enough sleep.
Shields was scheduled to start Game 6 for the Rays on Thursday night – if they avoided elimination by beating Philadelphia on Wednesday night. But the right-hander had no interest in flying ahead to Tampa Bay to rest for his potential outing, a common big league practice during the regular season.
“I can’t do that, man. I can’t leave my team right now,” Shields said. “I remember during the season we were in Boston, I think we played a game like at 11 o’clock at night. I was pitching a day game the next day, and I ended up going back to the hotel. It was 0-0, and the next thing I know, by the time I got to the hotel it was 6-0 Red Sox. And from then on out I told myself I’d never leave a game, no matter what time it is.”
Game 5 was suspended after 5 1/2 innings because of rain Monday night and resumed Wednesday night with the score tied 2-all. Because of the suspension, baseball eliminated the travel day that had been scheduled between Games 5 and 6.
“I can’t leave my team,” said Shields, the winning pitcher in Game 2. “I want to support them on the bench. I want to root them on. And hopefully, I get to pitch the next game.”
The scenario Wednesday also left Brett Myers in a strange situation because he was slated to start Game 6 for Philadelphia, if necessary.
eir second World Series championship with a win in Game 5 at home.
“Everybody wants to pitch again and wants to play again, but I’m not going to be selfish,” Myers said. “I want to do it here for this city and for the team.”
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DESTINY’S DARLINGS: Phillies manager Charlie Manuel thought his team had the edge Wednesday night, even though Tampa Bay rallied to tie Game 5 before it was suspended by rain in the middle of the sixth inning.
“I wouldn’t trade positions. So I guess I feel like I have an advantage,” Manuel said. “That’s kind of how I look at it. Destiny is one thing, but if they’re destined, we want to definitely fight through destiny. That’s about all I can tell you.”
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RAINY MATTERS: One last thing about the condition of the field in the top of the sixth inning Monday night when the Rays scored off Cole Hamels to tie it at 2.
B.J. Upton’s two-out single up the middle off shortstop Jimmy Rollins’ glove might have been a groundout on a dry field. The slick-fielding Rollins, a Gold Glove winner last season, routinely makes that play.
“He makes that play quite a bit,” manager Charlie Manuel said.
Upton stole second and scored on Carlos Pena’s single to left. The play at the plate was close and might have been closer if left fielder Pat Burrell could have charged the ball instead of trudging through the mud.
sloppy field.
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CHEERING ON THE PHILS: The 76ers moved up the start of their NBA season opener against Toronto to 6 p.m. and invited fans holding tickets to the Phillies game to come in for half-price.
The Wachovia Center planned to stay open and show the Phillies-Rays game on all of its televisions in the arena. Sixers president Ed Stefanski, who grew up in the area, is a huge Phillies fans.
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AP Baseball Writer Ronald Blum and AP Sports Writers Rob Maaddi and Fred Goodall contributed to this report.
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