Game Five of World Series postponed due to weather

Oct 28, 2008 - 11:03 PM PHILADELPHIA (Ticker) -- The Philadelphia Phillies and Tampa Bay Rays will have to wait at least one more day to complete Game Five of the World Series.

With constant rain and snow still affecting the Philadelphia area, Major League Baseball has postponed the completion of Game Five, which was scheduled to resume Tuesday after being suspended through 5 1/2 innings the previous night.

"We get to bat four times, they get to bat three. We get 12 outs, they get nine," Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said. "We are definitely coming with the mindset that we are going to win that game."

The game tentatively has been rescheduled for Wednesday night at 8:37 p.m. EDT.

"While obviously we want to finish Game Five as soon as possible, the forecast for today does not allow for us to continue the game this evening," commissioner Bud Selig said in a statement. "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."

Selig had hoped to resume the contest Tuesday night, but local forecasts have called for wind-driven rain with possible wet snow to plague the area all night.

With the Phillies and Rays tied at 2-2, the contest was officially suspended midway through the sixth inning due to heavy rain at Citizens Bank Park. The rain gradually got heavier throughout the game and the temperature dropped into the high 30s.

"I think they could have stopped when it started showing water on the field and at different times," Manuel said. "They chose to stop it when they did. And the conditions were definitely unbearable to play."

It marked the first time in baseball history that a World Series game was not played to its completion on the same day.

The Phillies, seeking their first championship in 28 years, own a three-games-to-one lead in the series. Philadelphia has not won a major professional sports title since 1983.

"All year long we've been in a situation where we can control our destiny and it's no different," Manuel said. "It's up to us to stay focused and definitely stay focused on tomorrow's game, to win that game.

"And if something happens and if we don't get the job done or something, I have no complaints at all, because it's in our hands, it's all up to us to do it."

The Phillies were well on their way toward ending both droughts Monday night, as Shane Victorino's two-run single gave Philadelphia a 2-0 lead in the first inning.

But after halving the deficit, Tampa Bay rallied to forge a 2-2 tie in the driving rain when Carlos Pena plated B.J. Upton with an RBI hit off Phillies lefthander Cole Hamels in the top of the sixth inning.

"(Hamels) has been so good, and to scratch out the runs that we've had has been very difficult," Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon said. "Of course their bullpen has been magnificent, also. So it's not going to be an easy task by any means. But we have a lot of our bullpen fresh, now, too. So getting him out is important."

Should Philadelphia have remained in the lead, the game would have gone into an indefinite delay. Instead, the teams will need to regroup for Wednesday night.

"I don't think there's going to be any problem at all," Manuel said. "I think we've been resilient now for the last couple of years. I think we know exactly where we're going and what we want to do. We're going to be ready."

When the game resumes, Hamels is set to lead off. The Phillies are expected to send up a pinch-hitter against Grant Balfour, who had previously relieved starter Scott Kazmir.

"Of course Grant is still in the game. T hey've got Hamels coming up, and everybody will attempt to make whatever at that particular juncture," Maddon said. "And again, everybody is kind of pretty much going to be back at ground zero. We're going to have rested bullpens, people have rested starters for games in the future. All that stuff is in order.

"It's just going to come down, obviously, to three and a half innings to play. Hopefully that's all it's going to take."