On the night the drought could've ended, at long last, there was a flood.
The heavens opened Monday night, and for 5 1/2 innings, a fine mist became a steady rain that grew into a heavy downpour. The umpires, at Major League Baseball's urging, waited as long as they could. But before theirs and everyone's eyes, the infield turned to mud and Citizens Bank Park looked more like Noah's Ark. So, for the Phillies and their faithful, the wait continues.
It's a wait that has lasted for 28 years, and now, it will last until at least Wednesday night.
After the Tampa Bay Rays forged a 2-2 tie in the top of the sixth inning, the umpires finally called for the tarp at 10:40 p.m. Thirty-five minutes later, the game was suspended, and it is scheduled to pick up where it left off at 8:37 p.m. EDT Wednesday, after Tuesday was deemed too wet, too.
"It will be resumed when I believe the weather conditions are appropriate," commissioner Bud Selig said. "We'll stay here if we have to celebrate Thanksgiving here."
And, so, they wait.
The Phillies, once 10 outs from winning their first World Series since 1980 and the second in their 126-year history, won't have their ace, left-hander Cole Hamels, when the Series resumes. Mother Nature interrupted Hamels' Game 5 start -- in all likelihood, his final appearance of the postseason -- after 75 pitches in what he called "the worst conditions imaginable to pitch in."
Meanwhile, the Rays, a fledgling franchise playing in its first World Series, get a reprieve. Trailing by two runs after the first inning, staring at elimination and having already checked out of their Philadelphia hotel, they took advantage of the slick field and tied the game in the sixth on slumping Carlos Pena's second hit of the Series. They survived to play another day.
Whenever the game resumes, Phillies pitching coach Rich Dubee said he would call upon a reliever to pitch in the top of the seventh. Neither manager Charlie Manuel nor shortstop Jimmy Rollins, the Phillies' player representative, was willing to comment. But lefty J.C. Romero said he knows the bullpen will be ready.
"It's up to the hitters, and it's up to the guys in the bullpen to get the job done," Romero said.
If the game had been stopped before the sixth inning began, with the Phillies leading 2-1, it would have been an official game. But Selig said he wouldn't have let a World Series game be decided in fewer than nine innings.
"This is not a way to end a World Series," Selig said. "I would not have allowed a World Series to end this way."
