Peace Tree Farm

Monday, October 27, 2008

Liveblog: World Series Game 5

Doing my part to jinx the Phillies, I’m going to try to do a liveblog of tonight’s ballgame. It won’t be a play-by-play or anything like that, just observations as they pop into my head. I doubt I’ll do this again if the Phils don’t win tonight, as I’m as subject to magical thinking as the next guy.

Cold and blustery at Citizens Bank Park tonight. Think about that a lot, won’t you, Rays? I see that Joe Maddon has pulled down the earflaps on his cap. What a wimp!

[5:27pm, top 1st, 0-0]: Hamels’s first pitch to Iwamura is a strike, always a good sign. Apparently the wind is blowing in from left, so Iwamura must have hit that flyball pretty well.

[5:29pm, middle 1st, 0-0]: Boy, that was a quick inning. It’s understandable that Crawford stopped after a couple of steps. Rollins really shouldn’t have dropped the ball.

[5:34pm, bottom 1st, 0-0]: I wonder what was wrong with Navarro’s mask. It’s not like it was hit with a foul ball or anything.

[5:38pm, bottom 1st, 0-0]: Hmmm, Kazmir’s a bit wild tonight. 3-2 to Rollins, a full count walk to Werth, Utley plunked in the ribs. And now, the red-hot Howard…

[5:40pm, bottom 1st, 0-0]: Oh well, it’s not like a Howard whiff is unusual. C’mon, Burrell, break out of that oh-fer in the WS!

[5:43pm, bottom 1st, 0-0]: Gotta agree with the announcers that the homeplate ump was really squeezing Kazmir with Burrell at the plate. Now it’s Victorino with the bases full, and a single rockets into left! The Flyin’ Hawaiian strikes again, and it’s 2-0 Phils.

[5:47pm, bottom 1st, 2-0 Phils]: Full again after the Feliz single. Burrell would have been meat if he’d tried to score on a sharp hit to left. Oh well, even with the Ruiz flyout, we’ll take a quick two-run lead.

[5:55pm, middle 2nd, 2-0 Phils]: Thanks to the FOX announcers for giving the actual pitch counts so far. I was just thinking about the economy of Hamels on the mound, especially after Pena and Longoria made outs on his first two pitches of the inning. It was 9 pitches (and five outs) after Longoria, followed by a 6-pitch walk, then two pitches to Baldelli. Total after two innings = 17, compared to 29 by Kazmir in the first inning alone.

[6:03pm, bottom 2nd, 2-0 Phils]: I’m increasingly impressed by Jayson Werth. Oh, he strikes out too much, but he fought off several good pitches (well, also a pitch that was up and away) before ripping a single into the hole. I don’t agree with putting on the shift for Utley, who isn’t really a dead-pull hitter. Longoria had to trot over from shortstop to his regular position to catch Utley’s popup for the third out.

[6:08pm, top 3rd, 2-0 Phils]: Jason Bartlett had the best BA in the American League against lefties?? Which means, of course, that he must have been crapola against righties. Checking the indispensable Baseball-Reference.com, we see that his splits were .379/.411/.508 (.919 OPS) and .248/.296/.301 (.597 OPS). Yeah, that’s definitely crapola. OK, Hamels breezing through the first three innings, allowing just a walk and a single. Solid!

[6:18pm, end 3rd, 2-0 Phils]: That’s an interesting, and consistent, pattern for Kazmir—allow two runs in the first inning, then really settle down. Looks like he’s doing it again tonight, though Victorino helped him a lot by fanning on a pitch a foot outside and a foot high. Two runs won’t be enough, I fear, so the good guys had better put on their hitting shoes again.

[6:22pm, top 4th, 2-0 Phils]: Y’know, I don’t like those dugout interviews that FOX runs in each game. Aside from offering little in the way of substantive information, I’m sure they break the concentration of the manager or whoever they talk to. Hmmm, first hits of the Series for Pena and Longoria, and the Rays score a run. I suppose their snooze had to end eventually, but it would have been fine if they’d waited a bit longer. The rain appears to bother Hamels a bit, but not enough to prevent an easy 6-4-3 double play to end the inning. Now let’s see how Kazmir handles rain on top of the temperature and wind…

[6:31pm, bottom 4th, 2-1 Phils]: So far, Buck and McCarver haven’t been as intrusive as they often are. Not too many Timmy-lectures on some abstruse point, and no pontificating about some completely incorrect idea (leadoff walks score more often than leadoff singles, for example). Ouch, let’s hope that pitch off the finger doesn’t start hurting Hamels too badly.

[6:36pm, bottom 4th, 2-1 Phils]: Does anyone ever not foul off the 3-2 pitch with two down and the runners moving?

[6:42pm, bottom 4th, 2-1 Phils]: Werth did a great job of ruining Kazmir’s pitches before finally working the base on balls. Utley can be a huge turning point in this game ... if Kazmir gets him, the Rays are invigorated, but if the Phils score a run (or more!), it will negate that run in the top of the inning. Oh boy, bases loaded, 3-2, two down ... damn, a groundball and the Rays still live.

[6:50pm, top 5th, 2-1 Phils]: Ugh, that wind must be really, really brutal. Rollins looked positively awful on that popup by Baldelli. But Utley makes up for it with an acrobatic little double play. And the strikeout of Kazmir makes this an official game. Let it pour!!

Now that we’re official, let’s take the remainder of this liveblog below the fold…

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[6:58pm, bottom 5th, 2-1 Phils]: After a four-pitch walk to Howard, this would be a wonderful time for Burrell to break his schneid in the WS. Hey, Pena and Longoria did it, so it should be Pat The Bat’s turn, right? He doesn’t look comfortable at the plate, though at least he’s fouling off a couple of strikes and then waits out Kazmir’s sixth walk of the night. Yeah, the ump may well have been squeezing Kazmir, but that’s the game of baseball. He only goes four innings, throws over 100 pitches, makes way for Grant Balfour.

[7:10pm, bottom 5th, 2-1 Phils]: After a bit of housekeeping by the grounds crew, we’re back to the action. The Phils have been wasting opportunities throughout the Series, and it would behoove them to finally cash in on this one. Balfour’s in with no one out, runners on first and second, and Victorino at the plate. Still another key situation for the Phillies. I disagree with the bunt at this point—this is a chance to put up “crooked numbers”. Manuel’s an old-school manager, I guess. Grrrr, two pop outs, and now it’s up to Carlos Ruiz. And he pops up too. Sigh…

This rainy night reminds me of Game 4 of the 1978 NLCS, when the umpires refused to stop the game between the Phillies and the Dodgers in LA in similarly wet (if not cold) circumstances. Slogging through a downpour in the bottom of the 10th, the great centerfielder Garry Maddox dropped a flyball by Dusty Baker that would have been the third out. The next batter, Bill Russell, singled in the series-winning run for the Dodgers.

[7:25pm, top 6th, 2-1 Phils]: Man, the conditions are really foul, with standing water on the dirt part of the infield. I can’t imagine how someone can look up to catch a flyball with the rain pelting down into your eyes. Meanwhile, Hamels still looks strong out there, even if Upton did leg out an infield hit. Upton wants to steal, but Hamels keeps on throwing over. Well, Upton won that battle, with ease. He’s a rock-solid ballplayer. Damn, Pena singles home Upton and we’re tied up.

[7:35pm, middle 6th, tied 2-2]: Hamels is due to lead off the inning. Will Manuel let him hit? My guess is that he’ll pinch hit for him, looking to score a run before the weather becomes even worse. If it’s going to be a battle of the bullpens, as so many postseason games are, the Phillies have an advantage. The decision will have to wait, though, as they’ve brought out the tarp for a rain delay. With the score tied, if the game can’t continue tonight it’ll be a suspended game, to be picked up again at its present point. If the Rays hadn’t scored, if the game couldn’t continue tonight it would have ended as a Phillies victory. Oh, the elements do conspire against us phans…

Speaking of the elements, the prediction for tomorrow is apparently even worse than today’s weather—colder and wetter. In any case, we wait to see what happens next.

[8:31pm, middle 6th, tied 2-2]: And what happens next is nothing more tonight. They’ll try to complete the game tomorrow night. Not exactly an exciting finale for this liveblog, eh?

To the best of my recollection, there has never before been a suspension in the World Series. As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, back in the pre-lights days there were tie games, called on account of darkness, that didn’t count. They were Game 1 in 1907, Game 2 in 1912, and Game 2 in 1922.

Under the postseason rules prior to a just few years ago, tonight’s game would, I believe, have been called a 2-1 victory for the Phillies if it had not been restarted. Because the 6th inning wasn’t completed, its top half would have been tossed aside. Reverting to the last completed inning, then, the Phils would have been the World Series champions. That would have really stuck in a whole lot of craws, and rightly so. Considering this as a suspended game is undoubtedly the correct solution.

The question I’ll ask is what would have been the decision had the Rays failed to even the score. Would it still have been considered a suspension? During the regular season, the top of the 6th might have been treated as if it had been the top of the 9th of a full game, with no need for the Phillies to bat, and the final score would be 2-1 Phillies. If a team leads in an official postseason game that cannot continue, is it still a suspension or is the game over? If the latter, I have the feeling that Bud Selig and Bob DuPuy would have insisted that the teams stay on the field. Which would have been both dangerous for the players and a travesty for what should be the game’s showpiece. It would be all but impossible to play something resembling baseball under those climatic conditions.

All in all, an unsatisfying end to this liveblog. And a delay in what I hope will be gratification when Game 5 is completed. Tomorrow, perhaps.

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Posted by N in Seattle on 10/27 at 04:26 PM
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