Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Kept in Soggy Suspense


I haven't posted in a while due to work demands and -- no surprise here -- the fact that I've been following the Phillies in the World Series. Well, after last night's rain-blotched buffoonery, the Series is in limbo, and who knows when the fun might resume.

Some have claimed that this situation is a first for the Series, but there have been any number of games played in suboptimal conditions since MLB decided to start playing Series games at night in 1971. I remember Game 1 of the 1979 World Series in Baltimore, when the Pirate starter hurt his arm because of the cold conditions. Even the "old days" had their share of slopfests; just read descriptions of the messy final game of the 1925 Series if you don't believe me. If the Phils and Tampa have to wait until Thursday to secure at least reasonably marginal conditions, that'll be fine with me. It's just hard to wait extra long for that elusive championship...

I should have a few reviews up this weekend.

2 comments:

Joe Torcivia said...

Chris:

By your use of the term “rain-blotched buffoonery”, are you saying that you disagreed with the decision to suspend the game? Or, are you just referring to the quality of play under those conditions?

I don’t often agree with Bud Selig but, in this case, he made the right call. I wouldn’t want to be defending a rain-shortened World Series victory resulting in a championship for my team. It would seem cheap and tainted… especially if my team were already ahead 3-1.

There should be a set of post season-specific rules for the unpredictable weather of fall… and, in consideration of this situation, I believe there will be.

Joe.

Chris Barat said...

Joe:

Given the original decision to risk playing the game, the decision to suspend play was the only reasonable one under the circs. It should really have been called an inning or two earlier, though.

Chris