THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
PHILADELPHIA - Game 5 of the World Series was suspended because of rain in the sixth inning Monday night with the Philadelphia Phillies and Tampa Bay Rays tied at 2.
"I can't tell you tonight when we'll resume," commissioner Bud Selig said.
When it does resume, the game will pick up right where it was stopped, with the Phils about to bat in the bottom of the sixth. There has never been rain-shortened game in Series history.
Leading three games to one, the Phillies hoped to wrap up their first championship since 1980. But the rain turned the field into a sloppy, soggy mess, and the forecast for Tuesday night wasn't encouraging.
"The weather tomorrow is supposed to be worse," said Bob DuPuy, MLB's chief operating officer.
Carlos Pena hit a tying, two-out single in the sixth for the Rays, and the umpires called it moments later. By then, every ball and every pitch had become an adventure because of the miserable conditions.
Shane Victorino had a two-run single in the first for the Phillies.
Evan Longoria pulled the Rays to 2-1 with an RBI single against Philadelphia ace Cole Hamels. The grounds crew came out several times to try to keep the field playable before the game was halted.
Had Pena not tied the score, MLB would have been left with a difficult situation.
Under the rules, if play had stopped after the trailing team made 15 outs, it would have been an official game that could have been shortened to less than nine innings. But MLB has never had a shortened postseason game, and MLB could have changed its rules on the fly and suspended the game anyway.
The game began in light rain, which got heavier in the middle innings. When Rays starter Scott Kazmir was replaced by Grant Balfour in the bottom of the fifth, the grounds crew came out to put down drying material in the infield, concentrating on the mound, and areas in front of the plate and near first and third bases. The grounds crew dumped more of the drying agent on the infield at the end of the inning.
There were pockets of empty, blue seats as the rain got heavier, with some fans retreating to the covered concourses.
With the game time temperature 47 degrees, Phillies shortstop Jimmy Rollins wore a cap with earflaps, as did Rays infielders Longoria and Jason Bartlett. Both starting pitchers wore turtlenecks under their jerseys.
There have been three World Series games that ended in ties: in 1907, 1912 and 1922. MLB changed its rules after the 2006 season to eliminate shortened games ending in ties, changing them to suspended games.
Thirty-six of the 42 teams to take a 3-1 Series lead have gone on to win. Philadelphia, which began play in 1883 but has won the Series just once, was trying for the city's first major sports title since the NBA's 76ers in 1983. The Phillies had not lost at Citizens Bank Park during the postseason, going 6-0.
Hamels, 4-0 with a 1.55 postseason ERA coming in, was bidding to become the first pitcher to win five starts in a postseason. He allowed five hits in five innings.
