Take this with a grain of salt - it's more a simple reflection of the state I'm in than an objective look at the game.
Bud Selig is the devil.
After watching his press conference tonight, after suspending the Phillies game, I have one simple question:
How could you send the Phillies out for the top of the 6th inning? Why not simply call it after the fifth? Your press conference was a farce, between looking like an old man scanning the yard for those darn kids, and throwing blame around everywhere, including the grounds crew and umpires.
No - I'm not asking for them to call the game and declare the Phils the champs. I understand the absurdity of deciding a game for the world championship within 5 innings. But the way I understand it, they could have simply suspended the game after 5 innings (giving both teams the same number of at bats at that time) and resumed later (tomorrow) with a score of 2-1.
Instead, Selig and whoever else, decided it was a good idea to send the Phillies out there for the top of the 6th, in a storm that few people other than Clooney and Mark Wahlberg have ever seen. How is that fair for the Phillies?
Again - I'm not asking for a Phillies win...I'm just asking for fairness. Is that such a terrible thing?
It's absurd. It's a horrendous call. And here's Bud Selig, stuck in the middle of another controversy, that hurts baseball more. Thanks Bud. Thanks for fucking up again.
8 comments:
I just want a level playing field too, we should have been allowed the half inning to play or called it earlier, even if phils didn't score, it would have made this easier to stomach.
So we won two games in one day sunday now have to win one game over 3 days...ridiculous.
From the courier post:
Inconvenience was why the Phillies clubhouse all but boiled over after the game. Inconvenience was why what began as a day not of hope, but of destiny quickly dissipated into disgust and bursts of anger directed at the television where Commissioner Bud Selig held a press conference on why Game 5, tied at 2-2, was suspended in the middle of the sixth inning.
“That (expletive deleted) guy,” one pitcher said as he saw commissioner Bud Selig before walking out the back door of the clubhouse. “I wouldn’t let him supervise one of my (bowel movements). He has no clue. Not one (expletive deleted) clue.”
“(Expletive deleted),” one position player said in the direction of one television pausing only for a moment before leaving. “He’s a moron. How stupid can one person be?”
Pitcher had to be Myers, right?
I don't know why Selig is getting a pass from national media on this one - doesn't anyone else find it ridiculous he called it in the middle of an inning?
It is weird that the Courier Post guy is keeping the players' names anonymous, but still helping the reader narrow it down. Why does it matter where
According to Vegas, the Phils won: http://www.lvrj.com/sports/33433179.html
Also, the Rays had to stay in Delaware, so any advantage they gained by tieing the score is effectively negated.
The fact that there wasn't a well-publicized procedure for what would happen in case of rain is ridiculous. Christ, I've seen Fantasy Leagues run with better foresight and more communication.
But if the Rays go on to win the Series, the attitude that Stark is tacitly endorsing ("The Phillies had better go on to win this World Series. Because if they don't, the always-magnanimous residents of Philadelphia aren't going to blame Charlie Manuel, the next three losing pitchers or good old Mother Nature. They're going to blame him, Bud Selig.") would be weak. If the Phillies are a better team (and objectively they certainly appear to be), then that will be born out in the next 2.5-20 innings.
While we don't know the future and I can't say one way or another what will happen, Selig has certainly made it more difficult. By my analysis, he took away a run from the Phillies, and you have no idea how that would work to finish this game. So while you might think the Phils should still pull it out and if they don't this fuck up had nothing to do with it, you're dismissing some of the variables to come to that conclusion a little too quickly. The Phils won 2 1-run games so far. What's to say this one couldn't have ended the same way?
For the record, you're definitely not off the deep end like Cataldi or some of the callers this morning. Most of that observation was directed towards those types.
It's true that we don't know what would've happened if they didn't play the top of the 6th. Who knows, the Rays may have scored 10 runs Wednesday night if they played the 6th then. Maybe Selig saved the Phillies some runs. You should be thanking him.
OK, so maybe that's now how Phillies fans will look at it. But blown calls can (and have) created situations that are more cut & dried AND resulted in more than 1 run.
This all goes back to not having a well-publicized plan (e.g. "No World Series game will be shortened because of weather") ahead of time. If they had suspended (not ended) the game after 5 with the Phillies up 2-1 last night, they have a full-scale riot on their hands.
But if everyone knew what the deal was, they could suspend the game after the last complete inning while the field is still somewhat playable and everyone's happy. Well, maybe not happy, but I'm probably not listening to WIP for the first time in forever this morning.
With Game 6 on Wednesday, you now get Hamels back for a potential Game 7, on 3 or maybe 4 days rest. Another reason to send Bud an Edible Arrangement.
I don't think there would be a riot suspending the game after 5; it's all a simple argument over semantics - call is a rain delay and just say you won't end a WS game before 9 and I'm pretty sure people (even Philly fans) will get over it.
Taking a run off the board is worse the bad calls in these games, because you can't assume bad calls will result in more runs. That they did isn't an issue. Those bad calls could have been followed up by strikeouts and they're kind of a non-issue. The second run by Tampa Bay should have never happened. 2-2 is more cut and dry than what happens after a bad call.
I'm still shocked that Selig is getting a pass on this. I know he's still getting beat up, but for the wrong reasons. If he knew in his head he wouldn't call the game and it would go 9 innings, there is no excuse for him to stop it in a half inning. None.
Why is Selig commissioner again? He's never done anything well. Heck, he didn't even want the job in the first place, and he's ruled with that attitude. The all-star game, steroids in baseball, even this, all reflect terrible leadership. The fact that some players and the public in general didn't have any idea what would happen if the game was suspended is ridiculous.
From most of the people I talked to that were down there, they would have more than fine suspending the game after 5th and continuing later. It was that miserable they'd have been happy to get out of the rain with a lead...
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