Bank Park went away soaked and unsatisfied. Sadly, the rain is only the tip of the iceberg. The series, for starters, is not drawing any ratings. The truth is that baseball relies on their ratings coming from the two teams' markets. Nothing against the Philadelphia market; I expect they're holding their end. I have a hard team believing that Tampa is doing the same, though. The Tampa Cinderella story was the main story line promoted by ESPN coming into the game, as well. After so long, though, it got old.
Second, the umpiring has been absolutely abysmal. I've never seen more wide strike zones in my life. It actually seems like the area of the strike zone is the same; the dimensions are just different. There's been no leniency with high and low, but if it gets within the height, it's going to be called a strike.
Then, there was the Longoria call. It's one thing if the ump is far away and can't make the call. He was right there, though. If there's one thing this series will give us, it may be an expansion of instant replay.
Third, overall shoddy play. The Phillies have pitched well, but you can't give them all the credit for Longoria/Pena going 0-29. The Phillies are up 3-1 in the series despite having something like three hits with RISP the entire series.
Fourth, the rain situation. Thank goodness the Rays scored that second run.
There were so many variables that lead to good choices or bad choices, so I'm going to run through them now, and whether it was a good call or bad call.
A. The game was played to begin with. Bad call. Give a 6-year-old a five minute lesson on how to read a Doppler Radar. He could have told you there was no way this game should have been played. This isn't football. This isn't soccer. The fact that the game was played in that weather was a disservice to Philadelphia fans and to the players themselves, who easily could have been hurt.
B. The game wasn't called around the third, when the intensity really picked up. Bad call. Before it got to give, just end it. Both starters would only go a few innings and would be available on only a few days later in the series. Then, you wouldn't have to deal with the whole "They played their five and were up" nonsense.
C. The game was not called until Tampa tied it. The only good call. Bud Selig said that if it weren't tied, then the game would go to rain delay until the umpires saw fit. I'm talking 24 hour rain delay. Players sleeping in the clubhouse. It would have been an absolute fiasco (more than it already was), and there would have been 100 people in the ballpark to see the end.
You just have to feel for Philadelphia fans. They've been waiting for this for so long. Their team is stacked, and the World Series is theirs. Odds are, they will still eventually win this, and Philadelphia will go insane. The memories won't be looked upon fondly by any other fans, though. It will be even worse than Super Bowl XL, which is now known basically for its terrible refereeing.
Poor Philadelphia.
(Photo Credits: AP)
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