World Series Game 5 -- Live Blog

I haven't done the live-blog thing in quite a while, and I figure tonight with the Phils on the brink of the championship is as good a time as any, as long as I'm sober enough to keep it up anyways....

World Series Game 5 -- Live Blog

9:06pm ET - Cole Hamels so far has, unsurprisingly, been great, giving up no hits in the first two innings of the game, once again dispensing with Rays sluggers Carlos Pena and Evan Longoria who are now 0-for-31 thus far in the World Series. Once again, the Phillies get two on with 1 out in the first inning, and even Pat Burrell spared us the torture by walking to load the bases with one out. Then Shane Victorino roped a liner down the left field line to score two and get us yet another 2-0 lead in the first. The Rays pitchers simply did not come to play in this series, what else can you say about it. The big question right now is: will those two first-inning runs be enough to win the game right there, with Phillies Ace Cole Hammels on the mound? In all we sent eight batters to the plate in the opening inning, once again getting well inside the Rays' starter's head early, plus adding very important throws to his pitch count to start off the game.

2-0 Phillies through two innings. More than a fifth of the way to tasting the thrill of ultimate victory.

9:15pm ET - Another quick inning in the 3rd for Mr. Hamels. No hits in the entire first cycle through the Rays' lineup, including Hamels' first strikeout of opposing pitcher Scott Kazmir, but then Rays leadoff batter Akinori Iwamura put one nearly through Hamels' legs on a 2-2 changeup for the Rays' only hit so far tonight before Carl Crawford, the Rays' best hitter by far so far in this World Series, quickly grounded out meekly to second base to end the inning.

Still 2-0 Phils, middle of the third. Three innings down, six more to go.

9:21pm ET - Kazmir gets his easiest and quickest inning here in the third, sending down the Phillies in order on very few pitches and some bad swings especially by Victorino for the third out. 2-0 Phillies through three innings.

9:31pm ET - Hamels gives up a run on back to back hits by Carlos Pena and Evan Longoria, the first two hits for these two players after the combination began the World Series by going 0-for-31. But then a 3-1 double play from Navarro put a quick end to the threat, as Hamels has had a knack for coming up with when he's needed them all through the 2008 postseason, and we are through 4 innings at Citizens Bank Park. Phillies 2, Rays 1.

9:50pm ET - OK there goes Joe Buck talking about them possibly cancelling this game due to rain, under which circumstances the whole game would be erased. Uh huh. Buck, you are an absolute fucking clown. But the big news of this inning was definitely Cole Hamels taking a fastball in the left index finger of his pitching hand during a bunt attempt. It didn't look like it felt very good and it will remain to be seen how much of an effect this is going to have on hands down the best pitcher in the postseason so far this year. What a terrible shame if his performance gets cut short or hampered by that freak injury at the plate. Otherwise though, the Phillies loaded the bases with two outs, making up a bit for Rays pitcher Kazmir's 9-pitch third inning as he had to throw 33 pitches in the 4th, although the Phils did eventually fail to score when second baseman Chase Utley grounded out to second with the bases juiced to end the inning.

We're through four full innings on a cold and rainy night in Philadelphia. The score: Phillies 2, Rays 1. Now we'll see how Hamels' pitching hand holds up as we move to the 5th.

9:56pm ET - The weather bit the Phillies to start the 5th inning as Jimmy Rollins lost a popup from Rocco Baldelli in the wind and rain to lead off with an error. But what an amazing play by Chase Utley to turn a brilliant double play as he skillfully made the tag of the runner on his way to 2nd base before spinning and gunning the throw to first. Hamels didn't have to throw many pitches at all in that inning, but what he threw looked just fine so far. Middle of the 5th inning, Phils coming up to bat, still 2-1 Philadelphia.

10:08pm ET - The temperature on the field dropped to a cool 40 degrees as the 10 o'clock hour came, and the Phillies once again got their leadoff man on base as slugger Ryan Howard walked on five pitches to start the bottom of the 5th. Pat Burrell then walked after a solid at-bat on Scott Kazmir's 104th and final pitch of the night to once again get two on with nobody out. Kazmir has been pulled from the game and we await the new pitcher as the Phils are once again threatening to add to their lead.
10:20pm ET - The Phillies again busted out with runners in scoring position, going 0-for-3 in the 5th with three popups off of new Rays pitcher Grant Balfour. While at first it kinda bugged me, I have to admit I have grown to enjoy listening to these two uninformed Phillie-hating announcers idiotically proclaim that pitches to Pat Burrell that had to be three or four inches low should have been called strikes against him. What a bunch of F-heads these two clowns are. But knowing how much it obviously bothers them both to see the Phillies doing well, I am coming to enjoy listening to their struggles. Anyways, as the rain continues to pound down and Joe Buck again talks about the umpires cancelling the game and I guess awarding the World Series to the Phillies, we move to the 6th inning with the Phillies still clinging to a 2-1 lead.

10:40pm ET - OK before the sixth inning even started, Joe Buck and Tim McCarver managed to get in their nightly mention of "all" the amazing sporting events that went down in Philadelphia this weekend. All those events meaning a football game and a basebal game in the same day. That's it. During Game 4 they tried to lump in Saturday's Flyers game as well, but that was just redonkulous of course. But they got in the reference once again, making it every single game in this series where they've said the same stupid thing, further icing themselves as the two largest morons in sports commentating today. Anyways, after a full 30-minute layoff between pitches, Cole Hamels came out in the 6th doing his thing and doing it well, putting down the first two batters at the top of the Rays' order before Jimmy Rollins booted another ground ball at shortstop, seting up Carlos Pena to knock in the tying run with his second hit of the World Series.

10:30pm ET poker update:

Pokerstars 50-50 (now it's actually a 70k guarantee every night): 5690 chips, good for 260th out of 960 runners remaining.

Full tilt 50-50: 3504 chips, in 236th of 594 remaining, both at the first break.

Through 5 1/2 innings, it is now a 2-2 ball game. The Phils are going to need to score some more runs if they are to close this thing out in front of the hometown fans tonight.

10:42pm ET - Rain Delay. That sucks. This is unreal, the umpires wait until the Rays score a run to tie the game up, and then they immediately roll out the tarp since now the rules dictate it would be a suspended game instead of a cancelled game if the teams cannot start it up again. And the radar does not look good, either for tonight or for tomorrow. So even though it's been sickly pouring for over an hour here, the umps have waited until the minute after the Rays tie up the game so that it can be suspended until a later date instead of having to call the game and awarding the series to the Phillies. What a perfect fucking ending to an entire series full of absolute clusterfuckage from the umpiring crew. Here's hoping the entire crew breaks their legs when their car crashes into McCarver's and Buck's on their way home from the game tonight.

11:14pm ET - Well, the game has officially been suspended until Tuesday. Still trying to get over the fact that the fucking shiteating umpire crew just put a game into rain delay -- eventually calling the game for the night given the weather forecast -- based on the fucking score of the game instead of based on the actual weather!!! Where the fuck is someone coming out and firing these umpires forever from ever calling another World Series game after their performance throughout this series? And I didn't even mention the clearly blown call on the no-infield fly rule that the umpires inexplicably missed earlier in the 5th inning tonight. Which they also had a gheyass excuse for then too, but the excuse was redonkulous just like the head baseball official's story tonight that "they would have delayed this game in here in the middle of the 6th inning based on the rain and the field conditions absolutely regardless of the score." Uh huh.

So there you have it. The game has been suspended because as soon as the umps saw that they could suspend instead of cancel the game based purely on the score, they jumped at the chance.

Real fuckin fair guys. I feel like I just got punched in the fucking stomach, as does every Phillie fan in America. Simply inexplicable.

Update: As of early Tuesday afternoon, the rest of Game 5 has been pushed off until at least Wednesday evening. Nothing like 48 hours between games and then a 3 1/2 inning "tee-ball match" as fellow Philly guy Riggstad has described it to decide the World Series.