Verducci on Bud's Bungle

Tom Verducci backs the commissioner's decision-making on Monday night.

Give credit to commissioner Bud Selig and the umpires working World Series Game 5. They did their best to get the game played, given the weather forecast information available to them, made the right call to suspend the game when conditions grew unplayable -- the pelting rain continued for hours -- and sent people home quickly without wasting time trying to divine when the next "window" might be available to resume play. Too often we jump on baseball when things don't go according to script. But Selig has stepped up twice in this World Series with the right response to rain issues. He insisted Game 3 be played, even with a 10:06 p.m. start time after a 91-minute delay, in part because he knew of the terrible conditions forecast for Tuesday, the next available off day. The game was played in fine weather and field conditions.

Perhaps, but the game could've easily been suspended in the fifth. I talked to a meteorologist about the rain system moving through the Northeast. He told me it would intensify and last through the rest of Monday, easily. There's no way this game should've been pushed through to the bottom of the fifth and beyond.