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.

Muddy decision making

You go, Ken Rosenthal. I can barely stomach you with a microphone in your hand, but when you pick up a pen, or your blackberry, or a laptop, or whatever it is you used to write this, you do well, sir.

World Series games should never, ever be played in conditions that compromise the integrity of the competition.

That's what happened Monday night, no matter how commissioner Bud Selig wants to spin it. Selig again was in something of a no-win position because of inaccurate weather forecasts. But he should have halted Game 5 much sooner.

Instead, the game was not suspended until after the top of the sixth inning, an inning in which the Rays tied the score, 2-2, with standing water in the infield.

I can't read the mind of Phillies manager Charlie Manuel, but I'm willing to bet that he didn't speak to the media afterward because he believes his team still should be leading, 2-1.

Not only was I disappointed with the decision to play on, it was a disservice to the two teams. Baseball waited until Tampa Bay tied the game so they didn't have to face a potential short-game nightmare in the clinching game of a World Series. Here's an idea: don't allow 5-inning World Series games! Postpone them at worst. Finish them the next day. You're doing that now, anyway, with mud on your face.

If it rains

Baseball is making the right move if game three is postponed due to expected rain in Philadelphia on Saturday. MLB would move game three to Sunday, and rather than push everything back a day, they'll drop the day off between games four and five.

There are already too many days off in the postseason schedule, and its the right move to keep the series going, especially if the teams end up with back-to-back days off Friday and Saturday.