The forecast all day was for lots of rain Monday night. Radar indicated a long band of rain from Virginia to upstate New York. This was a big storm which will redevelop over the Atlantic, back up into New England and produce the season's first major snowstorm in the Adirondacks with up to two feet of snow.

Why then was the game even started? It was misting at game time. It was nasty by the third inning. The game would have been stopped by the fourth inning if it had been a regular season game. The sport's premier event should not be played in a monsoon. Wait a day or two or three.

Waiting would have meant playing a nine inning game in cold but dry conditions. Instead, we saw five and a half innings played in miserable conditions and will see the last three and a half innings played in cold but dry conditions. Starting the game was unfair to the players and the fans.

...not fifth.

...was when the Fox reporter asked the MLB bureaucrat at the park whether the game would have been called right then if the game hadn't been tied. He replied with a straight face that that wouldn't have made any difference.

Mark my words: if the Phils hadn't lost the lead, they'd have kept playing until the Phillies won it on the field or lost the lead. MLB was not going to let a World Series end with a PA announcement after a rain delay.

Now, I'm not saying that was the wrong call...but (a) why not be honest about it; even the Philly fans interviewed on local TV said they didn't want to win it that way; and (b) if there's a chance of it happening, call it after the fourth, when it was clear to everyone watching on TV (including, presumably, Bud Selig) that the conditions were not getting any better and that a full game wasn't going to happen.

Oh, and I thought the Fox team was crazy for saying stealing a base would be impossible. The conditions may have taken away some speed, but they also make a strong throw to the bag a lot more dangerous for the fielding team.

Mark my words:

Within ten years the World Series will be played on two neutral fields - one for the NL and one for the AL - much like the Super Bowl is in football.

This will happen because while other three professional team sports leagues (football, basketball and hockey) all have four rounds of playoffs, baseball only has three. Then you also have to add in the extra games needed to make all the playoff series best of seven contests and now we're talking a mid-November World Series.

And please don't tell me I'm crazy since baseball's history towards it's "fans" (a very poor name for what are more like ATM's for the lords of baseball) only proves how right I will be:

Baseball at night, under the lights (once considered crazy)

Baseball played on artificial grass (once considered crazy)

Baseball played under a dome (once considered crazy)

The designated hitter (once considered crazy and still considered crazy by many)

Needing playoff games to decide who will be in the World Series even after a 162 games season (once considered crazy)

Relocating successful and much loved teams to "better" climates - perhaps the best proof that the "fans" want really doesn't matter to the lords of baseball.

So if and when the Cubs finally get around to playing in the World Series they won't be playing in Chicago.

Calling it in the fourth was out of the question, because the game as it stood would have to be wiped from the books. The contest would have to start over, its true outcome forever in dispute. Once the game became official, there'd be consensus to pick up where it left off...but doing so would nonetheless violate the rules of the game and thereby, in effect, deny Philadelphia a tarnished, yet earned-by-the-rules, Series championship. Or worse, deny Tampa an untarnished championship.

With the score tied in an official game, postponement and resumption were beyond dispute.

It's pretty much understood that the game couldn't be called while the Phillies were in the lead. Yeah, had they called last night's game when it was officially a game after 4 1/2 innings, the Phillies would have been denied their Tug McGraw moment of 2008. And let's face it, any hardcore fan wants that moment.

But the way it played out also seems extremely wrong. Yeah, the Phillies will get 4 chances to Tampa Bay's 3 chances to score runs. But the game should never have been played passed the fourth inning or so. Puddles and baseball should be mutually exclusive.

And if Game 5 gets completed on Wednesday, when will games 6 and 7 be played. Will they be delayed long enough for Cole Hamels to come back for Game 7? I can't imagine FOX TV will want Game 7 to be played on Friday/Halloween. Will the games be conveniently rescheduled to a more ratings friendly Saturday/Sunday?

What I've not seen mentioned by any sportswriter at all is the role FOX TV had in the decision. I'd like to know if they were consulted in any way shape or form.

Well he is one corrupt bastard so if the fix is in it wouldn't shock me.

which team is "better" in an objective sense. now we've got something to do during the indefinite rain delay!

question: do you send cole hamels back out there? i heard the local radio guy wondering that this morning and thought he was crazy.

unfair to the phillies? how about unfair to the fans? the world series should be over by now. we should be carving pumpkins, getting our costumes ready for halloween. snow is a distinct possibility.

i'm flabbergasted to learn that the world series will be even LATER next year. flabbergasted.

as for the series: looks like pena and longoria are starting to wake up. i thought the phillies really needed to seal the deal with more early runs -- they certainly had the chance. if the phils are up 3-1, 4-1, 5-1, does it then become easier to call the game and hand them the series?

i'd be worried now. the rays have 3 innings to steal a game and head back to tampa, where anything could happen.